Lewis Hamilton edges Max Verstappen to win thrillingly during the British Grand Prix
Hamilton’s win — beaten by only 1.5 seconds made him the only F1 driver who has won on a race nine times. This also increased Hamilton’s F1 winning streak up to 104.
Jul 07, 2024 02:03 PM
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, right, looks over the podium after he won his first British Formula One Grand Prix race at the Silverstone racetrack in Silverstone, England, on Sunday. Luca Bruno/AP hide caption
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Luca Bruno/AP
SILVERSTONE, England — Lewis Hamilton held off Max Verstappen’s last-minute challenge to take home an exciting British Grand Prix on Sunday and win his first race since the final race of 2021’s season.
Hamilton was one of the very first F1 driver to win at least nine times on any track and added to Hamilton’s F1 records to 104 winnings. His most recent win was at the Saudi Arabian GP in December 2021, in the same year that he lost the championship in the hands of Red Bull driver Verstappen.
“You’ve got to continue to dig deep even when you are feeling the bottom of the barrel,” Hamilton declared. “My fans around the world have been so supportive.”
It was a fitting manner for Hamilton to finish his last British GP with Mercedes, before he joins Ferrari this year.
“This is my last race here with this team so I wanted to win this so much for them because I love them and I appreciate them so much,” the driver stated. “I was coming round and there’s just no greater feeling than to finish at the front here.”
Seven-time F1 champion defeated the reigning champion Verstappen by 1.5 seconds. Lando Norris finishing third for McLaren ahead of Teammate Oscar Piastri.
A tearful Hamilton expressed his gratitude to the team on radio. He was still emotional after a few minutes when he was struggling to find his voice himself.
“I’m still crying,” Hamilton stated when he addressed the crowd. “There’s definitely been days between 2021 and here when I didn’t feel I was good enough.”
There was hope for a home victory at Silverstone Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell on pole position ahead of Hamilton and Norris moving up to third place and Verstappen taking fourth.
Russell’s hopes of winning a second consecutive F1 win came to an end on Lap 34 of 52 due to an apparent water system issue in his car. A few laps later, McLaren botched Norris’ tire change.
Verstappen was able to catch Norris in the final laps but was unable to beat Hamilton to the delight of the majority of the 164,000 spectators who attended the race.
Just moments after passing the point, Hamilton jumped into the arms of mechanics, and held hands with his father. Then, he was able to be awed by the cheers of the home crowd. In the presence of an British flag, he jumped over a wall of debris and held it in the air.
“I can see you lap by lap, there’s just no greater feeling,” he told the crowd of cheers.
The first half was a success as Russell and Hamilton take off cleanly, while Verstappen pipped Norris.
The rain began to fall about twenty-five minutes before the start of the event. This caused the 5.9-kilometer (3.7-mile) race track even more oily.
After Hamilton was able to take the lead from Russell on the wet course, Norris took advantage of an Russell mistake to gain second place.
Verstappen and Norris as well as both Mercedes cars sat for new tires just after the halfway mark during the race. However, McLaren held Piastri off for a few more minutes and ultimately resulted in him losing a chance at winning.
After the tire-change shakeup Norris was a little over 3 seconds faster than Hamilton While Verstappen seemed to be slipping back at this moment.
The subsequent tire change and, with less than 10 laps left it was vital.
Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris changed their positions quickly, however McLaren was too slow to get Norris his rear (about 4.5 seconds and he was 2.4 seconds behind the race leader Hamilton and Hamilton, with Verstappen taking over the lead quick.
He wasn’t close enough and Hamilton’s win was six winners in the first half of this year — against just three wins in the previous 22 races.
While Verstappen isn’t making as much progress however, he’s still increasing his lead due to the fact that Norris is coming in behind him.
Hamilton is 84 points clear in front of Norris in the rankings at 257-171 With Charles Leclerc in third place with 150. Although he earned 25 points for the win, Hamilton is eighth overall with 110.
Carlos Sainz Jr. finished the race on Sunday in fifth place with Ferrari over 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 apologized to Red Bull after qualifying 19th place, which was a disaster. He started in the pit lane, while the team made multiple modifications. Perez finished 17th. Leclerc began 11th and finished 14th.