SILVERSTONE GP REVIEW: HAMILTON WINS A RECORD NINTH BRITISH GRAND PRIX
Despite now having 104 wins to his name, it has felt like an age since Lewis Hamilton had won a grand prix. Jeddah in 2021 was the last time Hamilton had tasted victory, nearly three years ago. With all the pain and struggles of the last 2 seasons, this win will feel like his first. An emotional last dance at Silverstone for the Hamilton and Mercedes pairing. However, it didn’t come easy for the 7x champ, with a tough battle between Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell and Oscar Piastri for the win.
After a fantastic qualifying, The British GP had three Brits in P1,2 and 3. The first time ever! Due to damage sustained after going off at copse in turn one, Max Verstappen could only manage fourth, even with a brilliant last lap in Q3. Traffic from Carlos Sainz meant Oscar Piastri couldn’t improve on his last run, staying fifth. All five cars on Sunday morning felt like they could compete for the victory.
It was another terrible qualifying for Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. He went off at copse before Verstappen did, only Verstappen’s talents meant he could keep the car going. Perez was beached in the gravel, and out in Q1 for the second year running at Silverstone. The struggling Williams of Logan Sargeant has managed to out-qualify Sergio Perez six times this year. Yes, that is a real stat! Did Red Bull give Perez a contract too early?
After the first lap, both the Mercedes cars were still 1 and 2, Russell then Hamilton at this point, followed by Verstappen, Norris and Piastri. Verstappen had managed to overtake Norris (all clean this time) cleverly in the first sector, swooping round the outside much to the fans upset.
As the race continued, Verstappen’s tyre degradation was clearly worse than the McLaren’s, with both quickly passing him, meaning Norris was third and Piastri fourth. Then shortly after, the rain hit. As the grip levels dropped, The MCL 37 came alive, overtaking both Mercedes cars. The Papaya outfit was now P1 and 2, with some impressive overtakes from Oscar. Unfortunately for Oscar, he pitted a lap too late when the change to intermediate tyres was necessary, and pretty much lost a pit stop gap to leader Norris. Oscar then finished the race in fourth, 12 seconds off the lead. What could’ve been for the Aussie.
Norris followed Piastri in pitting one lap too late when the change back to dry tyres was necessary, losing the lead to Hamilton. He also chose to go on soft tyres instead of the mediums he had available which, proven by Piastri’s medium tyre pace, was the faster option. This meant Norris lost not only the fight for first, but also second as Verstappen managed to re-overtake the Brit, as his pace was very impressive when he moved onto the hard tyres. Silverstone feels like another race to add to McLaren’s 2024 missed opportunities. In my opinion, they have the fastest all-round car, but do not yet have the experience of performing as a top team. Nevertheless, Norris is now comfortably ahead of Leclerc for the P2 battle in the driver standings.