Photo: @redbullracing
Good things come to those who wait. Lewis Hamilton has been knocking on the door of victory for some time, but it finally opened again at Sunday's British Grand Prix, taking his first win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP.
Hamilton, who hadn't won a race for 945 days heading into Sunday's British GP, was at his best in tricky conditions and quickly moved into the lead on Lap 18 at the expense of teammate George Russell.
After the first round of stops, Hamilton was second behind McLaren's Lando Norris as the track dried, forcing a switch to slicks on Lap 39. Norris pitted for the second time on Lap 40, but after he overshot his pit box, Hamilton returned to the lead and never looked back, securing his 104th F1 career victory.
"It feels different to previous races and particularly races where you're having race after race after race or seasons where you're having multiple wins," said Hamilton in Sunday's FIA press conference. "I think with the kind of the adversity I would say that we've gone through as a team and that I personally felt, that I've experienced, those challenges, the constant challenge like we all have to get out of bed every day and give it our best shot.
"And, you know, there's so many times where you feel like your best shot is just not good enough. And the disappointment sometimes that you can feel, you know, and we live in a time where mental health is such a serious issue. And I'm not going to lie, that I have experienced that. And there's definitely been moments where, you know, the thought that this was it, that that was never going to happen again. So to have this feeling come across the line, I think, honestly, I've never cried coming from a win. It just came out of me. And it's a really great feeling. I'm very, very grateful for it."
Starting from fourth, Verstappen got past Norris for third on Lap 1 but couldn't hold off the McLaren attack and had dropped to fifth behind Oscar Piastri by Lap 17.
With Russell retiring on Lap 34 and Piastri dropping back to fourth after staying out one lap longer before making his first stop, Verstappen moved into third with 20 laps left before switching to hards for the final stint of the race on Lap 39. The gamble to switch to hards was a masterstroke by Red Bull as Verstappen cleared Norris for second on Lap 48 and was within one and a half seconds of Hamilton at the finish.
"I tried to keep up, but I just ran out of tyres," admitted Verstappen. "I mean, everything was running hot, and I just struggled for grip. So then Lando got by. Then Oscar got by. It started to rain. I had no grip as well there. I didn't want to take too much risk as well because it didn't feel good. It didn't feel comfortable. So I was like, 'I'll just sit here and try to survive.'
"But then, yeah, we just kept it on track, made the right calls from the slick to the Inter, and then from the Inter back to the slick tyre, which just basically kept me in contention, really. I mean, by making the right calls today, we were there at the right time.
"And to the end, with the hard tyre, that was the right call for us, definitely. So we could push on the tyre because the Medium already wasn't good enough for us. So, to the end, to go flat out on the Hard was the best we could do, and we finished second. At one point it was looking like P5 or P6 even. So yeah, on a poor afternoon I would say in terms of performance to be second, I'll take that."
At the start, Norris lost ground by running wide at Turn 3, opening the door to Verstappen to take third but he repassed the Dutchman down Hanger straight on Lap 15.
Mistakes from Hamilton and Russell on Lap 19 put Norris back in the box seat, and one lap later, he took the lead from Hamilton down the start-finish straight. Norris pitted on Lap 28 and retained his lead until the second round of stops when he overshot his pit box, dropping him to second behind Hamilton.
The decision to put on softs at his final stop also proved to be the wrong call, as Verstappen, on hards, was able to push harder than Norris. With four laps to go, Verstappen got his revenge down Hanger straight, breezing past Norris who had to settle for third.
"I mean, so many things were going well," said Norris. "We threw it away in the final stop. So, one lap, but also, I don't think it was a lap.
"I think even if I boxed on the perfect lap, our decision to go on to the softs was the wrong one. I think Lewis still would have won, no matter what. So, two calls from our side cost us everything today. So, especially here, pretty disappointing."
Russell had taken his second pole of 2024 and held his lead for the opening quarter of the race after making a good start. He was then relegated to second as Hamilton breezed by into the lead on Lap 18. A bizarre off on Lap 19 dropped Russell to third behind Norris, and on Lap 20 he was relegated to fourth as a hard-charging Piastri went around the outside of the Brit at Turn 3.
Mercedes double-stacked their drivers for intermediates on Lap 27, with Russell rejoining in fourth behind Verstappen before being told to retire the car seven laps later.
"Everything was under control at the beginning in the dry, then very challenging conditions in the damp, I started losing power, and next thing I know, I had to retire the car, so yeah pretty disappointing," said a disappointed Russell. "For sure, we'll take the positives, the car is fast, and we'll have more opportunities, but retiring from any race is disappointing, let alone your home race.
"We definitely had a shot at least [of] a podium."
After the first round of stops, Hamilton was second behind McLaren's Lando Norris as the track dried, forcing a switch to slicks on Lap 39. Norris pitted for the second time on Lap 40, but after he overshot his pit box, Hamilton returned to the lead and never looked back, securing his 104th F1 career victory.
"It feels different to previous races and particularly races where you're having race after race after race or seasons where you're having multiple wins," said Hamilton in Sunday's FIA press conference. "I think with the kind of the adversity I would say that we've gone through as a team and that I personally felt, that I've experienced, those challenges, the constant challenge like we all have to get out of bed every day and give it our best shot.
"And, you know, there's so many times where you feel like your best shot is just not good enough. And the disappointment sometimes that you can feel, you know, and we live in a time where mental health is such a serious issue. And I'm not going to lie, that I have experienced that. And there's definitely been moments where, you know, the thought that this was it, that that was never going to happen again. So to have this feeling come across the line, I think, honestly, I've never cried coming from a win. It just came out of me. And it's a really great feeling. I'm very, very grateful for it."
Verstappen content with P2 after testing afternoon
Behind Hamilton was reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who endured an unusually anonymous afternoon. Verstappen was unable to challenge for victory as Red Bull's struggles with pace were on full display throughout the Silverstone weekend.Starting from fourth, Verstappen got past Norris for third on Lap 1 but couldn't hold off the McLaren attack and had dropped to fifth behind Oscar Piastri by Lap 17.
With Russell retiring on Lap 34 and Piastri dropping back to fourth after staying out one lap longer before making his first stop, Verstappen moved into third with 20 laps left before switching to hards for the final stint of the race on Lap 39. The gamble to switch to hards was a masterstroke by Red Bull as Verstappen cleared Norris for second on Lap 48 and was within one and a half seconds of Hamilton at the finish.
"I tried to keep up, but I just ran out of tyres," admitted Verstappen. "I mean, everything was running hot, and I just struggled for grip. So then Lando got by. Then Oscar got by. It started to rain. I had no grip as well there. I didn't want to take too much risk as well because it didn't feel good. It didn't feel comfortable. So I was like, 'I'll just sit here and try to survive.'
"But then, yeah, we just kept it on track, made the right calls from the slick to the Inter, and then from the Inter back to the slick tyre, which just basically kept me in contention, really. I mean, by making the right calls today, we were there at the right time.
"And to the end, with the hard tyre, that was the right call for us, definitely. So we could push on the tyre because the Medium already wasn't good enough for us. So, to the end, to go flat out on the Hard was the best we could do, and we finished second. At one point it was looking like P5 or P6 even. So yeah, on a poor afternoon I would say in terms of performance to be second, I'll take that."
Norris wonders what might have been
It was a day of ifs, buts, and maybes for Norris as a potential home victory was snatched from his grasp with less than a quarter of the race left to run.At the start, Norris lost ground by running wide at Turn 3, opening the door to Verstappen to take third but he repassed the Dutchman down Hanger straight on Lap 15.
Mistakes from Hamilton and Russell on Lap 19 put Norris back in the box seat, and one lap later, he took the lead from Hamilton down the start-finish straight. Norris pitted on Lap 28 and retained his lead until the second round of stops when he overshot his pit box, dropping him to second behind Hamilton.
The decision to put on softs at his final stop also proved to be the wrong call, as Verstappen, on hards, was able to push harder than Norris. With four laps to go, Verstappen got his revenge down Hanger straight, breezing past Norris who had to settle for third.
"I mean, so many things were going well," said Norris. "We threw it away in the final stop. So, one lap, but also, I don't think it was a lap.
"I think even if I boxed on the perfect lap, our decision to go on to the softs was the wrong one. I think Lewis still would have won, no matter what. So, two calls from our side cost us everything today. So, especially here, pretty disappointing."
Russell disappointed after losing chance of home win
Mercedes could easily have had a double podium finish through Russell, who had been running a strong race before a water system issue put him out on Lap 34.Russell had taken his second pole of 2024 and held his lead for the opening quarter of the race after making a good start. He was then relegated to second as Hamilton breezed by into the lead on Lap 18. A bizarre off on Lap 19 dropped Russell to third behind Norris, and on Lap 20 he was relegated to fourth as a hard-charging Piastri went around the outside of the Brit at Turn 3.
Mercedes double-stacked their drivers for intermediates on Lap 27, with Russell rejoining in fourth behind Verstappen before being told to retire the car seven laps later.
"Everything was under control at the beginning in the dry, then very challenging conditions in the damp, I started losing power, and next thing I know, I had to retire the car, so yeah pretty disappointing," said a disappointed Russell. "For sure, we'll take the positives, the car is fast, and we'll have more opportunities, but retiring from any race is disappointing, let alone your home race.
"We definitely had a shot at least [of] a podium."
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