This weekend turned out to be a record setting weekend for British drivers in Formula 1. For the first time since 1968, three British drivers qualify in the first three spots on the starting grid. The rest of the records belong to Lewis Hamilton who drove an outstanding race. Today’s win marks his 104th Grand Prix victory, extending his staggering win record. With Hamilton’s win at Silverstone, he is also the only driver to win nine races at a single circuit. Finally, he is the only driver in Formula 1 history to win a race after 300 starts.
Today’s race was among the most exciting of the year. Mercedes and McLaren are catching up to Red Bull. Some believe that they already have, however that is not entirely the case. It is true that Red Bull has suffered some key departures in their garage. Those departures have made their way to other teams in the paddock. Yet, despite that, Max Verstappen and Red Bull lead the racing grid by a wide margin.
Last week Lando Norris and Max Verstappen tangled in Austria, causing them both to lose out on a podium slot. This week the weather caused Verstappen to go off track into the gravel during qualification, damaging the high-tech aero system under his car and causing him to start the race in fourth.
During lap one, Verstappen found a way to take advantage of the battling Brits, and he managed to overtake Norris on an early S turn. Verstappen maintained his position until lap fifteen when the weather was starting to turn. At that point Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri overtook Max on lap fifteen and lap seventeen respectively.
George Russell started to have trouble as the weather turned. He was losing time to his teammate Lewis Hamilton at lap fifteen. At lap eighteen, as the duo turned into Stowe corner Hamilton overtook Russell. The 39-year-old veteran handled the damp track well. Despite that, two laps later, Lando Norris found some uncanny grip and whipped around Hamilton as they screamed down the pit straight. Then, Piastri whipped around Hamilton on Stowes corner. Just like that, Hamilton went from second, to first, to second to third in just two laps.
The rain came back around lap 26, and this time the whole grid had to box for intermediate tires. As the laps wound down, Russell’s Mercedes started losing water pressure. He was forced to retire his car at lap 34. At that point in the race he was running fourth behind Verstappen.
The rain let up and at lap 39 the track dried out to the point that the teams started putting slicks back on their car. Hamilton and Verstappen pitted but Lando Norris wheeled his McLaren around the track one more lap before changing his tires. Norris’s stop effectively ended his chances to win the race. First, the pit stop took 4.5 seconds. Then, the team made the questionable decision to put on a set of used soft tires when they had a set of new medium tires on hand. When Norris wheeled out of the pits, Hamilton had overtaken him by two seconds, and Verstappen was hunting Norris down.
Silverstone is notorious for tire degradation. When a tire degrades, the speed of the car degrades. McLaren must have felt that in order to keep up with Hamilton, they needed soft tires. Red Bull opted to put on hard tires when Verstappen pitted a lap earlier than Norris. Red Bull knew that their best chance to catch Norris was to install a longer lasting tire. They were right. At lap 48, Verstappen powered around Norris on Hanger straight. Verstappen had four laps to go and was only 3 seconds behind Hamilton. The flying Dutchman couldn’t overtake Hamilton today. He closed within 1.7 seconds as the checkered flag flew.
McLaren seems to be getting in their own way allowing Hamilton to capitalize. They have a monster of a car, and two excellent drivers. Lando Norris will be a champion. All of his mistakes will add up to experience which will add up to wins.
As for Ferrari, they are letting the wrong driver go. Carlos Sainz has consistently been the better driver all year this year, despite Charles Leclerc’s lone Monaco win. Leclerc seems to lack the consistent dedicated focus to be a week in and week out competitor, whereas Sainz is showing that he is one of the top drivers on the grid, as he rounded the track with the fastest lap at Silverstone during lap 52.
Today was Lewis Hamilton’s day. He was rightfully emotional. He had not won a race since the Saudia Arabia Grand Prix in 2021. Improving as much as they have over the last few weeks, Mercedes is certainly on the right track. Both Mercedes drivers have achieved a win this year. Hamilton is the sixth different Grand Prix winner this year. The question is, well they maintain their upward trajectory. Regardless, Hamilton proved today that he still has the chops to be a top contender in Formula 1. Perhaps he will show Leclerc first-hand what it takes to be a champion, or perhaps he will just win his eighth championship as a Ferrari driver.
