British GP: Norris won on home soil, Nico's first podium

Lando Norris won on home soil ahead of Oscar Piastri and third-placed Nico Hülkenberg.

Photo by Sam bagnall

It was a dream home Grand Prix for McLaren, leaving Britain with a maximum points haul for both first and second place. Lando Norris capitalized on a mistake by Oscar Piastri, who slowed down too much during the race restart. This created a dangerous situation in low visibility, and the stewards handed him a 10-second penalty, which Oscar served during his final pit stop. As a result, Lando Norris was able to take the top step of the podium in front of his home crowd. The gap between the two McLaren drivers in the championship is now just 8 points.

Joining them on the podium was Nico Hülkenberg, a driver who had been waiting an incredible 239 races / 15 years for his first career win. Starting from 19th on the grid, he managed to fight through difficult conditions and pressure from the seven-time world champion to secure third place. After the race, Mercedes made a classy gesture by bringing their champagne supplies to the Stake team’s motorhome to help them properly celebrate this incredible success.

Photo by Zak Mauger

But for Mercedes themselves, it was far from a successful race. Even before the race began, George Russell pitted to switch to slick tyres, forcing him to start from the pit lane. This strategy later proved to be a mistake, and George managed to bring home only a single point for tenth place in his home race. His teammate, Kimi Antonelli, was taken out by Hadjar in Copse corner, and due to damage to the rear of his car, he was forced to retire from the race.

As for Red Bull, they secured pole position thanks to Verstappen, but the race itself certainly didn’t go according to plan. Max spun out after the restart and then struggled with pace. Despite that, he still managed to finish in fifth place. Yuki Tsunoda had a difficult weekend overall, made contact with Bearman during the race and received a penalty for it, ultimately finishing only 15th.

The red cars from Maranello earned points only through Lewis Hamilton’s fourth-place finish. It was also the first time in 11 years that he failed to make the podium at his home Grand Prix in Silverstone. It’s worth noting that Lewis holds the all-time record at this circuit with nine wins. Charles Leclerc was one of the drivers who chose to pit for slick tyres before the start, a decision that turned out to be the wrong one, and he only managed to finish 14th. Ferrari is planning to bring their long-awaited rear suspension upgrade to Spa, which they will test at Fiorano before the race.

Formula 1 will move to the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps at the end of July.