Formula 1 ®
LCH does it! Winning his 9th British Grand Prix! He takes his first win since 2021 and Fernando stuck in the mid pack! Max got his wings back for second, Lando settles for P3 and poor George victim of the DNF chapel.
SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — Lewis Hamilton held off Max Verstappen’s late charge to win a thrilling British Grand Prix on Sunday and secure his first victory since the penultimate race of the 2021 season.
Hamilton became the first F1 driver to win on any track nine times and also extended his F1 record to 104 wins. His last came at the Saudi Arabian GP in December 2021 — the year he lost the title to Red Bull driver Verstappen.
The seven-time F1 champion beat defending champion Verstappen by 1.5 seconds, with Lando Norris finishing third for McLaren.
“Love you guys,” a tearful-sounding Hamilton told his team over radio.
There were high hopes for a home win at Silverstone, with Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell on pole position ahead of Hamilton and with Norris going from third and Verstappen fourth.
Russell’s hopes of a second straight F1 win ended on Lap 34 of 52 with a suspected water system issue on his car. A few laps later, McLaren botched Norris’ tire change.
Verstappen overtook Norris with four laps left but could not catch Hamilton, to the delight of most of the 164,000 fans attending the race. Hamilton was emotional after the race, which took place 945 days after his last win at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The 39-year-old racer embraced his father, Anthony, and wiped away tears underneath his visor.
Lewis
Today means so much. It is the most incredible honour to be standing on the top step of the podium here at Silverstone. I think my heart is still racing! We’ve had so many amazing times here and today was the most emotional end to a win I’ve ever had. It has been a really challenging few years for everyone in the team. Knowing how hard everyone has worked to fight back, I think it was a real release of emotion. I am forever grateful to everyone in this team, to Mercedes, and to all our partners. To finally succeed is the greatest feeling I remember having.
It was a tricky race out there. The changeable conditions made it a real challenge. We kept our cool though and made the right call at the right time to switch back to slicks. That helped us take back the lead and from there, we were able to bring it home.
Toto
Today’s win is like a fairytale. It is our last British Grand Prix together with Lewis and what a way to sign off. It is such a great feeling to be able to achieve victory in front of the British crowds with the most iconic, and most successful British driver in a Mercedes.
Last week’s win was fortuitous. Today, we were quick in almost all conditions. We were running first and second for a long time and, although the McLarens were quick when the rain fell, we were able to get back ahead of them. It is a win on merit, and it shows the grit of this team. We never stopped believing, we never stopped working, and we have been able to unlock the potential in the car. We are now on a roll.
George was unfortunate today. He has been so strong recently and took a fantastic pole position yesterday. Sadly, we had to retire his car with a water system issue. He would have likely been in position to fight for the win were it not for that
Max
“It was difficult today to manage especially with the rain, but looking at pure performance we were too slow in the first stint and overall struggled with tyre degradation. At one point it was looking like we might finish P5 or P6, but we made all of the right calls, especially with pitstops, and that put us back into contention. When it started to rain we didn’t want to take too much risk as I was already struggling with grip, and the Team also put the hard tyre on at the end and that definitely saved my race as I was the only one on the hard tyre and was able to really push. Out of a tough situation we still finished second, and extended our Championship leads, and that of course is a very strong result for us. We’re halfway through the season now and we have a bit of work to do still to finish the season where we want to be.”
Fernando
RACE P8
“It was a good result for us today with both cars scoring points in the top ten. I felt more competitive this weekend and it seemed we were in our natural position, which is more encouraging than the last few races. It was a tricky race to understand, with question marks on whether to fit wet or dry tyres at certain points of the race. I think we waited one lap too late to switch to the Intermediates, but you need a bit of luck with these decisions. It’s up to us to keep improving and find more performance in the car heading into the upcoming races.”