Lewis Hamilton won his first grand prix since 2021 by beating Max Verstappen in a scintillating British Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver won his record-breaking ninth British Grand Prix after making the call to switch to slick tyres at the perfect time, allowing him to pass Lando Norris in the pits.Hamilton held on to win just ahead of Verstappen, with Norris taking the final podium position in third.
After a constant threat of rain across the weekend, the circuit was dry for the start of the race. Nearly the entire field opted for medium tyres to start the grand prix, including the highest 13 starters.
When the lights went out, Russell held the lead from pole position with Hamilton behind his team mate in second. Max Verstappen got ahead of Lando Norris at The Loop, taking third position from the McLaren.
The Mercedes escaped out of DRS range of Verstappen behind, but the gaps between the leaders remained fairly static in the early laps. Russell pulled to 1.4 seconds ahead of his team mate out front, while Verstappen dropped over two seconds to the Mercedes ahead.
Drivers were warned that rain would arrive around 25 minutes into the race. Very light rain was first reported on lap 13, just a the point when Norris began to put pressure on Verstappen for third ahead. Norris slipstreamed the championship leader down the Hangar Straight and took the position into Stowe to recover third place. Soon after, Oscar Piastri pulled off the same move to demote Verstappen to fifth.
As the rain began fall, the track turned treacherous. Hamilton closed on his leading team mate and used DRS down the Hangar Straight to move into first place. But both Mercedes ran off track at Abbey, allowing Norris to catch the Mercedes and pass them to move into the lead. Piastri also made his way by the two Mercedes to move up to second.
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Charles Leclerc pitted for intermediates along with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, but the track began to dry out and return grip to those on slicks. But heavier rain was heading to hit the circuit. Eventually it did on lap 25 with Verstappen being the first of the leaders to pit for intermediates.
Norris pitted from the lead at the end of lap 27 but Piastri remained out an extra lap. Meanwhile the two Mercedes pitted together for intermediates. Norris assumed the lead again with an advantage of around three seconds to Hamilton in second, while Verstappen split the Mercedes with his earlier stop. Piastri lost several seconds with his extra lap on slicks, meaning he dropped to sixth behind Carlos Sainz Jnr.
Suddenly, without warning, Russell was called into retirement by his team with what would later turn out to be a water system issue That promoted Sainz to fourth and Piastri to fifth.
The sun came out and the track began to dry. With 15 laps remaining, Hamilton and Verstappen both pitted for slicks, Hamilton for softs and Verstappen for hards. Norris pitted the next lap for softs but emerged behind Hamilton in second.
With ten laps remaining, Hamilton’s lead sat at 2.7s with Verstappen 2.7s further back in third and the fastest of the top three. Verstappen closed gradually on Norris and overtook him into Stowe with five laps remaining.
Hamilton managed to stay out of DRS range of the Red Bull and completed the final laps to take the chequered flag and end his long win drought stretching back to the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Verstappen was just a handful of seconds back in seconds, while Norris was six seconds back in third.
Piastri took fourth ahead of Sainz, Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in eighth. Alexander Albon and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten.
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2024 British Grand Prix
- The ‘good and bad’ reason Piastri is sure he can win after three near-misses
- Gasly solved mystery handling problem by using Ocon’s settings
- Mercedes “will be in an even stronger position” after next upgrade – Hamilton
- Verstappen “refuses to believe” Red Bull are reaching limit of RB20’s potential
- Why “under construction” McLaren still celebrate third place after missing a win
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th July 2024, 16:30
How was it Zak? you don’t race with a win at all cost mentality? a couple spoonfuls of that would work a charm, ey… What a way to throw a race away!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th July 2024, 16:30
Let alone a race, a 1-2 at that!
debaser91
7th July 2024, 16:35
Outstanding from Hamilton, also from Verstappen in the second half of the race. Norris wants to sack his engineer after that, what the hell was that radio call? Another race he should have won but didn’t.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
7th July 2024, 16:41
I think they asked him what he wanted and he said softs so he played his part, as always. For all their pace and effort, a single win this season seems way too little.
bosyber (@bosyber)
7th July 2024, 16:58
Yeah, that call, should have told him mediums was it, did he have all the data to weigh between medium and softs having to still do 15 laps? Doubt it. Let him say when intermediate/slick point is sure, but this, well. Anyway, McLaren also folded for Piastri, so they clearly need to get sharper.
rprp
7th July 2024, 21:52
LN4: “We need to box, the soft is better now… any slick tyre”
MCL: “We can choose a medium to counter people like Verstappen (he is on hards) or we just a soft to counter people like Hamilton”
LN4: “I think Hamilton, or you think medium? I don’t mind”
MCL: “We are going softs”
MCL got it wrong, LN not decisive enough.
Steve (@scbriml)
8th July 2024, 9:05
If they had a set of new softs, it might have been the right decision. But all they had were used softs. How anyone thought ignoring a set of new mediums was a good idea is a mystery.
Ben
7th July 2024, 16:50
Not to double stack was idiotic. The Mediums were also the obvious choice. Lando going long in his stop and getting a 4.5 stop also cost him this one. McLaren should have won and if they operated like Redbull they would have done.
Big shout to Mercedes too. Boxed on the perfect laps each time and some quick stops. McLaren seemed a step behind in management when again they had the pace to win.
Nick T.
7th July 2024, 16:53
I’m not sure what a cut throat mentality would have changed here. A better strategy yes.
Mark Zastrow (@markzastrow)
7th July 2024, 17:25
Agreed.
But I wouldn’t disagree that there’s something to the critique that it was a reactionary mentality, debating who to cover, instead of considering pressing their own advantage with the mediums. The fact that they put Piastri, who was running his own race, on mediums, seems somewhat telling.
Nick T.
8th July 2024, 10:34
I won’t debate that aspect.
Sham (@sham)
7th July 2024, 17:37
Absolutely. A very bad call, when they know they don’t perform on softs.
The win at all costs attitude isn’t needed to win.
Mr B
7th July 2024, 18:28
Lando missed his stopping marks by a long way in that final pit stop and that cost him hugely.
It is the smallest of mistakes or margins that can make the difference at the moment.
M2X
7th July 2024, 18:41
Mclaren were incredibly cutthroat. They sacrificed Piastri’s result for Lando’s.
CBESUD
7th July 2024, 18:56
Well said. Layman fans were screaming at them to double stack and they left Piastri out and simply destroyed his race.
Lando is a great talent but still error-prone. Be has the advantage of better race pace than Piastri. But Oscar is catching him fast as he learns.
McLaren can be very indecisive and reactive with their strategy. It will be interesting to see how they respond as a team when this happens with strategy calls between their 2 drivers.
Sham (@sham)
7th July 2024, 19:12
Interested in how you think Piastri being compromised helped Norris in any way.
SaraJ (@sjzelli)
8th July 2024, 6:36
The same way they sacrificed George for Lewis. Water system issues? Lol okay.
O'Ray
8th July 2024, 8:55
Ha ha ha ha George was dropping back from Max in 4th place into the clutches of Sainz in 5th
George couldnt handle a little bit a rain
Steve (@scbriml)
8th July 2024, 9:08
Seriously? You think Mercedes deliberately threw away a possible double podium? Russell reported the water pressure issue over team radio a few laps before he retired. Your silly little conspiracy theory is just that.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
8th July 2024, 9:05
Zak Brown; a man of many traits, a master of nothing. He should’ve focused more on his own team crumbling under pressure instead of his PR campaign on behalf of Toto to destabilize RBR and force Verstappen out of the team.
Mayrton
8th July 2024, 9:12
Yeah, ever Abiteboul left I was struggling to find the biggest clown between Toto, Horner and Marko..but now Zak enters the chat and suddenly all becomes clear.
Oople
7th July 2024, 16:30
Hulkenburg in 6th again!
Fair play to him.
Nick T.
7th July 2024, 16:55
Too bad they didn’t show us a second of the Hulk/Alonso fight despite the battle at the front not yet at its peak. They also missed an even better Alex/Yuki fight.
schooner (@schooner)
7th July 2024, 23:22
Yeah, Hulkenburg has been quite strong this year, especially lately. I’ve always liked that guy, and I’d love to see his move to Audi/Sauber come good with a win for him before he finally hangs up his helmet.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th July 2024, 1:47
Unfortunately, no team joins and is suddenly that competitive, red bull could’ve taken him instead of perez, for example, he wouldn’t be a threat to verstappen and can’t do worse than perez, literally.
Jere (@jerejj)
7th July 2024, 16:31
Finally, the win drought is over, but some strategic blunders by McLaren.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
7th July 2024, 16:31
What an unbelievable drive by Max! Second place in what was 3rd quickest car, so P5 in the best possible scenario, yet his incredible talent got him onto the podium! Insane, absolutely insane race by him.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
8th July 2024, 13:40
Umm. He had the best car again. He damaged it in qualifying which is why he ended up 4th on grid. But he was closing around a half second a lap in final stages yesterday. Would have sailed past HAM in 3 more laps or less.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th July 2024, 1:46
P5 is definitely not the best result you can get in the 3rd quickest car, and it’s very debatable, it’s possible he didn’t have the best car, but it seemed very close between red bull, merc and mclaren.
For example, beating a weak driver with the 2nd best car is quite expected for a top driver in the 3rd best car, if the margins are close.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
7th July 2024, 16:31
Credit where credit is due, what a drive from Hamilton!
Nick T,
7th July 2024, 16:57
Yup. His win count at Silverstone is staggering regardless of whether he’s had a car or not that could win almost every season.
Ajaxn
7th July 2024, 18:29
Agreed.
We were expecting a Brit to win, in the end, if Hamilton hadn’t held out, Verstappen would have claimed yet another victory. Not Norris or Russell. What a way to end a win drought.
England vs Netherlands, bring it on ;0)
BLS (@brightlampshade)
7th July 2024, 21:21
I had him third most likely to win Brit after quali. When I saw the weather today I elevated him past Russel, but I thought those McLarens would have just waltzed off into the distance.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th July 2024, 1:51
Yes, it wasn’t that predictable given mclaren’s strong form and they actually went into the lead, so it wasn’t too far off, just strategy blunders held them back.
MacLeod (@macleod)
8th July 2024, 7:42
It’s Netherlands vs England (Netherlands play in their home jersey) but I play a game and I have to select the winner My heart says Netherlands my brain England……….
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th July 2024, 1:50
Very special by hamilton indeed, almost 3 years after last win and it had never happened before in his career, he’s always been good at silverstone, I think I read he got 12 consecutive podiums, apart from winning 9 times, and definitely must’ve been special for him as well since he’s always wanted to win in front of his home fans.
Mayrton
8th July 2024, 9:15
Agreed. Good to see him win again! The cool down period has been long enough.
mathias
7th July 2024, 16:33
Hamilton broke the curse of not winning after the 300 races
José Lopes da Silva
7th July 2024, 21:28
Nice stat, this one
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
8th July 2024, 7:33
I’m looking forward to the weekly stats post!
Oldest winner since Australia 1994
Most wins (obviously)
Biggest gap between first and last win
Win after most races (340ish and counting)
Most seasons with a win (2007-2021, and 2024)
Most wins at a single circuit
And probably some others to that!
Kribana (@krichelle)
7th July 2024, 16:33
Red Bull. Do you mind this? Mercedes have 2 drivers that can do the job. Mclaren will be absolutely fuming that they let Verstappen gain points on a weekend when his pace was bad.
David BR (@david-br)
7th July 2024, 16:53
@krichelle It’s weird given they maximize everything else so well, driver and strategy. Still, Verstappen extended his lead. I guess Perez was never going to get anything, but sticking him on inters for dry lap after dry lap (like Leclerc) was doubly strange.
falken (@falken)
7th July 2024, 19:40
Gathering data on deg for Max
Craig
7th July 2024, 20:10
Verstappen certainly made use of the opportunity provided to snatch second when if it had been a straight forward race he likely would have ended up 6th.
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
8th July 2024, 7:34
With Russell’s retirement, Verstappen would likely have finished 4th in a dry race. The two places he made up is only thanks to his racing prowess and experience. This race was won by experience, and P2 was also secured with experience. Verstappen and Hamilton are two absolutely unique talents.
Steve (@scbriml)
8th July 2024, 9:12
@chrischrill The two places he made up were thanks to McLaren’s inexplicable decisions – not double stacking Piastri and going for used softs rather than new mediums for Norris’s second stop.
Zack
7th July 2024, 16:34
Wild, unlikely prediction: Hamilton satisfied with final win (at Silverstone no less), he announces his retirement.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th July 2024, 1:55
I’m guessing he will also aim to win at silverstone with a 3rd constructor now that he’s going to ferrari, 10 wins would be special too at a single circuit.
Michael
7th July 2024, 16:37
I blame the race engineer. The question was too loaded to a driver trying to win a race. Do you cover the driver in 2nd or the driver in 3rd? If you want to win the driver will always want to beat the 2nd place driver (Hamilton) who did win. Mediums was the best tyre to beat both. Norris was given a false choice. However Norris did mess up his pitstop and Hamilton looked after his tyres better.
Tristan
7th July 2024, 16:47
Yeah I blame the team on that one too but Norris is too nice that he blames himself. Fair enough though, the blame game is boring made for tv drama.
DaveW (@dmw)
7th July 2024, 16:47
I understand the logic of “cover” the car behind. You only need to be faster than the one chasing and if you have track position just do what they do and don’t take a risk. But the M was clearly faster it wasn’t a question.
SteveP
7th July 2024, 16:49
Which brings up the bit I got wrong on my prediction – I had Russell down to lose the lead after using up his tyres too soon, and then finish 2nd/3rd
Equipment failure didn’t factor in my thinking. Lando did his bit, mostly.
DaveW (@dmw)
7th July 2024, 16:52
Russell lost the race with his low downforce set up. He went straight back with the first drops of rain.
Ajaxn
7th July 2024, 18:34
Russell had issues with water cooling, which probably means his engine was turned up to 11, but did have sufficient cooling to match. Meanwhile, Hamilton gambled on extra downforce, which in his battle against Norris meant superior high-speed cornering.
Steve (@scbriml)
8th July 2024, 9:15
Also worth pointing out that the softs were not new, they were used. It’s not surprising that Hamilton was able to stay ahead. How everyone at McLaren ignored a new of new mediums is a mystery. If he’d used those, I think he would have won the race.
dan
7th July 2024, 16:46
Someone please check on Osnola will you
bull mello (@bullmello)
7th July 2024, 16:47
Cheers Lewis!
Tristan
7th July 2024, 16:48
Another race I’m sure Norris felt he could have won. Red Bull aren’t looking as strong as they did just a few months ago. Well done to Mercedes and Hamilton, that was a great race!
Edvaldo
7th July 2024, 16:58
If Norris went for medium tyres he would’ve won, but he asked for softs.
That young man is a specialist in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
There’s simply no excuses for him anymore.
Ben
7th July 2024, 17:06
+1 Piastri knew the mediums were the right choice. Right now McLaren have the quickest car and should have won the last 3-4 races but they’ve thrown them away through driver error, poor strategy and operational errors.
DaveW (@dmw)
7th July 2024, 17:26
If they had double stacked Piastri does he actually win? He was 2s per lap faster than Norris at the end. He would have only lost 4 seconds in a stack. Also consider he lost about 10s going around another lap. He might have won this thing handily.
Applebook
8th July 2024, 0:27
I think that Mclaren and Lando are going through their “they need to learn to lose before they can win” phase. We’ve seen this many times before (and it other sports too). However, they might not have the time to get their act together with Mercedes legitimately competitive now. At least Red Bull is generally not the best car anymore.
Ajaxn
7th July 2024, 18:38
Norris on Mediums would have been slower initially, giving up time to Hamilton on the Softs. He would have come back towards the end as Hamilton’s Softys lost performance. At the very least he might have held his position against Verstappen.
Anil Sanagavarapu (@anilsk2013)
8th July 2024, 1:03
Very true.
McLaren’s thinking is truly bizarre. The driver that pitted earlier got the soft tyre and the driver that pitted later got the medium tyre? They really messed this one up for both drivers.
Edvaldo
8th July 2024, 1:48
it’s even worse because Piastri pitted first.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
7th July 2024, 16:49
Silverstone is a fantastic track. And no other divers have won most here than Lewis Hamilton. Fantastic drive from all the top 3, who were all strong at different parts of the race.
SteveP
7th July 2024, 21:41
The stat is actually that no driver has won more races at any single track, not specific to Silverstone.
I think he might regard it as his favourite.
MichaelN
7th July 2024, 16:51
Mclaren still not racing like a winning team. If you miss one win it’s unfortunate, but they’re building quite the list.
Ferrari dire. Big warning signs should be on now.
Red Bull’s loss of pace after the season start warrants a proper look over the summer break. Something odd is going on there.
Craig
7th July 2024, 20:28
I’d still argue the Red Bull is the best car at present but it’s not the leaps and bounds it was at the start. McLaren is definitely a near second best but have been pretty unfortunate (collisions and 50/50 stratergy calls that only in hindsight proved they chose wrong). Mercedes has moved from relative obscurity as 4th fastest to overtake Ferrari who aren’t necessarily slow but still prone to errors of judgement
SteveP
7th July 2024, 21:49
It’s almost like the in season development by the people that designed it “largely without AN” seem not to understand how to update it without AN
Nick T.
7th July 2024, 16:51
Since everyone will focus on the top spots, I’ll focus on other things I noticed since all I do is watch the data during the race. Here are some interesting things to note:
1. Sargeant never fell outside of Albon’s DRS zone until they pitted Alex first for inters which separated them on the track. Then Logan got passed Magnussen in the much faster Haas after they pitted. To me this shows that Logan has been massively mistreated this season by the team or has magically found all his missing pace. It also, for me, validates the idea that while Alex is good, people got way too hyped about him last season.
1B. The TV direction was just awful. I know there was an active race at the front, but they still had time to shows us some of the best of many battles further down. These included multi-lap fights between: Yuki and Alex, FA and Hulk, FA and Lance, Logan and K-Mag, etc.
2. While Stroll was lucky Alonso didn’t get to do a Q3 run and inherited 7th due to being pitted first despite being passed Alonso (FA elected to stay out another lap so he wasn’t intentionally undercut), one must admit Lance has been driving well. I think he’s finally motivated to actually try consistently.
3. I watched Yuki and Ricciardo closely, they ran at basically the same pace during the race, but DR’s failure to get a final run in Q2 really hurt him. However, while he did nothing special, it still took Checo half the race to even catch him. He also keeps it on the track unlike Checo, his highs are higher and his lows not as low. So, while I doubt it’ll happen, it’d be great to see Lawson put in RB after the summer and DR replace Checo for the rest of the season.We know he likes Max’s setup and even Zhou could do a better job in the RBR.
4. Magnussen has been just awful lately compared to Hulk. So, either he’s demotivated, has a different spec or is just driving badly.
5. Ferrari: WTH? If they’re not back up to pace after the summer break with new updates and Mercedes is still fast let alone improving, Lewis is going to be very worried.
6. Max and Norris, unlike their teams, seemed desperate to avoid more controversy. I know they were trying to makes tires last and when they passed each other it seemed inevitable, but they basically both waved each other by.
bosyber (@bosyber)
7th July 2024, 17:01
All good points I can agree with Nick T., though on Ferrari I would say (sort of adding to your point), Sainz did show they weren’t totally lost, unlike what Leclerc’s race suggests.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
7th July 2024, 17:03
It is a good point that you make on Sargeant’s pace. But it remains to be seen if this is a one off or if he can consistently maintain this. I also agree on the point that you make on Ferrari. WTH indeed. They were neither on point with the pace, nor on strategies. Charles did a decent start, but brain fade from the team on the first inter call. They seem to be completely stuck in the development race.
DaveW (@dmw)
7th July 2024, 17:07
Albon lost a chunk of his car on lap one, per Sargeant. So there is an asterisk on the comparison there.
Nick T.
8th July 2024, 10:36
Leclerc couldn’t pass Hulkenberg for an endless number of laps. To me, that shows they’re in big trouble still.
As for Logan, he’s been on the pace with Albon for three races in a row after getting a car somewhat close to Alex in spec.
David
7th July 2024, 18:56
“Daniel got beaten by Yuki again so I think that proves he should be given a seat at RB”
What kind of nonsense am I reading here?
Hosford90
7th July 2024, 19:12
The kind of nonsense of someone who would respond to the quality of the last few races by openly saying he’s fallen out of love with F1… now not any of those actual bad years we’ve been having (including the literal worst last year???) and desperately pleading for the 2026 regulation change that is going to deny us all this.
Nick T.
8th July 2024, 11:12
lol, way to literally lie about everything I’ve said. You’re still just fuming over my comment about the sprint race and my initial tongue-in/m-cheek response to you hounding me over it. Had you gone back and read my second response, you’d have a different opinion.
Secondly, no one has been more vocal about the change of regulations being a bad thing. So another lie.
Third, my response came before the Austrian or Silverstone GP. So yet another lie.
It’s cute though how angry you still are over me saying the Austrian sprint was less interesting than an FP1 session. Something about 80% of the commenters have said. Even funnier that you said, “I’ve already forgotten about,” but continue to follow me around commenting about it through various unrelated comments on other stories.
Maybe seek help.
Nick T.
8th July 2024, 10:40
What an absurd way to twist my words. I also said he was basically on the same pace as Yuki and you’re forgetting that his highs have been higher than Yuki. But my main was that while Yuki has been better than Daniel, for whatever reason, RBR has made it clear they’re not going to put him in the car. So, it’s a question of Daniel vs Checo.
So, yeah, anything can be nonsense when you furiously smash the keys to type out a nonsensical interpretation of what I said…
Hosford90
7th July 2024, 19:09
If only it was 2026 now and we had worse regulations, massive field spread and lack of variety in winners instead of this pesky classic racing now!
Nick T.
8th July 2024, 11:06
I’m assuming this isn’t in response to anything I said, especially since I have constantly said the new regs will destroy F1 even more than the current regs have.
David BR (@david-br)
7th July 2024, 17:00
Excellent drive from Hamilton, passing Russell on track when the first rain fell was crucial at the time as it gave him the advantage when they stacked for the inters. They could have made things easier by pitting a lap earlier (with Verstappen) after the rain but then McLaren messing up with their pits created a buffer for Hamilton with Norris between him and Max. Hamilton also controlled the pace on the soft tyres at the end really well. The emotion of the win was raw, this is what Formula 1 is about! The races have been close and all good since Monza (forgetting the outlier of Monaco) but this was the best for obvious reasons (as a Hamilton fan). Shame for GR.
Ajaxn
7th July 2024, 18:42
Yeah, compare Hamilton’s raw emotions to Verstappen’s “It was interesting”. F1 will miss Hamilton when he eventually retires. He has made the sport relevant for so many..
Edvaldo
7th July 2024, 17:00
I get that Piastri could not slow down at pit entry because Hamilton was right behind him, but even if he had to park the car behind Norris would be better than letting him do another lap on a wet track.
Piastri was better than Norris today but they screwed his race with that call.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
7th July 2024, 17:41
Mclaren cost Piastri the win
BMW P85 V10
7th July 2024, 19:07
To be honest, I think McLaren only focusses on what’s best for Lando, because they think they are in the middle of a title race. Yes they have the fastest car on most of the last venues, but never capitalized on it. If they had done so they would already be much more in that title fight. Not closing the gap with the fastest car could hurt McLaren/ Lando very bad in the closing stages of this season as things possibly still get close.
AlanD
7th July 2024, 17:56
Edvaldo, with hindsight, yes, Piastri had the wrong call, but I don’t think it was so clear in the heat of the moment. If those first out laps had been too slow for the ones who pitted, McLaren might have looked like geniiuses for splitting their strategy and keeping Piastri out another lap. If they’d stacked him, and he got jummped due to the delay, people would have been asking why they didn’t send him round another lap. I think the real difference between the two McLarens was that Norris put in a fast stint to close up on the leaders during the drying phase, and Piastri wasn’t able to do the same.
Edvaldo
7th July 2024, 18:07
But the track was wet already. They all took it as long as they could, if it was just a light shower they would hang on for a few more laps.
The next lap when he went in Norris was already on his gearbox. They knew it was going to be bad.
AlanD
7th July 2024, 18:12
Edvaldo, well I suggest you get your CV in the post to McLaren as soon as possible because you obviously know more than the engineering team who were trackside.
Edvaldo
7th July 2024, 18:17
Dude the track was wet. They resisted pitting at the first wave because they knew it would not last, and it didn’t.
Later when everybody came in, they did because the track was WET. It was not going to dry out in a lap.
Russell lost a couple of seconds waiting for Hamilton but it was better than going an extra lap, and it was going to be 10 times out of 10.
What’s so difficult?
AlanD
7th July 2024, 18:53
Edvaldo: “What’s so difficult?”
With the benefit of hindsight, nothing at all. We can all be experts from the armchair.
MichaelN
7th July 2024, 19:05
It’s not just hindsight. The number of times that deviating from the “if wet use rain tyres” mantra works is so small each of them is an instant classic. Especially on a longish track like Silverstone the gamble is essentially never worth it.
SteveP
7th July 2024, 19:07
I don’t think hindsight was required. Apparently the C4 commentary team could spot the mistake, live.
Edvaldo
7th July 2024, 19:08
Did Mercedes had this benefit too?
You can fill a whole book with situations of a driver losing time going through a wet track for an extra lap man.
In fact, that’s the sole reason Hamilton won the 2015 race as Rosberg was faster than him that day.
I luv chicken
7th July 2024, 19:42
Sky announcers spotted the error immediately,,and were taken aback at what the resulting loss of time and position would be. They discussed the benefits of stacking for quite a while. I don’t understand how those charged with making those decisions, could actually make such an error.
David (@nvherman)
7th July 2024, 18:06
Piastri was absolutely not better than Norris.
You have a problem with Norris, we get that. But you’re flat out wrong.
Edvaldo
7th July 2024, 18:09
Do elaborate. You telling me he wasn’t means absolutely nothing.
He was right behind Norris when they ruined his race and he made the right call with the tyres.
Why was Norris better ?
SteveP
7th July 2024, 19:15
Well, facetiously, because he isn’t an Aussie. :)
Seriously, you’re right. Lando was losing to Piastri right up until the team hung him out to dry.
Norris got the tyre choice wrong, but then the team have the data and should make the recommendation.
Using soft tyres when he had mediums available was mentioned by Hamilton as a surprise on the way to the cool down room. Norris knew he was right.
David (@nvherman)
7th July 2024, 19:33
At what point in this race, apart from when McLaren chose not to double stack Piastri (which was McLaren strategic error number 1), was Piastri actually faster than Norris?
Strategic error number 2 was making it Norris’ decision on compound when going back onto slicks, when the team knew that the medium was the better tyre.
That looks like one error per driver to me, on the team side.
SteveP
7th July 2024, 20:49
Yeah, that would be a nice obvious one, Piastri was looking for a way past Norris, which would probably have resumed rapidly after the double stack delay.
His main problem, once he is close, is that the team don’t want him doing a risky pass so whatever move he makes has to be nigh unto a gift opening.
Steve (@scbriml)
8th July 2024, 9:20
Absolutely. I think everyone understands that apart from Zak Brown who told sky they didn’t want to double-stack, without ever saying why not.
Mercedes showed how easy it was and it would have been interesting to see where Russell would have finished without his mechanical failure.
Patrick (@anunaki)
7th July 2024, 17:05
Great race!! Great win for Lewis!! Great damage control from Max, but what about McLaren today?!?
MadLewis (@madlewis)
7th July 2024, 17:12
A huge congrats to Hamilton! Great drive today!
Oxnard (@montalvo)
7th July 2024, 17:43
And once again McLaren trew away a win by presenting their driver a dilemma instead of the best option. Norris race engineer is putting a lot of responsebility in Lando and it is not the first time. It happened in Sochi, it happened in Spain 2024 and now again. His engineer should have made the decision for him. It also baffles me they didn’t bring him in on the same lap as Lewis and Max. He was losing over a second per lap already on Max, his inters were in the worst condition of the top 3.
If you listen to the team radio of Lando, Lewis and Max, only Lando gets presented a dilemma on what tyre to use, Lewis and Max only discuss about when to come in, there is zero discussion about what compound or who they are covering. The fully focus on their own strength and strategy, while McLaren chooses to anticipate on the choices of others.
This always should have been a McLaren win. Piastri was mighty fast but his race got ruined by that first pit-stop. Then Lando should have won it, but was indecisive on when to come in and what compound he would use.
McLaren simply has forgotten how to win races. They are no match for Mercedes and Red Bull strategy teams, who have the full confidence of their drivers.
AlanD
7th July 2024, 18:09
Oxnard, you could be right re the radio transmissions, but the TV coverage is only giving odd snippets of conversations out of context so unless we see the transcripts, we don’t know what spurred that comment from the race engineer. Maybe Lando had asked what tyres were still available, what his options were. Maybe other drivers had similar discussions but we just didn’t hear it. It is hard to know the full picture from the TV snippets.
Oxnard (@montalvo)
7th July 2024, 18:16
You can fully hear everything that is said through F1TV onboards. I’m not talking about what FOM showed us during the race, I’ve rewatched the 5 laps prior to the pit-stops of each of those drivers.
AlanD
7th July 2024, 19:08
Oxnard, that’s interesting. I’d only heard the TV snippets, and it sounded so odd I felt there had to be something we were not hearing to explain it.
If you think back to Hamilton’s earlier career, there were races where he’d exit the pits saying “why have you put me on these tyres, its the wrong tyre to be on”, and sometimes he’d be right, and sometimes wrong but either way it wasn’t good for team harmony. Maybe McLaren are trying to avoid that sort of situation arising by making the driver feel more involved in strat calls. If so, I don’t think that is the right management approach. I supppose the big question today was would Norris have made a cleaner pit stop if they’d got him more focussed on what he needed to do on the in lap.
KB Davies
7th July 2024, 17:47
Can someone please tell me what part of the race these sequence of events happened?
This level sloppy editing that inserts things that didn’t happen, is unacceptable. change
AlanD
7th July 2024, 18:04
KB, maybe the writer slipped that in to see if anyone actually reads it. I would say that obviously it is a typo and he meant Vers overtook Norris, but then it occured to me that it is only obvious because I watched the race. I wonder if anyone reads an article like this not already knowing what happened?
David
7th July 2024, 19:04
Great drive by Lewis. Taking advantage of the damp track to get ahead of George, and then using a fast car to retain his lead over the final stint, getting far more out of the softs than Lando could.
It does seem like a fairytale for him to end his win drought at Silverstone of all places. Let’s not pretend that Mercedes were off the pace though, that was the joint fastest car on the track today.
Surprised to see Max in 2nd after being so clearly off the pace but that’s what happens when you keep the car on the track and make the right calls on the tyres.
McLaren and Norris slipped up here but I don’t think it is fair to be too hard on them. We are talking about tiny margins here and they fell on the wrong side of them. Not double stacking Piastri cost him a shot at the win but they underestimated how much wetter the track was getting. Lando sliding beyond his markers cost more time. Running the Softs was a mistake, not necessarily in performance, but in lifespan, they dropped off massively over the last five laps. They should have had the data already to know how much performance they could get from the softs, especially when they had fresh mediums.
Excellent race overall. Very entertaining.
Steve (@scbriml)
8th July 2024, 9:26
Sorry, but I disagree about being too hard on McLaren. They absolutely threw away a probable 1-2 by not double-stacking Piastri and by giving (regardless of who made the final decision) Norris a set of used softs for the last stint when they had a set of new mediums (you know, they same tyre they gave Piastri for his last stint).
Zak Brown told Sky during the race that “We didn’t want to double-stack.” without ever explaining why not. Mercedes showed how simple it could have been with minimal loss of time for Russell.
Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
7th July 2024, 20:01
From all the years I have been watching the sport,i really can’t recall watching a driver and having such a “strange” opinion as with Lando Norris. You can see that the guy has talent,his raw speed is there in every condition(dry or wet), but he really doesn’t have the correct mentality or whatever to support his actual talent.
McLaren really made some significant mistakes with their strategy/operations today(mostly on Piastri’s side),but again if the last stop of Norris was normal,he would have had a chance of keeping the lead. Instead,he overshot his pitbox and lost ~ 2 seconds,thus the lead. Really, with how well McLaren and Norris have been performing, it’s quite astonishing to see them only having one win..
Ajaxn
8th July 2024, 12:33
It certainly wasn’t a straightforward race as most seem to be of late, even now there’s still a lot to compute.
I felt for sure the McLarens would have it when they both overtook the Mercedes, but then there was the rain.
Some pitted early, some pitted just right, others left it late, and that is what won Mercedes / Hamilton the race.
on reflection Mercedes could have pitted a lap earlier and had more distance ahead on track, but less tire life to stay ahead on that final push home.
At least there weren’t any cold tires, which would have given Verstappen the win. Mercedes gave themselves the best chance of a result and it worked out.
F180 (@f180)
8th July 2024, 12:43
Not sure what would happens if Mercedes continues to win and Ferrari keeps doing what they do best, drop the ball unimaginably. Ferrari will burn piles of cash in Hamilton and Hamilton will get a new retirement fund but no WDC to pass Schumacher. I am thinking Newey is going to Mercedes and be paired with Verstappen right on time for the new regulations and give Horner a taste of its own medicine.
Boomerang
8th July 2024, 13:18
Big thanks to everyone at Mercedes, especially Lewis, for making me feel three years younger for 10 laps!!!
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
8th July 2024, 13:47
NOR had another bad start. HAM blocked VER effectively in the first few turns of the race. Rain overshadowed those efforts but it isn’t always going to rain.