SILVERSTONE, England – A timely safety-car period catapulted Lewis Hamilton to his record sixth British Grand Prix victory during Sunday’s Formula One stop at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton, who ran second to Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas for the first 16 laps, saw his fortunes turn when he elected to stay out on the 17th tour as Bottas came down pit lane for fresh tires.

That put Hamilton into the race lead, a position that proved to be fortuitous when the yellow flag waved three laps later after Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi went off and got stuck in the gravel on-course.

As the field slowed behind the safety car, Hamilton was able to utilize a 20-second lead to pit for hard-compound Pirelli tires and still come out in front of Bottas at the head of the field.

From there, the scales tipped and it became Hamilton’s race, as he raced away from Bottas on the only restart of the race at lap 24 and methodically paced the field the rest of the way en route to victory.

Hamilton took the checkered flag in front of Bottas by 24.928 seconds, after Bottas pitted a second time for fresh tires inside of 10 to go, for his seventh win in 10 races this year and his 80th F-1 victory overall.

The Briton also set a new lap record of 1:27.369 on the final lap to earn an extra bonus point.

“I’m honestly a bit out of breath after that one,” admitted Hamilton in parc ferme. “I can’t tell you how proud I am to be (standing) here today, in front of a home crowd, with my whole family here and with this incredible team. There’s so many British flags out there and I could see them, lap after lap today.

“You would think you’d get used to something like that, but it still feels like the first time,” he added. “I’m just a link in the chain today. It took a team effort to get this one done, and we obviously caught a break with being able to pit under that safety car. Just an incredible day all around.”

Bottas, who started from the pole and was in control during the opening stint, found himself on the wrong end of the yellow flag Sunday and had to settle with a disappointing runner-up finish.

“I don’t know, really, what to say,” admitted Bottas. “Obviously, congrats to Lewis on a great performance, but we got hurt by that safety car. I stopped first and had been controlling the pace, but Lewis got a free stop there and then … because we were on the mediums, we had to stop again.

“It’s tough to lose one like that, but we still had a lot of positives from this weekend that I’m proud of and I’ll keep fighting. It just wasn’t my day in the end today.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the podium, his fourth-straight top-three finish, with Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly tying his career-best F-1 finish just behind Leclerc in fourth.

Gasly’s teammate, Max Verstappen, capped off the top five despite being rear-ended by Sebastian Vettel with 15 to go under braking. The collision caused both drivers to spin after battling for third.

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz crossed sixth, followed by Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and the second Renault of Nico Hulkenberg.

Vettel had to pit for a new front wing after his collision with Verstappen and could never recover, finishing 16th among the 17 drivers who made it to the checkered flag. Adding insult to injury, the four-time champion was also assessed a 10-second time penalty by the stewards for causing a collision.

Hamilton now leads the driver’s championship by 39 points over Bottas.

The finish:

Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Kimi Raikkonen, Daniil Kvyat, Nico Hulkenberg, Lando Norris, Alexander Albon, Lance Stroll, George Russell, Robert Kubica, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez, Antonio Giovinazzi, Romain Grosjean, Kevin Magnussen.

July has settled in, and the league is still as wild as it was when the month arrived. Summer league in Las Vegas has started to wind down, but the chatter is still piping hot.

As of Sunday morning, there are only four teams still active in the tournament -- and the countdown to the 2019-20 season continues.

What have executives, scouts and coaches said about the most intriguing transaction news and prospect sights? Here are the latest and most relevant messages from the MGM Resorts Summer League.

More: Summer league scores/schedules | Free agency news | Trades

OKC wins star point guard swap

At one point during a game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Portland Trail Blazers in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon, a pop went through the crowd -- and particularly among the executives sitting watching the game. It wasn't, however, for anything that was happening on the court.

It was over the stunning exchange of future Hall of Fame point guards, with Chris Paul, two first-round picks and two swaps going to Oklahoma City in exchange for Russell Westbrook. After the initial shock was over, the talk immediately shifted to how impressive a move it was for the Thunder.

"Huge win for Oklahoma City," said one executive.

While another exec characterized it as a "clear win" for the Thunder, the deal also elicited plenty of confusion as to what, exactly, the Houston Rockets will look like with Westbrook playing alongside James Harden. The price to secure Westbrook was reasonable in the eyes of several executives, even if they liked the deal better for Oklahoma City, because it would've likely taken a first-round pick or two to move Paul into someone's cap space this summer.

In this deal, of course, the Rockets also got a star in Westbrook who remains a polarizing player around the league.

"Are they better? Worse? The same? I don't know," said a scout. "They're going to be potent offensively. They're going to be a factor. But now they have, arguably, the two most ball-dominant players in the league playing on the same team."

An executive summed it up simply: "I kind of like the trade for Houston too. The two existing guys were going to kill each other, and this one is a lot more durable."

-- Tim Bontemps

Golden State's polarizing offseason

One of the biggest topics of debate in the team section at the Thomas & Mack Center was how the Golden State Warriors reacted to Kevin Durant's departure in free agency. Instead of a more conventional attempt to replace Durant and injured Klay Thompson in free agency and by creating a trade exception in a sign-and-trade deal sending Durant to the Brooklyn Nets, the Warriors instead boldly worked out a sign-and-trade for Brooklyn free agent D'Angelo Russell. This subjected Golden State to a hard cap of $138.9 million that forced them to trade away former Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.

Some of the team employees I talked to thought Golden State had rushed the Russell sign-and-trade, costing it a lightly protected first-round pick to send Iguodala to the Memphis Grizzlies. Another thought the Warriors had a good offseason and people were sleeping on them in the playoffs. The overall sentiment trended more toward the former position.

To the extent that Golden State's moves are polarizing, it's largely because Russell is such a polarizing player. Some scouts are skeptical he really is as good as his All-Star appearance last season with the Nets made him appear -- particularly in a situation in which he will no longer be featured on offense.

The moderate position suggests waiting to see what moves are next for the Warriors, who could eventually look to flip Russell in a trade that brings them better-fitting young talent and depth to help replace what they lost this offseason. One possible explanation for the Russell move is that Golden State simply didn't want to lose Durant without getting anything in return, even if the move potentially cost the Warriors a pair of first-round picks because -- as reported by our Brian Windhorst on Thursday -- Durant felt the Nets should get a first-round pick in the trade.

-- Kevin Pelton

No more moratorium

With Marcus Morris' reversal on a commitment to the San Antonio Spurs and eventual agreement to a one-year, $15 million deal with the New York Knicks, this now marks three times in two years that players have reneged on a verbal agreement. (Nemanja Bjelica and Yogi Ferrell backing out last summer with the Philadelphia 76ers and Dallas Mavericks, respectively, to sign with the Sacramento Kings were the other two.)

The topic of players backing out of agreements -- and whether this will become a trend -- was much discussed among league executives in Las Vegas.

Some said that going back on one's word is unacceptable in any situation -- especially when San Antonio cleared the space to sign Morris by agreeing to a sign-and-trade with the Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards to acquire DeMarre Carroll, sending Davis Bertans to Washington. San Antonio recovered Thursday by signing Trey Lyles to a two-year deal, but it still was an unfortunate situation for the Spurs.

Others saw it differently, though. People are allowed to change their minds, as Morris did in this case. And until a deal is official, there is still the chance for someone to do so and back out of an agreement (as DeAndre Jordan did with the Mavericks back in 2015 after the famous sit-in by his then-teammates with the LA Clippers in his Houston home).

What just about everyone who was asked agreed with, though, is that this could place further momentum behind shortening the league's annual moratorium in July -- something just about every executive in the league doesn't like.

Yes, it does allow for more creative sequencing of moves. But as one executive put it, "a five-day window is a lot of time for s--- to go down."

Another put it even more simply: "It's just too long."

And while it exists, it still leaves open the chances for players to have second thoughts on making a move they previously agreed to.

-- Tim Bontemps

Teams outside Oklahoma no longer hoarding draft picks

Within the past six months, we've seen a dramatic change in the way teams are valuing first-round draft picks. When the Mavericks traded for Kristaps Porzingis ahead of the trade deadline, I noted that it was the first time a team had traded two future first-round picks without getting one in return since the 2015 deadline.

The Porzingis trade opened the floodgates. We've subsequently seen four more such deals: the 76ers giving up a pair of first-rounders for Tobias Harris; the Los Angeles Lakers giving up three first-round picks and a swap for Anthony Davis; and more recently, the Clippers giving up five first-rounders and two swaps in their deal for Paul George on July 5, and the Rockets giving up two first-rounders and two swaps in their deal for Westbrook on Thursday night.

Team employees have definitely noticed a change. One pointed out that ahead of this year's deadline, teams still were trying to negotiate heavy protection on any picks they moved. The Lakers and Clippers both were willing to include unprotected picks -- three of them from the Clippers, along with one they acquired in the Harris deal.

It's possible, one scout noted, that we're seeing an overcorrection after teams were too reluctant to part with first-round picks in the recent past. Others have pointed out, however, that the value of the "bird in the hand" often will outweigh the uncertainty of draft picks -- particularly for big-market teams who want to build through free agency rather than the draft. With a championship a more realistic goal than it was when the Golden State dynastic core was intact, teams might continue using future picks to improve their current rosters.

-- Kevin Pelton

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The shrine that has become Tyler Skaggs' locker in the Los Angeles' clubhouse had a new addition Saturday -- the ball from the final out of the no-hitter the Angels pitched while wearing their late teammate's jersey.

As they prepared to face Seattle on what would have been Skaggs' 28th birthday, the Angels were still trying to take in everything that transpired a day earlier in a remarkable 13-0 victory.

Taylor Cole started with two perfect innings and Felix Pena held the Mariners hitless the rest of the way in the Angels' first home game since Skaggs was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Texas on July 1.

Cole was wearing a T-shirt with Skaggs' catchphrase -- "We're Nasty" -- in the clubhouse before the game. He said he was still hyped up after the win.

"I feel great to have been a part of history and helping this city cope a little bit," he said. "When you can comfort and help people heal, and help people realize that there is something more to this than baseball, everybody is going to be OK."

Catcher Dustin Garneau said he still had over 100 text messages on his phone that he hadn't had a chance to look at after being behind the plate.

"Honestly, it was what we needed and hopefully what his family needed to where it kind of gives them some solace. For us, it brought us all together," he said. "After the game, we were all sitting at our lockers and were still in shock. It was really cool to see it happen."

It was the first combined no-hitter thrown in a game in California since July 13, 1991, which was the day Skaggs was born. That wasn't the only numerological coincidence. The Angels scored seven runs in the first and finished with 13 for the game -- 7/13, like his birthday.

Mike Trout's first-inning home run traveled 454 feet, matching Skaggs' No. 45 jersey.

"I've seen all the numbers that surrounded the game. It's pretty remarkable," manager Brad Ausmus said. "You don't know if you really could even script it. You'd have to have a wild imagination to script that."

The Angels went back to wearing their regular jerseys on Saturday, but Skaggs' red No. 45 was still hanging in the third-base dugout. The makeshift memorial of flowers and other tokens of remembrance were still outside the home plate gate at Angels Stadium. A short video remembering Skaggs' birthday was played midway thru the first inning.

While Friday's game was emotional, starting with Skaggs' mother Debbie throwing out the first pitch, many of the players said it provided them with a sense of normalcy. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons said it was the first time he had slept well since Skaggs' death.

"It was very comforting from the last couple weeks," he said. "Every once in a while, you try to move on, try to move past the fact. It is still difficult at times, but you have to."

Dutch pair Aniek van Koot and Diede de Groot have won the Wimbledon women's wheelchair doubles title, beating compatriot Marjolein Buis and Italy's Giulia Capocci in straight sets.

Van Koot, 28, and De Groot, 22, won 6-1 6-1 in one hour and three minutes.

On Saturday, Van Koot beat partner De Groot in the wheelchair singles final.

Asked about her twin success, Van Koot said: "Who would have imagined that? I never would. It's been a wonderful weekend."

PETALUMA, Calif. — Chase Johnson passed Bill Aton with nine aps remaining to score Saturday’s fast-paced King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series 30-lap headliner before a hometown crowd at Petaluma Speedway.

Johnson pocketed $3,000 for his second career series victory, both of which have come at Petaluma.

Johnson had the best seat in the house after starting fourth in the grid.  Fast qualifier and dash winner Ryan Bernal appeared to be the class of the field until he got caught up in lap traffic on the 15th circuit.  This brought out the caution for Bernal, Nathan Rolfe and Klint Simpson.

After getting around Willie Croft on the opening lap, Johnson was now cruising in second behind Aton on the restart. However, Aton wasn’t about to take any prisoners and held off his aggressive tailgater until the 22nd lap when Johnson made his winning move.

Johnson catapulted out of the second turn and won a high-stakes drag race with the leader down the back chute to take over the point entering the third corner. The rest is history.

“This feels really good,” admitted Johnson.  “We’ve had some bad luck this season and it’s really nice to get the win.”

Aton’s runner-up finish in his own Bill Aton Painting XXX sprinter was a series career best. Croft put together a strong workmanlike effort in his Amerikote-backed sprinter to fill out the podium.

Dominic Scelzi and Bud Kaeding battled throughout the contest, with Scelzi winning the war and scoring fourth in the Roth Motorsports KPC. Kaeding rounded out the top five in the Alviso Rock Maxim.

Despite finishing 10th, Bernal still maintains a slim one-point advantage over Netto.

The finish:

Chase Johnson, Bill Aton, Willie Croft, Dominic Scelzi, Bud Kaeding, D.J. Netto, Kyle Offill, Jonathan Allard, Geoff Ensign, Ryan Bernal, Sean Watts, Kenny Allen, Nathan Rolfe, Richard Brace Jr., Jenna Frazier, Klint Simpson, Tim Estenson.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Kerry Madsen picked up a side of beef and $4,000 for winning his 23^rdcareer 410 sprint car feature Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway, while Brian Brown earned $5,000 for winning a make-up feature.

In the regularly scheduled 20-lap 410 feature, A.J. Moeller led lap one from his pole position. A point invert of eight had Kerry Madsen starting fifth, but at the conclusion of lap two, he was already at the point.  Brian Brown started eighth, but was also in the top five by the second circuit. Lynton Jeffrey passed Moeller for second on lap three, before Jamie Ball spun in turn four.

Madsen led Jeffrey, Moeller, Brown and Wayne Johnson back to green.  Brown quickly claimed third, while Parker Price-Miller jumped from seventh to fourth.

On lap five, Brown shot by Jeffrey for second, and pursued the leader. Terry McCarl and Price-Miller had an entertaining battle for the fourth spot going in the middle stages of the race, while the leaders hit lapped traffic.

As Madsen sliced through traffic, Brown stayed close, but could not catch the St. Mary’s, New South Wales native.  Price-Miller, Gio Scelzi and Jeffrey chased the lead pair to the checkers.

Rico Abreu, Terry McCarl, Davey Heskin, Austin McCarl and Johnson rounded out the top 10.

“We have a great engine builder,” said Madsen, whose team changed an engine after the heat. “All of our stuff runs well. I wasn’t able to tinker on the car much, so maybe that helped us.  I got a great start and the car was really ripping. That’s good racing (lapped traffic that he dealt with). What makes racing good is fighting through the lapped cars.  That’s what it’s all about.”

The 25-lap make-up feature belonged to Brown. Brown started outside row one, and led every lap. Justin Henderson was on the move early, advancing into the top five by lap two, and then passing Matt Juhl for fourth on lap three.

Brown was into lapped traffic ahead of second place, Lynton Jeffrey, by lap six. A circuit later, both Terry McCarl and Henderson shot by Jeffrey in the second and third place spots.

Henderson clearly was fast on the cushion and shot by McCarl for second on lap nine.  By lap 12, Brown’s lead was 5.4 seconds.  Juhl entered the top three with nine to go, and Austin McCarl took fourth on lap 18.

With five to go, Brown’s lead peaked at over six seconds.  At the checkers, he lapped up to eighth place.  Henderson finished second, ahead of Juhl, Austin McCarl and Brooke Tatnell.

Terry McCarl, Trey Starks, Jeffrey, Mason Daniel and Davey Heskin completed the top 10.

The win was Brown’s 49th here, putting him one behind Sammy Swindell, who sits fifth all-time in feature wins.

“This is not easy by any stretch of the imagination,” said Brown. “This thing is just a pleasure to drive.  I felt in the first race, we had Kerry where we might have an opportunity. I missed the bottom coming to the white and that was a little frustrating. Starting on the front, you have to go hard for 25 laps. It’s a long time, so you can’t run the tires off. You have to search around a little. Hat’s off to the Dunkins. It was a phenomenal track for this many cars in the heat.”

Clint Garner won his 40th career main event in the 360 class, while Matthew Stelzer became the all-time leading feature winner in the Pro Sprints presented by Pace Performance, with his 13th career victory.

Myles Michehl swept the two 10-lap Dirt Truck main events scheduled, his first wins here.

OGILVIE, Minn. — When Skyline Motorsports was left without a driver to field its second car back in mid-June, Shane Clanton answered the call. Fast-forward to Saturday night at Ogilvie Raceway and he turned it into a winning decision.

Clanton outran Brandon Sheppard and Jimmy Mars to give Skyline Motorsports its first World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series victory, halting Sheppard’s five-race win streak.

Clanton charged up to the front from his ninth-place starting spot and broke into the top-five by the fifth circuit. Clanton chose to hug the bottom line throughout the entire race and made it stick better than any of the cars in the field, driving under Sheppard for second on lap 22 and polesitter Ricky Weiss for the lead on lap 29.

Clanton masterfully maneuvered a pack of four slower cars to keep his lead over Sheppard with under 20 circuits remaining.

“We were good in lapped traffic,” Clanton said. “They could scoot and I could feel the gap, that’s how I got by Jimmy [Mars] and [Ricky] Weiss. They slipped and our car was good enough to take advantage and fill the hole.”

But “The Georgia Bulldog” had yet to face what was potentially his biggest challenge of the night – a restart with 15 laps to go and a hungry Sheppard on his rear bumper.

Forced to try and outrun the Rocket1 Racing guru, Clanton stuck to his guns on the low side and simply drove away from Sheppard and Mars in the closing laps to earn his 44th career World of Outlaws victory and first since Screven Motor Speedway back in early February.

Earlier this year, Clanton picked up a huge win in a Dirt Late Model Dream preliminary feature at Eldora Speedway under then-car owner Ron Davies in his signature black-and-yellow No.25. Now, just eight races into driving under the new team, Clanton has picked up his first win for car owner Greg Bruening.

“We just got some better help and the crew is just gelling,” he said. “With as much help as I’ve got, I get to concentrate on making adjustments to, instead of working on, my race car, so that means a lot.”

But this triumphant effort wasn’t just any ordinary win. Sheppard and the Rocket1 Racing team have been on an incredible hot streak that still seems endless, sitting 192 points ahead of second-place and on an unheard of 21 top-fives in 22 starts.

“The 1 car had won five-in-a-row, so if all of them other guys thought they could outrun him, just come do it,” Clanton said. “It’s tough. That’s probably the best team in the sport, hands down, year after year. This roll they’ve been on this past month is tough. But we’ve been working and tweaking on our car, and it showed tonight how good we can be.”

Sheppard finished second.

“I just got us behind in qualifying, I didn’t run the right line and that put us starting fourth in the heat race,” Sheppard said. “We ran third in the heat and had to start seventh, but that’s where we messed up tonight, having to start back in the feature.”

The finish:

Feature (50 Laps) 1. 25-Shane Clanton [9][$10,000]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard [7][$5,000]; 3. 28m-Jimmy Mars [3][$3,000]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb [10][$2,500]; 5. 29-Darrell Lanigan [2][$2,000]; 6. 7-Ricky Weiss [1][$1,700]; 7. B1-Brent Larson [5][$1,400]; 8. 58-A.J. Diemel [14][$1,300]; 9. 97-Cade Dillard [8][$1,200]; 10. 49-Jake Timm [11][$1,100]; 11. 6m-Jeff Massingill [17][$1,050]; 12. 99B-Boom Briggs [22][$1,000]; 13. 18-Chase Junghans [6][$950]; 14. 86-Matt Smith [18][$900]; 15. 21x-Joel Collins [23][$850]; 16. 12-Mark Heinle [21][$800]; 17. 12h-Ben Heinle [19][$770]; 18. 6-Blake Spencer [13][$750]; 19. 19-Steve Laursen [12][$730]; 20. O6-Dave Smith [15][$700]; 21. 10-Paul Parker [20][$700]; 22. F19-Marshall Fegers [16][$700]; 23. 11-Pat Doar [4][$700] Hard Charger: 99B-Boom Briggs[+10]

FAIRBURY, Neb. — NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series point leader Tyler Courtney finished off Jefferson County Speedway’s Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation by storming to victory lane in Saturday night’s 40-lap feature.

Courtney took advantage of a Kevin Thomas Jr, miscue on a lap-five restart to take command after starting from the pole and led the frantic final 36 laps aboard the Clauson-Marshall Racing No. 7bc NOS Energy Drink Toyota-powered entry.

It wasn’t without some late drama though, as Thomas had one last shot at stealing the win after a final caution that set up a four-lap dash to the stripe.

“I saw someone there racing with me for the win,” Courtney said.  “I hadn’t been on the bottom of the track since early in the race so I knew I just had to keep hitting my marks up top.”

While Courtney started from the pole, it was front row outside starter Thomas jumping into the initial lead as Courtney fell back to fourth behind Jerry Coons Jr. and Tanner Thorson on the opening lap.

Courtney rebounded quickly though by getting back up to second by the time the first of three cautions flew after four laps for 2016 Fairbury winner Chad Boat.

And when Thomas stumbled on the turn-two cushion on the restart, Courtney took quick advantage and raced into a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish aside from a few backstretch feet on the 38th lap.

A 22-lap green-flag stretch had the leaders dicing through traffic much of the way until Brady Bacon came to a stop outside of turn two with 26 laps in the books. And, by that time, Courtney had three lapped cars separating himself from Thomas and reigning series champion Logan Seavey.

Courtney raced away on open track as Thomas and Seavey lost ground working lapped traffic.  The advantage was negated when Ethan Mitchell spun to a stop in turn three with just four laps to go.

Thomas challenged on the final restart, edging ahead briefly exiting turn two on the 38th lap.  Courtney continued to rail the topside and made it work for his sixth win of the year.

“We brought our game tonight,” Courtney explained.  “We have to capitalize on nights like this when we start up front.”

Thomas settled for second in the Petry Motorsports No. 5 entry.  “Other than my mistake early in the race, I felt like we had equal cars,” Thomas said. “I tried to sneak by and it worked until I got in the grease and pushed up.”

Seavey settled for the show position in the Keith Kunz Motorsports Mobil 1 No. 67 Toyota-powered machine. “Those last 10 laps were a lot of fun, this track is always fun to race at,” Seavey said

Coons crossed the stripe fourth while Tyler Thomas earned Hard Charger honors by rounding out the top five after starting 11th.

To see full results, turn to the next page.