Hamilton captures his first title since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
SILVERSTONE, England—It has been two and a half years since Lewis Hamilton won a grand prix race. On Sunday, he won again and in the best way possible–in front of his home fans. The Briton took advantage of changing weather conditions and a botched pit stop from countryman Lando Norris to win the British Grand Prix for the ninth time. This time, Hamiton won by finishing a bit more than one second ahead of Max Verstappen. Norris ended up in third.
Mercedes won its second consecutive Grand Prix (Russell took last week’s title in Austria), and Sunday’s win marked the fourth straight race where the team collected 25 or more points on the weekend.
Lewis Hamilton: My heart is racing. I’ve had so many extraordinary times here, but when I came across that line, something released in me that I guess I’ve been holding onto for a long time. It was the most emotional end to a win I’ve ever experienced. I never cried, but it hit me hard after such a difficult 2021. I’m just trying to continue to come back. But also, as a team, we’ve had such a difficult time coming back and have so many thoughts and doubts in my mind along the way, to the point at times wanting not to continue.
Hamilton slotted behind another Briton, George Russell, early in the race. However, the first shower around lap 16 changed everything for the drivers to switch to intermediate tires. With most of the drivers coming in to change tires, the lead changed many times. With 20 laps to go, the weather changed once again to drier conditions, which gave the drivers the moment to return to the pits to go for slick tires, either in medium or soft conditions. Hamilton came in first, followed by Norris, who retained the lead. However, the McLaren driver had a slow pit stop, which gave Hamilton the chance to go into the lead with 12 laps to go.
Verstappen had also pitted and was on fresher soft tires, which gave the Dutchman the moment to close in on Norris, in which he quickly passed Norris for second. But as the laps began to get less, Hamilton increased his lead and gave himself and the home crowd an emotional victory he had hoped for many years.
“I mean, we just didn’t have the pace today.” Verstappen said.” I was slowly dropping back when it mattered initially, so it didn’t look great at some point. We made the right calls. Going from the slicks to the inters and the inters back from the slicks. It was every time the right lap. The end call from the team to be on the hards rather than the softs helped me to finish second today. I’m on the podium, so I am happy today.”
Lando Norris: I don’t know if I’m not making the right decisions, and I blame myself today for not making the right decisions. But I hate ending up in this position and not having excuses for doing a good enough job.
Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri had led early in the race, but his team did not want to double stack the pit stop, and he was second next to Norris early on. So, the latter pitted first, which ruined Piastri’s chance to place no better than fourth overall. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took fifth in a race that did not have much excitement compared to the other drivers.
Haas Nico Hulkenberg’s sixth-place finish was an outstanding achievement for his team, which also included teammate Kevin Magnussen in 12th. The Hass team has collected 20 points over the last two races, a splendid turnaround from the seven-point total it had won previously this season.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had a decent finish, too, as the Canadian took seventh, along with teammate Fernando Alonso in eighth. Williams Alex Albon finished a deserving ninth, with RB’s Yuki Tsunoda finishing the top ten.
Only two drivers retired from the race. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly did not get one lap in due to a gearbox problem, and Russell exited the race on lap 34 with a water cooling system problem.
Formula One’s next stop will be July 19-21 at the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Following three straight weeks of racing, a week off affords teams a break before the on-track competition continues.
