The British Grand Prix never fails to deliver. Today was a record-breaking race. Max Verstappen's predictable win means Red Bull ties the record for consecutive race wins with 11, previously held by McLaren since 1988. There was a record-breaking attendance at the historic Silverstone track, and it marked the first double British podium at the British GP in some time.
The threat of rain loomed over the teams and drivers before the Grand Prix started, but it never came. It was dramatic from the outset as both McLaren drivers took off much quicker than the championship leader, Max Verstappen, who was taken by surprise as the lights went out. Through the first corner,
Lando Norris led Verstappen, who was checking his rear-view mirror at a very fast McLaren driven by Oscar Piastri. The British crowds screamed as they saw their homegrown driver Norris leading the first few laps of the British GP, successfully defending against Verstappen's attempts to gain on him while attacking in his dirty air. However, on lap 5, Max Verstappen inevitably overtook Norris with his extra 8 miles per hour of DRS assistance.
Racing through the old airfield with 35 mph winds, the drivers fought against their cars to keep them on track. In clear air, Verstappen complained about the balance of his car due to the strong wings and only managed to pull away 2.5 seconds ahead of Norris by lap 13, showcasing the strength of the new McLaren upgrades.
Further down the field, George Russell also got off to a great start on the soft tires compared to his competitors on mediums. He managed to skip past Carlos Sainz at the start of the race and began to attack Charles Leclerc instantly. Dancing along the track to defend Russell's advance, the British driver complained about Leclerc's defending tactics, which was then noted by the stewards with no further action taken later. With Russell keeping a good pace on the degrading soft tires, Ferrari decided to pit Leclerc on Lap 19 to perform the undercut. However, once Russell got clear air ahead of him, even on Lap 20 with the softs, he was putting in personal best sector times compared to Charles Leclerc, who was now on the much slower hard tire.
Mercedes never reacted to Leclerc and left George out in clear air. He eventually attempted the overcut on lap 29, but the door was shut by a slow pit stop by the Mercedes team (3.9 seconds). It seemed Charles got one up on Russell as he passed him coming out of the pits with a couple of car lengths gap. However, struggling with hard tires, Leclerc finally saw the Mercedes zoom past him with much more grip on the outside of Luffield corner, in front of the roaring British fans.
Then hope emerged for unpitted teams to take advantage of the slow-moving Haas of Kevin Magnussen, who became the second DNF of the race after Esteban Ocon's retirement. The car set alight mid-track, causing a virtual safety car, and eventually a full safety car.
Still struggling with the hard tires, it was no surprise when Leclerc pitted again for another set of mediums, dropping him down the grid as the cars bunched up behind the safety car. Another questionable and surprising strategy came from the McLaren garage as they opted to pit both cars for hard tires, which we just saw Leclerc get rid of.
Currently running in P2 (Lando Norris) and P4 (Oscar Piastri) at the restart, the McLaren drivers were surrounded by soft runners, including Lewis Hamilton, who found himself in P3 after pitting under the full safety car, and George Russell in P5, who lost out by pitting just before the safety car.
On the restart, as the safety car came in on lap 38 of 52, Verstappen returned the favor, catching Norris sleeping, and as expected, Norris was unable to put any pressure on Verstappen running on the soft tires. Instead, he found himself looking back, having to defend off the seemingly faster Mercedes. Hamilton, hoping for points after struggling in qualifying and then coming off the circuit, losing places on the first lap, was now fighting for P2 and trying to secure his 14th podium at Silverstone. On used softs, Hamilton struggled to find grip and was advised by his race engineer to cool down the tires for better grip to charge Norris in the last laps of the race. However, despite his efforts, Lando Norris, at risk of a penalty for track limits, managed to stay within the lines and maintain his gap to Lewis Hamilton, finishing P2 for his first home race podium. Max Verstappen won his sixth consecutive race, and Lewis Hamilton secured his 14th podium at the British GP, finishing P3."
Comments