In a dramatic race at Silverstone, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton secured a much-anticipated and record-breaking seventh British Grand Prix victory after fighting off a charge from Lando Norris.
After a spell of rain during the middle of the race, Hamilton jumped on Mercedes' initiative to switch to slicks, which allowed him to pass long-time leader Lando Norris since McLaren was slower to adapt to the changing circumstances.
Utilizing soft tires, Hamilton aimed to maintain his recently gained advantage over Norris, which lasted for less than three seconds as the Miami Grand Prix victor returned from the pits on the identical red-walled Pirellis.
Even though Norris began to clock some fast laps to move in on the Mercedes' gearbox, it seemed that his speed could not be maintained; this was eventually confirmed when Verstappen, who had been remarkably sluggish the whole race, surged to the lead on the hard tyre.
When the two cars behind him started to fight for second place, Verstappen quickly closed the gap with Norris, which let Hamilton maintain his advantage. At the end of lap 48 in Stowe, Norris gave up second place to Verstappen due to a lack of tire capacity, giving Hamilton four more circuits to hold off a Red Bull that was closing quickly on his tail.
Despite encountering traffic, Hamilton started the last lap ahead of the other driver by more over two seconds, and that was sufficient to secure his first Formula One victory since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021.
After the race, Hamilton said, "I can't stop crying." "Since 2021, I just, everyday getting up trying to fight, to train, to put my mind to the task and work as hard as I can with this amazing team."Since this is my final race in the British Grand Prix with this squad, I really wanted to win because I care about them."
After falling behind the two McLarens in the early drizzle, Mercedes had finally mastered the crossover phase. The slicks held on in the greasy conditions, so none of the leaders responded to the initial downpour; yet, the McLaren drivers had the superior vehicle during this stage.
Oscar Piastri and Norris pulled ahead of Hamilton and pole-sitter George Russell. Hamilton had overtook Russell on the eighteenth lap as the younger Briton found it difficult to deal with the first downpour.
As the second wave of rain moved in, Piastri stayed outside and the two Mercedes cars followed Norris into the pits; this caused the Australian to lose the lead as he battled on the extra lap with slicks.
After passing Lance Stroll into Stowe on lap 13, the Monegasque driver was in seventh place in the first third of the Silverstone race. Before light rain started to fall over the Northamptonshire track, he was hoping to go up further in the order.
While there was a lack of grip and several drivers were taken off guard by the slick conditions, most drivers did not feel the need to pit for intermediates. But at the conclusion of lap 19, Ferrari pulled Leclerc in to remove the grooved compound because of the lesser grip.
Leclerc continued by saying that, considering the result, it was hard to see the first few circuits of his race as encouraging and that he want to discuss the intermediate call with the team.
After reversing its Barcelona upgrade to stop the high-speed corner bouncing, he said, the team found itself in a "tricky situation" and expressed the optimism that they would find a solution at Silverstone, where they had discovered a more reliable balance.
"On days like today, it's incredibly tough to focus on the good things. "I would like to return to the team and together we should examine how we are making those decisions on my end and the reasons behind our defeat today," he stated.
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