The seven-time champion is back on top of the podium.
It was a rainy afternoon at the Silverstone Circuit, and the conditions produced another exciting race as Lewis Hamilton took his 104th career F1 win by 1.465 seconds in the British Grand Prix, his first victory in 56 races since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021.
Hamilton also broke the record for the most wins at a single track previously held by Michael Schumacher, winning his ninth race at Silverstone.
“Since 2021, everyday, getting up trying to fight, to train, to put my mind to the task and work as hard as can with this amazing team – this is my last race here, the British Grand Prix, with this team,” Hamilton said to Sky Sports. “I wanted to win this so much for them because I love them. I appreciate them so much for all the work they’ve been putting in all of these years. I’m forever grateful to everyone on this team, everyone at Mercedes and all of our partners and, otherwise, to all of our incredible fans. I could see you lap-by-lap as I was coming around. There’s just no better feeling than to finish at the front here.”
Max Verstappen passed Lando Norris in the closing laps to make up the podium. Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz completed the top five.
Niko Hulkenburg, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda complete the top 10.
George Russell won the pole and led the opening laps, but as the first cell of rain started to fall around lap 15, Hamilton passed his Mercedes teammate to take his first lead of the race.
The 39-year-old didn’t hold it for long as the McLarens of Norris and Piastri had faster pace in the damp conditions and rocketed past both Russell and Hamilton.
Norris would hold a three-second lead as the skies continued to pour, but in the final 15 laps of the race, the sun came back out, allowing Mercedes to perform the undercut on Norris.
Norris joined Hamilton in pitting for soft tires instead of putting on a set of medium tires like his McLaren teammate Piastri. Hamilton and his Mercedes team wound up being two seconds faster on pit road than Norris to take and ultimately keep the lead.
“First of all, congrats to Lewis,” Norris said. “That crucial decision at the end, he just did a better job on. So, hats off to him and Mercedes. They deserve it. It was tough. It was enjoyable. It was fun battling these guys, and these tricky conditions are always on a knife’s edge, and you’re risking a lot. So many things good, but a few too many let downs today. As a team, I don’t think we did quite the job we should’ve done or good enough but still lovely to be on the podium at Silverstone.”
Verstappen charged ahead of Norris to second on the hard tire and closed in on Hamilton, but it was too late for the Dutchman.
Despite running out of time, the three-time champion found his way on the podium despite being behind the pace of the Mercedes and McLarens to start.
“We just didn’t have the pace today,” Verstappen said. “I was slowly dropping back when it mattered at the beginning. It didn’t look great. At some point, I was really thinking, ‘Are we going to finish fifth, sixth?’ But, we made the right calls. Going from the slicks to the inters and then also from the inters back to the slicks, I think it was every time the right lap. Also at the end, the call from the team to be on the hard tire instead of the soft was definitely helping me out. That’s why I think we also finished second today. So, it could have been a lot worse, but we’re making the right calls. We still got onto the podium, and I’m, of course, very happy about that.”
Carlos Sainz, with a free pit stop, put on soft tires to steal the fastest lap on the final lap.
Verstappen’s late race blitz grew his points lead over Norris to 84 points, and Red Bull’s lead on the constructors standings stood at 71 points over Ferrari in second and 78 points ahead of McLaren in third.
Despite back-to-back wins for Mercedes, the team faced a 74 point deficit in the constructors championship to McLaren.
The Aston Martin camp achieved their fourth double points finish of the season with Alonso and Stroll. Aston Martin were well behind their supplier Mercedes by 153 points and were only 37 points clear of RB Honda RBPT.
Hulkenburg’s second-consecutive finish of sixth moves Haas four points away from The RBs.
William’s Albon, who started ninth, matched his best finish from the Monaco Grand Prix in ninth, scoring the team’s second points finish of the season.
The polesitter Russell had a problem with his water system and had to retire from fourth. Pierre Gasly joined him as the only two retirements of the race.
There were no safety cars throughout the duration of the race.
British Grand Prix Results
The next race on the F1 calendar will be the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, July 21. The broadcast in the United States will be provided by ESPN.
About the author
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
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You have to wonder if Hamilton may be regretting his planned move to Ferrari next year. I understand it’s just about every F1 driver’s dream to someday drive for Ferrari, but after being mired mid pack for the last two and a half years, and Hamilton’s leaving, Mercedes finally appears to be competitive again. To make matters worse for him, Ferrari seems to have taken a step back this year.