With the Silverstone weather changing faster than George Russell’s car in qualifying, it was set to be a great weekend … and from qualifying to race day it did not disappoint!
Qualifying … where do I start! The first shock of Saturday was Sergio Perez failing to get out of Q1 after his RB20 ended up in the gravel early in the session, making it unusable for the rest of the day. Red Bull subsequently fitted the car with a new engine, resulting in Perez starting from the pit lane. He was joined by Esteban Ocon who was let down by tyre prep and qualified in p18.
In Q2 we had another surprise with Charles Leclerc unable to get any higher than p11. Unfortunately the number 16 hasn’t been performing well since his home win back in May.
As we headed into Q3 it looked likely that the pole sitter would be one of the Brits as Lando Norris and George Russell topped the times in practice, but little did we know all three would block out the front three spots sending the home crowd wild! It was Russell who came out on top with a 1:25.819 following his second career win last week, 0.171 seconds behind was his teammate Lewis Hamilton and a further 0.211secs behind qualified Norris.
After an England win Saturday night which was watched by both Mercedes on the main stage (much to the excitement of the home crowd fans), a British victory in the race would be all that sweeter in front of grandstands full of papaya and illuminous yellow!
When race day arrived Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who would’ve been started last due to a 50-place penalty, was out before the race started as an issue was found during the formation lap. He was joined in the pit lane by Perez, though the Red Bull driver was able to be part of the race.
The rest of the 18 drivers lined up on the grid ready to go and the race got off to a smooth start with the front four heading into the first corner in the order they started. A few seconds later Norris tried a move on Hamilton but ended up going off track and leaving a gap for Max Verstappen to pass.
Albon started in P10 but fell back after contact with Fernando Alonso.
After starting in P11 on the grid Leclerc was able to make up three places within the first four laps.
On lap 11 the first spell of rain started and caused a bit of drama for the front four! Four laps later Norris started to catch Verstappen and retook his third place position. Verstappen was also passed by the other McLaren driver, Oscar Piastri, sending the Dutchman back to P5. The race was led by three British drivers for the first time ever … just a shame it didn’t stay that way.
Both Leclerc and Perez changed to intermediate tyres very early in the race which cost them a lot and they both ended up finishing outside the points.
Things continued to improve for Norris, with some help from both Mercedes’ who both went off the track at Abbey, over two laps he was able to pass them both and lead the British Grand Prix. The pace Norris had to pass his fellow Brits was crazy as he created a large gap between himself and Hamilton; when the rain got heavier he and Piastri moved up to P1 and P2 respectively.
On lap 26 the front McLarens got within half a second of a second. Norris was called into the pits along with Mercedes’ double stack leaving Piastri to lead the race for a lap, though unfortunately it ruined his chances of a podium as McLaren seemingly prioritised Norris with the strategy – we did not have a happy Piastri after this.
With the rain paused on lap 32 at the back of the pack there was a massive 49 second gap between Valtteri Bottas in 15th and Leclerc in 16th, though the latter had already made two pit stops. And further back Zhou Guanyu was 44 seconds behind Ocon in last place. A lot of big gaps on the Silverstone track!
On lap 34 the worst possible scenario happened, Russell was told to retire the car after a mechanical issue – heartbreaking for the Brit who had every chance of getting the win. Unfortunately this wasn’t the first time he was forced to retire at Silverstone, if we cast our minds back to 2022 he also failed to see the chequered flag on that day after Zhou’s terrifying incident.
With the sun now shining Hamilton started to close the gap between himself and the race leader, Norris. Though with a change in the weather Hamilton and Verstappen were called into the pits switching to soft and hard compounds respectively.
Norris was called into the pits a lap later with the aim to maintain track position, a slow stop from his team didn’t help in anyway and as he exited the pits Hamilton went flying past into first place. McLaren also opted to switch to softs to cover Hamilton but it left him vulnerable as the race went on – it wasn’t the best day for McLaren strategy as they cost Norris a home win and a potential McLaren 1-2.
With 10 laps to go Verstappen, who was on the hard tyres, started to catch Norris and by lap 49 he overtook him taking P2 earning boo’s from the grandstands.
Despite the contact early in the race Alex Albon was able to get his Williams into the points finishing in 9th and Yuki Tsunoda took the final point position.
In contrast to Leclerc’s poor performance, his teammate Carlos Sainz finished in p5 and Nico Hulkenberg maintained the position he started in and finished in p6.
After a 945 day wait, Lewis Hamilton was back on the top step for his 104th win and what better place to do it as he carried the British flag high over his head! The British crowd couldn’t of been happier!
I don’t think anyone expected it coming into the weekend, but the British legend was so overcome by the win he was crying which was more then enough to leave no dry eye in the Silverstone crowd. This first win of the season saw him claim yet another record as he became the driver with the most wins at a single circuit with 9 wins! We even got a Roscoe appearance on the main stage Sunday night as Lewis came out onto the stage with the trophy.
Not only was it an incredible personal achievement for Lewis, it was also great for Mercedes who achieved back-to-back wins with Russell winning the Austrian Grand Prix. Silverstone is a special place to be on race day, the British drivers were applauded the whole way round from start to end, definitely one to remember for everyone in attendance.
Unfortunately, we have now come to the end of the triple header, and have to wait two weeks for more on track action when they head to Hungary.
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