Written by Sophie Harvey
Ending a frantic triple-header, we knew Formula 1’s trip to Silverstone would not disappoint. With the British fan base out in full-force, the former airfield provided the perfect venue for a fairytale race — clinching a momentous 104th win, Lewis Hamilton graced the top-step for the first time since 2021. It marked a record-breaking milestone, celebrating what will be his last home race with Mercedes.
Winner: Lewis Hamilton
Entering the weekend on a high, Mercedes locked out the front row in qualifying. With Hamilton starting P2, it was Austria’s race-winner George Russell who occupied the headlines and was touted the win. Though, the abilities of a seven-time world champion should never be doubted.
Russell led off the line, but amid the unpredictably British weather a battle broke out — the Mercedes duo began to jostle, with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both taking race-lead momentarily.
After a stint on intermediate tyres, a well-timed pit for slicks put Hamilton ahead of Norris, who had also fell victim to a messy pitstop. Whilst Russell was forced into a shock retirement due to a suspected water system fault, Hamilton had taken and secured the lead of the British Grand Prix.
Neither Norris or Max Verstappen could catch him, crossing the line to take a historic ninth win at the venue and sending the home crowd into a delighted frenzy. Likewise, it sets him just one point away from teammate Russell in the standings.
Signifying his last home-outing with Mercedes and his first win since 2021, Hamilton’s result proves to be an incredibly poignant win in more ways than one. He thanked the team, stating: “I wanted to win this so much for them [Mercedes], because I love them, I appreciate them so much, all the hard work they’ve been putting in all over these years.”
Loser: George Russell
Moving onto the other side of the Mercedes garage, George Russell entered the British Grand Prix weekend on a high — having taken a surprising win last time out in Austria, he hoped to repeat such success in front of his home crowd.
He started the weekend in such fashion, pipping his teammate to pole by a tenth. Whilst it did set him in good stead for race-day, things didn’t quite pan out for the Brit.
Taking a good launch off the line, Russell led a trio of Brits into Abbey. Whilst the McLaren pair and teammate Hamilton certainly applied the pressure, the Brit looked to be on-track for at least a top-three finish before tragedy struck.
“Retire the car.”
Those were the words of Russell’s race engineer, Marcus Dudley, on lap 34. A faulty water system proved to be the cause, providing a nightmarish end to Russell’s weekend.
Whilst he will no doubt return home disappointed, Russell’s performance continues to soar. Sitting P7 in the standings, he will hope for a more positive result in Hungary later this month.
Winner: Max Verstappen
Whilst celebrating P2 is somewhat unheard of in the realm of Max Verstappen, any top-three finish was set to please the Dutchman come race day.
Having sustained floor damage earlier in the weekend, a compromised Verstappen took P4 in qualifying. Though, Red Bull Racing managed to fit a replacement come Sunday.
Off the starting grid, he momentarily caught Norris unawares and managed to slide up to P3. Whilst he was unable hold position, he kept his cool amongst the sea of McLaren — a well-timed switch to intermediate tyres and a call for hards gave him the upper hand, sailing past Norris and narrowly missing out on the win.
He reflected on his team’s impressive turnaround, saying: “I was really thinking, ‘Are we going to finish fifth, sixth?’ But we made the right calls. Going from the slicks to the inters, and then also from the inters back to the slicks, I think it was every time the right lap.”
Leaving Silverstone, a ‘very happy’ Verstappen extends his championship lead to a total of 255 points. His sights will now turn to Hungary, where he hopes to champion the Hungaroring once again.
Loser: McLaren
It was a story of ‘what could have been’ for the Woking-based outfit. Lando Norris was touted for the win from the get-go, proving to have the quickest race pace in practice. With the McLaren itself being versatile in both the wet and dry, everyone thought that McLaren would have the edge.
Qualifying wasn’t the most stunning affair for the duo — but equally, it wasn’t the worst. Norris took P3, whilst teammate Oscar Piastri encountered traffic, finishing Q3 in P5.
Come Sunday, both drivers momentarily found themselves leading the British Grand Prix. With the lead fluctuating between the McLaren and Mercedes duos, the former had the potential to secure a 1-2.
Though, a mixture of bad strategical calls and McLaren’s reluctance to double-stack their pitstops meant both driver’s being sacrificed at one point or another. It also meant Verstappen was able to take a late lunge on Norris, the Brit sliding down to P3 in the closing stages of the race.
Unsurprisingly, he was not best pleased with the result. Norris stated: “I blame myself today for not making some of the right decisions. I hate it, I hate ending in this position and having excuses for not doing a good enough job.”
However, he still managed to secure a respectable points haul and remains P2 in the standings. Piastri sits behind the Ferrari bunch, continuing the season in P5 after being equally as disappointed with the outcome.
Winner: Aston Martin
Based just half a mile from Silverstone Circuit itself, the pressure was on for Aston Martin to please their home crowd. Likewise, a blip in performance meant the team had been unable to score in three of their last four outings.
Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso had a reassuring qualifying, taking P8 and P10 respectively — this alone was a positive sign, having struggled to get out of Q1 as of late.
A set of well-timed strategic calls aided their race come Sunday, moving up into P7 and P8 to score a plentiful haul of ten points. Mike Krack, Team Principal of the outfit, said the pair ‘didn’t put a wheel wrong.’ He stated: “The team and drivers have worked incredibly hard to improve the car recently and this result shows our efforts our moving in the right direction.”
Ending the triple-header on a high, it’s a momentum Aston Martin will want to carry through to Hungary.
Loser: Sergio Perez
With a newly-signed Red Bull contract under his belt, you would assume Perez would be driving with a newfound confidence in his abilities — though, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, the Mexican seems to have found himself in a downward spiral.
His form has taken a considerable dip, and it’s carried through into Silverstone too. Scoring no points whatsoever, the best he could muster was P17.
Reflecting on the nightmarish weekend, he said: “This is a day to forget, nothing really worked for us, we gambled initially to try and go for it and unfortunately, we didn’t have what we needed today.”
Of course, this only encourages further speculation towards his future within the team — talks of mid-season driver swaps and the termination of contracts are already circulating the paddock, and they might just come true if Perez doesn’t up his game.
Will he restore his rhythm in Hungary? It may be far too early to tell, but the pressure is certainly on for the man from Mexico.
Winner: Nico Hulkenberg
A splendid day for Haas saw Nico Hulkenberg finish P6 for a second consecutive race, closing Haas’ gap to RB in the constructors to just four points.
The German has always had a fair amount of success around this circuit, overdriving his machinery tenfold. Likewise, his performances as of late have been considerably better than that of his teammate — 22 points, in comparison to Kevin Magnussen’s five.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal of Haas’, has been hard at work behind the scenes. He said: “P6 at two races in a row, what more can I ask for. The updates have worked again and Nico felt it straightaway.”
“It’s been a huge team effort so I’m really proud of them.”
Loser: Ferrari
Once again, Ferrari have found themselves anonymous in the fight for wins. Since Charles Leclerc’s historic victory in Monaco, the infamous red Scuderia have been nowhere in terms of pace.
Gracefully accepting they are now the fourth fastest team, the outfit was forced to return to their earlier-spec car after their updates didn’t perform as expected. Mercedes and McLaren have come on leaps and bounds, whilst it leaves Ferrari without any significant progress at all.
Carlos Sainz had the better result out of the two, taking home P5 and a well-earnt fastest lap after a late-race pitstop. As a former race winner around this track, the result is far from what Sainz would have liked.
On Leclerc’s side of the garage, an aggressive gamble strategy-wise did not pay off. Weather came into play, and a misjudged pit for intermediate tyres proved costly despite making good ground at the race start.
He finished the weekend in P14, with the duo somehow retaining their P3 and P4 in the constructors championship despite the late run of poor form.
Speaking out on the event, Fred Vasseur said: “This weekend we learned a lot about the car and we made a good step forward which is encouraging for the rest of the season. Now we need to build on what we have learned and apply it to the next couple of races. Everyone in the team, including me, is impatient to get some good results."
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