McLaren’s Lando Norris won his first British Grand Prix — his home-country event — in a race that had no shortage of twists and turns.
Beginning under dry skies that soon turned rainy at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England, the race also saw Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg finish third. For the 37-year-old Kick Sauber driver, it was his first podium in 239 Formula One starts.
And the second-place finisher, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, put himself in great position when he passed polesitter Max Verstappen of Red Bull, but that all changed when Piastri was penalized 10 seconds for coming out of a safety car restart too slowly.
And for Brit Lewis Hamilton, the defending champion, it was a fourth-place finish at his home grand prix. It marked his first finish off the podium after 12 consecutive podiums at the event, with his late push falling short.
Verstappen finished fifth, falling out of the top three following a spin off the course.
Norris won in one hour, 37 minutes and 15.735 seconds, finishing 6.812 seconds ahead of his Australian McLaren teammate.
Hulkenberg held off Hamilton by just over five seconds.
As expected, two of the top three finishers were overjoyed in their post-match comments — with one not so much.
“It is beautiful. Apart from a championship, this is as good as it gets in terms of feelings,” Norris said of the win in England. “Incredible race, stressful as always but the support from the fans made the difference so I have to thank them.
“The main thing is don’t [mess] it up, that is rule number one. It might never happen again. Hope it does, but these are memories I’ll have forever.”
Hulkenberg was equally jubilant, especially since he started 19th on the grid.
“It’s been a long time coming hasn’t it?! What a race, coming from virtually last. … Crazy conditions, survival mode all race. We were really on it, no mistakes,” he said.
“Today, I was in denial until the last pit stop and then I heard we gapped Lewis so I thought OK, breathing space but then he was closing. The pressure was there, intense race but we didn’t crack.”
Piastri declined to go into details after the penalty, which he served at a pit.
“I’m not going to say much, I’ll get myself in trouble,” he said. “Congrats to Nico, that’s the story.
“Apparently you can’t brake behind the safety car anymore. I had done it for five laps before but I’m not going to say more, I’m going to get myself in trouble. I still like Silverstone even if I don’t like it today.”
–Field Level Media
