Race report
After heavy rain in the day's earlier support races, the Grand Prix began on a damp track. While all drivers left the grid on the intermediate tyre compound, multiple drivers pitted for slicks at the end of the formation lap. The highest placed of these drivers were George Russell of Mercedes, who had been due to start fourth, and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who was due to start sixth. Isack Hadjar of Racing Bulls, Gabriel Bortoleto of Sauber and Oliver Bearman of Haas also pitted. These stops, alongside a pit lane start for Alpine's Franco Colapinto (who would not start the race due to a gearbox issue) meant that fourteen of the twenty scheduled starters lined up for the standing start. [25]
Polesitter Max Verstappen of Red Bull held his lead at the start, holding off a challenge from second-starting Oscar Piastri of McLaren by sweeping around his outside at the fast Abbey turn. Green flag running would not last long, as Esteban Ocon of Haas, who had qualified 14th but started 11th due to cars pitting on the formation lap, attempted to pass Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson down the inside of The Loop, which led to the pair running side-by-side through the fast Aintree corner. Verstappen's teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, attempted to pass down the inside of both, leaving Ocon with no space to avoid making contact with Lawson. The ensuing collision sent Lawson off the track and ended his race, with the virtual safety car (VSC) being deployed in order to clear the incident. While the VSC was deployed, Mercedes's Kimi Antonelli, who had completed the first lap in eighth, pitted for slicks. The mandatory slowed pace under the VSC allowed Antonelli to rejoin the race ahead of the drivers who had pitted on the formation lap, leaving him 13th overall. The VSC ended on lap 4. At the restart, Bortoleto, running in 17th, lost control on slick tyres and spun off at Farm, hitting the barriers. While Bortoleto briefly attempted to rejoin the race, the rear of his Sauber was severely damaged and he quickly pulled to the side of the track, leading to the VSC being deployed again. Under this VSC period, Lance Stroll of Aston Martin, who had been running in 11th, pitted for slicks and, like Antonelli, was able to rejoin in front of those whom had already pitted. [25] [26]
The race returned to green flag running on lap 7, with leader Verstappen immediately struggling due to his low downforce setup and overheating intermediate tyres. After applying pressure for several corners, Piastri was able to take the lead from Verstappen entering Stowe corner on lap 8. By lap 11, the rain was intensifying once more, and drivers running on the slick tyres quickly pitted to switch back to the intermediate compound. Piastri's teammate, third-placed Lando Norris, had by now caught Verstappen, and promptly took second when the Dutchman ran off the track at Chapel. However, the entire top seven pitted for new intermediate tyres at the end of the lap, allowing Verstappen to pass Norris again by having his Red Bull crew perform a faster pit stop that Norris's McLaren crew, who were disadvantaged by having to perform a pitstop for Piastri immediately before servicing Norris. With drivers now struggling to stay on track even with intermediate tyres, on lap 14 the safety car was deployed due to poor visibility caused by spray. [25] The top ten at this time were: Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, Stroll, Nico Hülkenberg of Sauber, Pierre Gasly of Alpine, Ocon, who was yet to pit, Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, Russell and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin. Stroll and Hülkenberg had both moved up the order as a result of anticipating the increased rain and stopping early. The safety car came in at the end of lap 17, with Russell immediately passing Hamilton for eighth at Abbey, only for Hamilton to pass Russell around the outside at Village seconds later while both drivers were in the process of overtaking Ocon. Hadjar, who was running in 16th, misjudged his speed entering Copse, causing him to drive into the back of Antonelli. The contact caused Hadjar to spin into the barrier and crash heavily, leading to another safety car deployment. [25] [26]
During the second safety car, Ocon pitted for new intermediates, returning to the track 16th and last. Antonelli also pitted and, while he initially returned to the track, would retire due to damage sustained in the collision with Hadjar. The safety car came in at the end of lap 21. While preparing to lead the restart, Piastri braked heavily to the point where he was briefly overtaken by Verstappen; Piastri was given a ten-second time penalty for "erratic" braking. [27] As Piastri then sped up and led the field through Stowe, Verstappen lost the rear of his car and half-spun dropping him to tenth place behind Norris, Stroll, Hülkenberg, Gasly, Hamilton, Russell, Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr. of Williams. [25] Further around the lap, Tsunoda made contact with Bearman at Brooklands while disputing 13th place, causing Bearman to spin down to 15th. Tsunoda received a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision. [28]
On lap 24, Hamilton ceded sixth place to Russell after running wide on the exit of Copse. Russell's gain would again be short-lived, as Hamilton retook the position on lap 26 at Stowe. On lap 29, Hamilton took fifth from Gasly by overtaking down the inside of the Vale chicane. On lap 34, Hülkenberg overtook Stroll for third at Stowe. Hamilton passed Stroll on the following lap at Village. With the track drying, some drivers began to consider a switch to slick tyres. Alonso was the first to attempt such a switch on lap 37, followed by Russell on lap 38. However, both drivers initially struggled on a track which was still wet for much of the lap with Russell spinning dramatically at Becketts. On lap 41, Verstappen overtook Gasly for sixth at Village. By now the circuit was becoming more suitable for slicks, with Hamilton, Stroll, Verstappen and Gasly all making the change at the end of the lap. On lap 43, Haas teammates Bearman and Ocon made contact at Brooklands while disputing 11th position, causing both drivers to spin and drop positions. On lap 44, race leader Piastri made the change to slicks, serving his ten-second penalty in the process. This meant that, when Norris made his stop the following lap, he rejoined with a lead of more than five seconds over his teammate. Piastri commented over team radio that his penalty was "not fair" and suggested that Norris should allow him back into the lead. [25] [26]
Norris maintained his gap over Piastri to take his first British Grand Prix win and become the 13th British driver to win at home. [29] Additionally, Norris gave McLaren its first British Grand Prix win since Hamilton in 2008, and their first one-two at Silverstone since 2000. [30] By finishing third, Hülkenberg scored his first Grand Prix podium at his 239th start, setting a new record for the longest wait for a podium. [31] Hülkenberg also gave Sauber its first podium since Kamui Kobayashi finished third in the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix. [32] Fourth-placed Hamilton saw his long streak of consecutive podiums in his home country ended at twelve as he finished off the podium at Silverstone for the first time since 2013. [33] His former team Mercedes were absent from the Silverstone rostrum for the first time since 2012. [34] Gasly overtook Stroll at Stowe on the final lap to take sixth place, securing his highest finish of the season so far. [35] [36]
Oscar Piastri 
