SILVERSTONE, England – Sebastian Vettel tied Alain Prost for third in all-time Formula One race victories with his 51st win on Sunday after an electric finish to the British Grand Prix.

Vettel also ended a string of dominance by Mercedes AMG Petronas at the Silverstone Circuit, becoming the first non-Mercedes driver to win at the historic 3.661-mile track since his former teammate Mark Webber did so for Aston Martin Red Bull Racing back in 2012.

A clean race turned dramatic quickly in the opening corners, then again in the closing laps as two Safety Car periods allowed for differing tire strategies and set up a four-man free-for-all to finish the race.

Pole-starting Lewis Hamilton saw his race unravel in the first three corners, as he bogged down on the initial start and lost the lead to Vettel, then was the victim after Kimi Raikkonen locked up his tires and sent Hamilton spinning into the gravel.

While Hamilton was able to restart and continue with no damage to his car, he dropped from the front of the field to 18th and had to make a show of passing cars in front of his home fans.

By lap seven, Hamilton had cracked the top 10 once again and at quarter-distance, he was sixth and just 26 seconds adrift of Vettel’s leading Ferrari, which held a five-second buffer over Bottas at that point.

Vettel and Bottas made their pit stops for medium tires at laps 21 and 22, respectively, and maintained position. However, the game-changing moment of the race occurred with 20 to go in the 52-lap event, when Marcus Ericsson crashed into the tire barriers off the end of turn one, forcing race officials to deploy the Safety Car and wave the caution flag.

While Vettel was the race leader at that point, he elected to come down pit lane for a fresh set of soft Pirelli rubber, coming out second between Bottas and a rallying Hamilton, who both elected to stay out on the mediums for track position, banking on tire life to help them hang on.

The strategy worked out on the restart with 15 to go, as Bottas held Vettel at bay ahead of a dicey battle for fourth between Raikkonen and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, but a crash at Copse corner between Carlos Sainz and Romain Grosjean one circuit later slowed the pace one more time and set the stage for a titanic finish.

When the green flag waved, Bottas took off from Vettel but could not get out of DRS range, leading to a four-man train around Silverstone with Bottas leading Vettel, Hamilton and Raikkonen. Each had mere car lengths between one another and all four had a shot to win.

Finally, after two failed pass attempts, Vettel dove down the inside of Bottas at the end of the backstretch and seized command in turn six with six laps remaining.

Vettel quickly opened up a two second lead as Bottas’ tires gave up, with Hamilton passing his teammate for second a lap later and Raikkonen knocking Bottas off the podium with four to go.

All the while, Vettel’s Ferrari was getting smaller and smaller in the distance, with the German driving home to his second British Grand Prix win and his fourth victory of the season in the end.

“The safety car definitely spiced it up,” said Vettel, who also set the fastest lap of the race on the same lap he took the lead. “It was a nice time because Valtteri was pushing like crazy. I had the advantage on tyres but it was not so easy to find a way through but then I surprised him. I wasn’t sure I’d make the corner but I did, so it worked really and very, very happy.

“The main thing today was we were competitive, which we haven’t been [here] in the past. We had a very good car,” Vettel noted. “We brought bits which seemed to work. Very, very happy with the result. It had been a difficult track for us but we were a match this year. Overall I think we had pace in hand. I managed the second stint and then raced well. If you have a car that is fast you can make things happen.”

Hamilton’s recovery from his opening lap spin to a second-place finish may have limited the damage in the championship, but it was still disappointing for the Briton, who was seeking his fifth-straight win and sixth overall in his home country.

“The team did an amazing job this weekend and we’ve got so much support, but so much pressure for us all. It was interesting tactics, I would say, from their side,” Hamilton said, alluding to Ferrari. “We will do what we can to fight them and improve in the next races, but I’m just so grateful for all the support we had here. This is the best grand prix we’ve had all year. Look at the crowd; it’s been amazing.”

Raikkonen hung on to complete the podium ahead of Bottas and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Force India’s Esteban Ocon, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen finished sixth through ninth, respectively.

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly crossed the line in the final points-scoring position in 10th, but was hit with a five-second time penalty after the race for contact with Sergio Perez while racing for the position inside the final two laps.

As a result, Perez secured the final points spot in 10th, while Gasly dropped to 13th.