SILVERSTONE, England — Lewis hamilton held off Max Verstappens late charge to win a thrilling British Grand prize on Sunday and took his first victory since the penultimate race of the 2021 season.
Hamilton became the first formula 1 driver to win nine times on a circuit and also extended his F1 record to 104 victories. His last came at the Saudi Arabian GP in December 2021, the year he lost the title to Red Bull racing driver Verstappen.
The seven-time F1 champion beat reigning champion Verstappen by 1.5 seconds, with Lando Norris finishing third ahead of McLaren for teammate Oscar Piastri.
Hamilton thanked his team on the radio, with tears in his eyes. Minutes later he was still emotional and struggling to control himself.
“I’m still crying,” Hamilton said as he addressed the crowd. “There have definitely been days between 2021 and here where I felt like I wasn’t good enough.”
There were high expectations for a home win at Silverstone, with Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell on pole position ahead of Hamilton, while Norris moved up from third and Verstappen in fourth.
Russell’s hopes of a second consecutive F1 victory ended on lap 34 of 52 with a suspected problem with his car’s water system. A few laps later, McLaren botched Norris’ tire change.
Verstappen overtook Norris with four laps to go but was unable to overtake Hamilton, much to the delight of the 164,000 fans who attended the race.
Moments after crossing the finish line, Hamilton leapt into the arms of mechanics and gave his father a long hug. Then it was time to soak up the applause of the home fans. With a Union Jack in his hand, he leapt over a guardrail and held it aloft.
“I see you lap after lap, there’s no better feeling,” he told the cheering crowd.
At the start, Russell and Hamilton got away smoothly, while Verstappen overtook Norris.
After about 25 minutes it started to rain, making the 5.9-kilometer course increasingly slippery.
After Hamilton took the lead from Russell on the wet track, Norris took advantage of a mistake by Russell to take second place.
Verstappen, Norris and both Mercedes cars pitted for new tires shortly after the halfway point of the race. But McLaren held Piastri off for a little longer, ultimately costing him a chance at victory.
After the tire change, Norris had a lead of more than three seconds over Hamilton, while Verstappen was drifting backwards at that moment.
The next tire change, with just over 10 laps to go, proved crucial.
Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris made quick changes, but McLaren had to wait too long for Norris’ rear – 4.5 seconds – and he started 2.4 seconds behind race leader Hamilton. Verstappen now quickly made up ground.
However, he couldn’t get close enough and Hamilton’s victory means he now has six different winners to his name this season, compared to just three in last year’s 22 races.
Carlos Sainz Jr. finished fifth ahead of Ferrari for Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, with Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Alex Albon (Williams) and Yuki Tsunoda (RB) complete the top 10.
Sergio Perez apologised to Red Bull after qualifying in a poor 19th place, starting from the pit lane while his team had replaced multiple parts. He finished 17th.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started eleventh and finished fourteenth.
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