Lewis Hamilton made sure the British fans at Silverstone left with a smile on their faces as the seven-time World Champion won the 2024 British Grand Prix a record ninth time in front of his home crowd.
This was Hamilton’s first win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, ending a 945-day drought. The veteran Brit, who is leaving Mercedes at the end of the season for Ferrari, also locked in an eighth British win with the team.
Max Verstappen finished second, making up for a damaged Qualifying and finishing ahead of his Championship rival, Lando Norris, who once again let a golden opportunity slip away due to driver errors.
Pole-sitter George Russell, Hamilton’s teammate, had a different outing as he ended up retiring from the race.
Much to the home fans’ delight, it was the British lads who got things underway up front as Russell led from Hamilton. Verstappen, who had his Qualifying affected due to car damage, got Norris on the opening lap itself to move into P3. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had a horrible Qualifying, also started strong, quickly making up three places to move to P8.
Norris eventually got back this third spot from Verstappen on Lap 15, going on the inside of the Dutchman. A couple of laps later, it was his teammate, Oscar Piastri, who also got Verstappen as Hamilton took the lead of the race.
The two Mercedes drivers had a moment on Lap 19 as they went off track and Norris’ flying McLaren took the lead of the race coming out of Stowe on Lap 20, with Piastri moving up to P3 ahead of Russell.
The race again took an interesting turn on Lap 34, when Russell was forced to retire due to his car losing water pressure.
Verstappen switching to the Hard compound saw him get back into contention for the win, and with Hamilton leading from Norris, it was a three-way contest. A rapid Verstappen soon gobbled up Norris much to the home fans’ dismay, getting him on the Hangar Straight. However, he did not have enough laps to catch Hamilton, who hung on by the skin of his teeth for his first race win since 2021.
Oscar Piastri finished fourth behind his teammate, while Carlos Sainz, Nico Hülkenberg, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Alexander Albon, and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the points places, in that order.
Verstappen’s P2 finish sees him extend his Championship lead to 94 points over Norris, while Leclerc falls 21 points behind Norris after leaving Silverstone empty-handed. Piastri, meanwhile, is creeping up on Sainz to snatch fourth place, while Hamilton’s wins sees him remain in eighth place, albeit just one point off his teammate.
Red Bull stay on top of the Constructors’ table, but McLaren’s strong double points finish sees them in third place, just seven points behind Ferrari.
As the season’s first triple-header comes to an end with the 2024 British Grand Prix, Formula One will take a two-week break before moving to Hungary for the final double-header of the opening half of the season before the mid-season break.
Also read: Formula One 2024 Sponsors
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