F1 Review: Lando Norris Goes Mistake Free, Wins His First British Grand Prix; Nico Hulkenberg First-ever Podium

Lando Norris delighted his home faithful, surviving the chaos served by intermittent rain showers and taking advantage of a critical error by McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and a restart spin by Max Verstappen, to win the Qatar Airways British Grand Prix on Sunday (July 6th). The mixed conditions opened the door for Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg to take third, after starting 19th, and secure his first career podium finish after 239 starts.  

The party can begin! 🥳

Lando Norris takes the chequered flag at his home race for the first time 🤩#F1 #BritishGP @McLarenF1 pic.twitter.com/yrUKUcEz0U

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

“It’s beautiful – everything I dreamed of, everything I’ve ever wanted to achieve,” Norris said. “The last few laps I was just looking into the crowd. I was just trying to take it all in and enjoy the moment. There are the memories that I’ll bring with me forever.”

Piastri was defiant yet measured in his response to the penalty.

“Apparently, you can’t brake behind the safety car anymore,” he said. “I did it for five laps before that. I’m not going to say too much – I’m going to get myself in trouble.”

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished fourth, with Verstappen charging late after his spin to take fifth. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll employed a number of pit stops to place sixth, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly finishing seventh. Williams Racing’s Alex Albon was eighth, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was ninth, and Mercedes’ George Russell’s eventful day ended with a 10th-place finish.

In the driver standings, Norris now trails Piastri by only eight points, 234 to 226. Verstappen is well back in third with 165 points, 18 ahead of Russell.

DRIVER STANDINGS (12/24 races)

Piastri's lead is cut to eight points 👀#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/hXuMhyUOmP

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

McLaren continues to dominate in the constructor standings, leading Ferrari by 460 to 222. Mercedes is a close third with 210 points.

The Race

With the track drying after earlier rain, the field took the formation lap behind the safety car, with all cars on intermediate tires. Russell and Leclerc pitted before the start to take dry tires. Verstappen minimized tire spin and did just enough at lights out to hold off Piastri, with Norris tucking in behind his teammate.

It was a mad Grand Prix from start to finish 🤯🍿

Relive the best moments from an epic race at Silverstone 🇬🇧#F1 #BritishGP

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

Norris held off an attack from Hamilton on lap 2 to maintain third, while a virtual safety car was instituted for Liam Lawson’s stalled Racing Bull, after being hit by Esteban Ocon on Lap 1. Franco Colapinto retired after stalling his car in the pits, ending a disastrous weekend that likely ejected him from his Alpine seat.

Green flag racing resumed on lap 4, with weather forecasts calling for rain in about 10 laps. Verstappen and Piastri ran well clear of Norris, who was already three seconds back. Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto spun on the restart and into the gravel pit but was able to continue before ultimately parking the car, resulting in another VSC.

The VSC ended, and racing resumed on lap 7 with Piastri stalking Verstappen’s Red Bull. Piastri completed the pass on the Hangar Straight on lap 8, as drivers reported rain starting. Piastri pulled away, with Norris now closing on Verstappen. Cars on slick tires were significantly faster than cars on intermediates, but with heavy rain approaching, that advantage would soon be nullified.

Piastri pitted for fresh intermediates on lap 11, while Verstappen ran wide, allowing Norris to briefly take the lead. Both Norris and Verstappen then pitted for another set of intermediates, with a slower McLaren stop giving Verstappen the edge coming out.

Piastri was back in the lead, this time a whopping nine seconds ahead of Verstappen. Leclerc went off the track and all the way through the grass in Turn 12, as the Ferrari driver blamed it on rain getting into his visor. The rain was heavy, and with visibility almost nil and the danger of hydroplaning present, a safety car was deployed on lap 13.  

The safety car was in at the end of lap 17, and Piastri resumed his dominance, quickly opening up a two-second lead. Isaak Hadjar crashed heavily in the Copse chicane after a lack of visibility caused him to ram the rear of Antonelli’s Mercedes, and the safety car was out again. Hadjar became the fourth car out of the race.

Hadjar rear-ends Antonelli at the restart and ends up in the barriers 💥#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/rlB83Ivk2R

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

Just after the safety car entered the pits, Piastri braked heavily, forcing Verstappen to go past him. The incident earned Piastri an investigation by the race stewards that resulted in a 10-second penalty. Green flag racing resumed on lap 22 with Verstappen spinning, nearly doing a 360 before gathering his Red Bull and losing eight places.

Yet more drama! 😮 Max spins at the restart 🎥#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/MBlIVsNZI0

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

The incident that led to Piastri’s 10-second penalty 👀#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/19PHX5hXGO

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

Stroll, Hülkenberg, and Gasly ran 3-4-5 on lap 29, clear evidence that a wet race often levels the playing field for mid-field teams, and a dream podium was a possibility for all three.

Verstappen, meanwhile, was stuck in 10th, unable to even get by Carlos Sainz’s Williams, as the Red Bull’s pole position start was merely an afterthought now. 

Norris had trimmed the gap to Piastri to under three seconds, while McLaren considered the evidence to make an appeal to the stewards over Piastri’s penalty. Behind them, Hülkenberg was hot on the tail of Stroll for third, with the German seeking his first podium finish. The Sauber made the pass on lap 34, with Hülkenberg’s joy likely short-lived, with Hamilton’s Ferrari soon to be a threat. 

LAP 38/52

Hulkenberg started P19, he's now P3 📈

But Hamilton is breathing down his neck 😮#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/8THTZyy3ZK

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

 Alonso was the first to gamble by switching to slicks, and pitted for a set of mediums on lap 38. Russell said, “Let’s go for it” and did the same a lap later. It didn’t quite work out for Russell, as he lost it and spun into the gravel at Beckett’s. He luckily avoided the barrier and continued.

Norris laid down a series of laps in the 1:39’s to cut Piastri’s lead to just over a second. One would think, considering the circumstances, Norris would not even consider the thought of attempting a dangerous overtake. And one would think it would be the right time for some McLaren team orders that a driver would actually listen to. 

Piastri pitted on lap 43, served his penalty, and left with a set of mediums. Norris came in a lap later, also for mediums, and Norris came out in the lead, with a six-second lead. Piastri nearly lost it at Maggats but saved it. Verstappen, in sixth, was busy cursing his car as “undriveable” and adding gasoline to the fire of rumors of him wanting to leave Red Bull.   

Hülkenberg, in third, had 22 seconds over Hamilton with five laps left, and that first podium was looking very solid, especially with Hamilton struggling. That margin was up to 26 seconds with two laps left.

Norris took the checkered flag seven seconds up on Piastri, winning his first British Grand Prix, with Hülkenberg sealing his maiden podium, well ahead of Hamilton.

He started P19 and finished P3! 💪

A remarkable race and an incredible journey for @HulkHulkenberg 🤩#F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/1djJWJJyGy

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

The Good

While there were quite a few laps under either a full safety car or virtual safety car, the green flag racing at Silverstone didn’t disappoint. And that’s thanks to the rain. When it rains at an F1 race, no one knows what will happen. And often, without rain, not much actually happens.

Without Mother Nature’s influence, we wouldn’t have witnessed Nico Hülkenberg’s amazing podium finish. And, we wouldn’t have been privy to Charles Leclerc’s attempt at trying to touch every piece of dirt and grass at Silverstone with at least one of the wheels of his Ferrari. Did Leclerc lose a bet or something? Leclerc blamed one of his treks through the dirt/grass on water getting inside his visor. That’s right—inside his visor, which I’m pretty sure is designed to keep things out. I know Ferrari is struggling to manage various technical issues with their SF-25, but if they can’t even get the visor working correctly, then it’s going to be a long year.    

The Bad

Alpine’s Franco Colapinto may have sealed his fate, which was probably already sealed after a crash in Q1 in Saturday’s (July 5th) qualifying, by stalling his Alpine in pit lane before even completing a single lap. Ironically, Flavio Briatore’s instruction to his Argentine driver need not change at all, because it’s still “Franco, it’s time to go.”

But don’t lose hope, Franco. Your F1 career is far from over. Practice patience, and I mean extreme patience. Just look to the “F1: The Movie” universe for inspiration, because 40 years from now, you could make a miraculous, and remarkably unlikely, comeback, team with an immensely talented yet selfish rookie, be allowed to break long-established F1 rules, possibly make out with your team’s technical director, win an F1 race and singlehandedly keep a team afloat.  

Why did Piastri even feel the need to brake check Verstappen for tactical reasons, when all previous indications were his McLaren was much faster in the conditions, and he had already passed Verstappen on the track once? In addition, Verstappen and Red Bull insisted race leader George Russell committed a similar infraction, also with Verstappen in second, in Canada on June 15th. And that was done by Russell in totally dry conditions. Piastri’s questionable braking decision was made in extremely wet conditions, with the lack of visibility at dangerous levels. So, if stewards even just considered giving Russell a penalty, there was no way they wouldn’t penalize Piastri because his actions and the condition in which he committed them were much more dangerous.

Piastri essentially threw away the win for no good reason and gifted the win to his closest rival. In Piastri’s defense, though, his ploy actually worked, because Verstappen spun out on the restart.  

Oops! Norris said the “F” word in his post-race interview with Sky Sports’ Jenson Button, who apologized on Norris’ behalf before Norris did the same. It was an understandable slip-up, but Lando needs to realize that children are watching Formula 1; luckily, these very children were unfazed because they likely hear this type of language and worse on their various social media apps or over Red Bull radio communique with Max Verstappen. So, the kids are all right, but somebody will be offended. 

Punishment was, however, forthcoming, when Norris’ filthy mouth was washed out….with champagne on the podium.  

The Haas of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman managed to survive intact for 45 laps in hazardous conditions, with cars spinning right and left, but somehow made contact with each other in Turn 6, leading to synchronized spins for the teammates. 

Bearman was at fault for causing the contact, and was on thin ice already after being handed a 10-place grid penalty and four penalty points on his license for a red flag infringement in qualifying on Saturday (July 5th). Bearman’s action was probably the most egregious rookie mistake on a day at Silverstone replete with rookie mistakes. And he is now on the bad side of Ocon, who is notorious for not even having a good side.

Grid Walk Moments

After weeks of some of the most uneventful Grid Walks in Grid Walk history, celebrities were out in full force at Silverstone.

Martin Brundle started off the Grid Walk when skateboarding legend Tony Hawk dropped in for a gnarly interview. Unfortunately, Hawk didn’t confuse Brundle with talk of “frontsides,” backsides,” “grinds,” “goofy foots,” “half-pipes,” “bowls,” “acid drops,” and “funboxes.” Taken out of context, Brundle could have only surmised that those terms would appear in the online dating profile of an extremely outgoing Gen Z’er.

And actor Tom Holland may be the most enthusiastic interviewee in all of Brundle’s Grid Walks. I could only “marvel” at the “Spiderman” actor’s knowledge of F1 and his appreciation for being on the grid.  

And a Grid Walk at Silverstone this time around wouldn’t be complete without at least one interview with a star of “F1: The Movie.” And that would be the actor who played APXGP hotshot driver Joshua Pearce, Damson Idris, who sported the second-most recognizable set of cornrows in F1 history. Actually, he sported the only other set of cornrows in F1 history, next to Lewis Hamilton’s. 

The Driver

Sauber made all the right tire choices at all the right times, leading to Nico Hülkenberg’s first career podium as the 39-year-old German driver finished third at Silverstone. Hülkenberg was serenaded with chants of “Nico! Nico!” by the Sauber team, who celebrated Sauber’s first podium since 2012. I don’t think anyone says this result coming, so you could say “Hülk smash”-ed all expectations.

Gabi was the first to congratulate Nico 🤜🤛#F1 #BritishGP @stakef1team_ks pic.twitter.com/o8FCjH5Z0W

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 6, 2025

The Results (Qatar Airways British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit)

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Laps Completed	Time	Points
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	52	1:37:15.735	25
2	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	52	+6.812s	18
3	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber	52	+34.742s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	52	+39.812s	12
5	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	52	+56.781s	10
6	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	52	+59.857s	8
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	52	+60.603s	6
8	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	52	+64.135s	4
9	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	52	+65.858s	2
10	63	George Russell	Mercedes	52	+70.674s	1
11	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas	52	+72.095s	0
12	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	52	+76.592s	0
13	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas	52	+77.301s	0
14	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	52	+84.477s	0
15	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing	51	+1 lap	0
NC	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	23	DNF	0
NC	6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	17	DNF	0
NC	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber	3	DNF	0
NC	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	0	DNF	0
NC	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	0	DNS	0