Max Verstappen took victory at the British Grand Prix ahead of the home duo of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
It becomes the first Oracle Red Bull Racing win at the Silverstone Circuit since Mark Webber won in 2012, while Norris took his best finish since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix ahead of Hamilton, who finished on the podium at Silverstone for the fourteenth time.
Norris took his first podium of the season and his first at his home Grand Prix, leaving the British fans delighted. Norris was joined by Hamilton, meaning that two Britons were on the podium together for the first time since 1999.
What Happened in the Race?
Verstappen got slowly off the start, which allowed Norris to come through going into turn one, much to the delight of the British fans. Oscar Piastri also got a good start, and battled away with Verstappen for the first lap, with the Dutchman struggling to settle into the race.
The two Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team drivers had varied starts. Hamilton made an error at Village, running wide and falling back to ninth place behind Fernando Alonso. Meanwhile, George Russell skillfully utilized a different strategy starting on the soft tyre to overtake Carlos Sainz Jr.
Norris held the lead for the first four laps, but he soon found himself challenged by Verstappen. The defending champion utilized his extremely powerful DRS to effortlessly pass Norris at Brooklands.
While one British driver struggled to keep in the lead, Hamilton continued his impressive recovery by overtaking his old rival Alonso, while Russell was looking to make moves further up the field.
The race’s first retirement happened when Esteban Ocon encountered a technical issue with his BWT Alpine F1 Team car and was called back to the pits on Lap Ten. Sergio Pérez, who had a disastrous qualifying session and started fifteen was making some good progress and managed to climb back into the top ten by overtaking Alex Albon on Lap Seventeen.
Norris remained ahead of Piastri, who was in third place. The McLaren F1 Team duo were losing pace to the leader but were consistently extending their lead over the trailing pack, prompting Scuderia Ferrari to pit Charles Leclerc for the hard compound on Lap Nineteen.
Eight laps later, Sainz also pitted and switched to the hardest available tyres, rejoining the race behind Lance Stroll, who had just been overtaken by Leclerc. Russell was the next to pit, exchanging his soft tyres for a set of mediums. He wasted no time in catching up to Leclerc and successfully passed him, gaining another position.
Kevin Magnussen suffered another unfortunate stoppage on track after already stopping in the qualifying session earlier this weekend, this time it was his car catching fire on the Wellington Straight. Initially, a Virtual Safety Car was implemented, but soon the full Safety Car was deployed, allowing the drivers who hadn’t pitted yet to gain an advantage.
McLaren decided to play it safe and switched Norris to the hard compound, while Hamilton took the opportunity to fit the soft tyres and come out ahead of Piastri in their battle for third place.
When the race eventually resumed on Lap Thirty-Nine, Verstappen quickly pulled away without any competition, while Norris had to defend valiantly against Hamilton on the restart. Despite the reintroduction of DRS, Norris managed to consistently keep the Mercedes driver at bay and started to establish a comfortable gap.
Pérez had been frustrated by Sainz’s defence using worn Hard tyres, but the Red Bull driver eventually executed a successful overtake at the Vale chicane. Sainz’s compromised position allowed Albon and Leclerc to benefit and fall down to tenth.
Pierre Gasly’s attempts to follow suit were unsuccessful, and when Stroll saw an opportunity, it was the Alpine driver who suffered a puncture, ending his race. The Aston Martin Armaco Cognizant F1 Team driver later received a five-second penalty for causing the collision.
Verstappen finally claimed victory at the British Grand Prix on his ninth attempt, further extending his dominant lead in the Drivers’ standings. Norris successfully held off Hamilton’s pursuit and crossed the finish line to secure McLaren’s first podium at Silverstone since 2010, while Piastri achieved his best F1 result to date, securing a significant number of points for the McLaren team by finishing ahead of Russell’s Mercedes. Pérez made an impressive recovery, gaining nine positions to finish sixth, while Alonso led Albon, Leclerc, and Sainz to complete the points-scoring positions.
What’s Up Next?
The Hungarian Grand Prix is up next in two weeks’ time as the drivers head to the Hungaroring, and all eyes will be on Norris and McLaren to see if they can once again challenge higher up the field, but what we do know is that it’s been an incredible British Grand Prix, which once again proves it’s easily one of the best races on the calendar.
| POS | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | TIME/RETIRED | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 52 | 1:25:16.938 | 26 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 52 | +3.798s | 18 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | MERCEDES | 52 | +6.783s | 15 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | MCLAREN MERCEDES | 52 | +7.776s | 12 |
| 5 | George Russell | MERCEDES | 52 | +11.206s | 10 |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT | 52 | +12.882s | 8 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 52 | +17.193s | 6 |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 52 | +17.878s | 4 |
| 9 | Charles Leclerc | FERRARI | 52 | +18.689s | 2 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | FERRARI | 52 | +19.448s | 1 |
| 11 | Logan Sargeant | WILLIAMS MERCEDES | 52 | +23.632s | 0 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 52 | +25.830s | 0 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | HAAS FERRARI | 52 | +26.663s | 0 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES | 52 | +27.483s | 0 |
| 15 | Zhou Guanyu | ALFA ROMEO FERRARI | 52 | +29.820s | 0 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 52 | +31.225s | 0 |
| 17 | Nyck De Vries | ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT | 52 | +33.128s | 0 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | ALPINE RENAULT | 46 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | Kevin Magnussen | HAAS FERRARI | 31 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | Esteban Ocon | ALPINE RENAULT | 9 | DNF | 0 |
