sport news F1: Seven things we learned from an action-packed British Grand Prix won by ...

Mercedes finally answered back in their battle with Red Bull as Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix in controversial fashion, while Max Verstappen crashed out during the opening lap.

The race's biggest incident came just moments after lights out, with Verstappen sent into the tyre wall while Hamilton escape relatively unscathed and with a 10-second time penalty.

It didn't stop the Brit from going on to win an eighth British Grand Prix – tying the record for most wins at a circuit in Formula One – with Red Bull livid as a result. But championship race aside, there was plenty more to dissect. Sportsmail takes a look at the things we learned from Sunday's action-packed race at Silverstone. 

The gloves are well and truly off in this championship race.

While Hamilton and Verstappen have been fairly respectful of each other while racing this season, both men pushed the limits in a frantic opening lap before their coming together on one of the fastest corners of the track.

While jostling for position at Copse, Verstappen, who was on the outside line, got ahead of Hamilton before taking the racing line but clipped the Brit's front left. 

The tyre-to-tyre collision sent the Dutchman hurtling into the tyre wall at 180mph, which he thankfully walked away from, while a relatively unscathed Hamilton carried on before being penalised for the incident.

The crash saw the race red flagged, allowing Mercedes to make the necessary repairs to Hamilton's car before he could go on to chase down Charles Leclerc and seal a vital race win.

Verstappen went into Sunday's race with a huge 33-point lead but Hamilton's win means he is now just leading by eight points, giving Mercedes a new lease of life in this title race.

However, the opening-lap collision still divides opinion on who was at fault and if it was merely a racing incident. The two opposing garages vehemently argued each side's corner but a furious Christian Horner struggled to keep a lid on things after the race.

Asked if Hamilton's move at Copse corner could have killed his driver, Red Bull chief Christian Horner said: 'Of course. His actions have put in jeopardy another driver's safety and for me that is unacceptable.

'Every driver knows that a move at that corner — one of the fastest in Formula One — is a massive, massive risk. 

'You don't put a wheel up the inside without there being huge consequences. We are lucky today that there wasn't someone seriously hurt.

'What I am most angry about is the lack of judgment, and the desperation in this move. It was never on.' 

He later went on to suggest Hamilton's win will have felt 'hollow', which was dismissed out of hand by the Brit. 

Verstappen, himself, took a swipe at Hamilton from hospital where he was taken for pre-cautionary checks, describing his celebrations after winning the British Grand Prix as 'disrespectful' and 'unsportsmanlike'.

In what has been one of the most compelling title fights in years, we just got a whole load of spice added to it. 

While Valtteri Bottas has proven to be a more than ideal team-mate for Hamilton at Mercedes, it hasn't stopped Williams' George Russell from being linked with his seat for next season.

And Bottas actually performed brilliantly at Silverstone this weekend, grabbing the final podium place after keeping pace with Hamilton and Leclerc all race long while sticking to team orders to ensure victory for his British team-mate.

The Finn may have allowed Leclerc to overtake him in the opening few corners but he did more than enough to make up for it in the 52 laps he had out on track.

However, Toto Wolff and Co will certainly be keeping an eye on Russell, who finished in a respectable 12th this weekend – and that's with a grid-penalty he picked up in the qualifying sprint race.

While he would've been helped by Sebastian Vettel's and Verstappen's DNFs, his Silverstone finish is showing those in the Mercedes garage that he is performing well above his means in a car that just doesn't have the pace.

Russell himself admits that he was disappointed by the finish, but understands the limitations of the Williams car.

'I don't know how we managed to qualify so high,' he said. 'We still, on paper, have the ninth quickest car in every single session except qualifying. FP1, 2, 3 and the race we're the ninth quickest and then somehow come qualifying we manage to put it inside the top 10 or top 12.

'Come Sunday, when you have eight faster cars or whatever it is behind you, it is so difficult to keep them there. So it makes it a little bit disappointing, always, after the races.

'But I guess we've got to think: top 12 in all of the last four races, when we retired; fighting for points three out of four of those races. I guess we'd have definitely taken that, before this group of four.' 

While the British Grand Prix saw the return of a capacity crowd in the glorious sunshine, it was a historic race for Formula One for other reasons.

On Saturday, fans were treated to the first-ever Sprint qualifying race, which saw drivers compete in a 30-minute flat-out race over 17 laps to determine grid position for the grand prix while offering points in the championship standings.

The format, which replaces the rather dull third free practice, has been brought in to attract younger audiences to the sport while making the whole race weekend more compelling. 

Credit must go to the decision-makers at Formula One for trying something different, even if it hasn't always worked out in the past, but increasing the spectacle of the sport has been on the agenda for some time and the sprint qualifying race did exactly that on Saturday. 

With cars being pushed to the limit, the race itself was exciting and saw Hamilton lose his pole position off the line

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