Great Britain: Hamilton – Verstappen – Norris

Cloudy. Dry – rain – dry. Air +16C, highway +33C

The Silverstone round was the twelfth on the calendar and completed the first half of the season. But if a year ago only Red Bull drivers were winning at this point, the battle in 2024 proved to be much fiercer.

This time, there were already five winners in the championship, and while Verstappen’s leadership was generally unquestioned, the former dominance was no longer there – in every race he had to fight with rivals who were gaining strength. McLaren and Mercedes have stepped up their performances, while Ferrari has taken a step back. Incidentally, McLaren’s progress started at Silverstone last year.

Traditionally, one of the main factors was the weather, which was very cool in the middle of summer. Friday was worked on a (nearly) dry track, with Norris leading both sessions. Saturday morning Russell led in the rain and also won qualifying, taking his second pole position of the season.

Hamilton posted the second fastest time – the first time since Sao Paulo ’22 that Mercedes drivers occupied the entire front row of the grid. Norris started third – the first time in Silverstone’s history that the top three positions were occupied by the Brits. Verstappen started the race fourth after damaging his underbody in qualifying, but was replaced by a similar one for the race and no penalty was imposed.

Max’s teammate Sergio Perez crashed out of the race in the first session on Saturday, crashing into the gravel. The team replaced some parts of his car’s powertrain in park conditions and he started from the pit lane. Pierre Gasly started the race from the back row, the first this year to exceed the number of power unit replacements allowed.

Pirelli traditionally brought a ‘hard’ three-compound system to Silverstone – C1, C2 and C3 in Hard, Medium and Soft roles. Zhou and Ocon started on Soft, Perez on Hard, the rest on Medium.

Before the start, Gasly drove into the pits due to gearbox problems and did not start the race.

Russell kept the lead at the start. Leclerc gained three positions, Verstappen overtook Norris – Lando went off the track in turn three.

After making contact with Alonso, Albon also hit his partner’s car, losing him four positions.

Hulkenberg drove off the track and gained an advantage, but the stewards did not penalize him.

Top Ten in Round 2: Russell – Hamilton – Verstappen – Norris – Piastri – Sainz – Stroll – Leclerc – Hulkenberg – Alonso.

The Mercedes drivers gradually pulled away, Verstappen stayed behind, but kept up with McLaren’s pace.

On lap 4, Perez passed Bottas to move up to 18th place.

A cloud approached the highway, the forecast promised rain. The peloton stretched out, the riders took care of their tires.

Zhou struggled and missed out on Ricciardo, Magnussen, Perez and Ocon, dropping him to 18th place.

On the 13th lap, Zhou changed tires.

On lap 14, Leclerc passed Stroll for 7th place.

Norris came within attacking distance of Verstappen and took the lead on lap 15. Magnussen held off Ricciardo in the battle for 14th place.

Top Ten in Round 16: Russell – Hamilton – Norris – Verstappen – Piastri – Sainz – Leclerc – Stroll – Hulkenberg – Alonso.

On the 17th lap it started to rain. At first it was light.

On lap 18 Piastri overtook Verstappen for fourth place.

On lap 19, Hamilton passed Russell to take the lead. Norris then passed Russell.

On lap 20, Norris passed Hamilton for first place. Piastri overtook Russell and Hamilton. Leclerc, Perez and Ocon switched to intermediate tyres, but the track was not wet enough and they brought no advantage, and then the asphalt dried – and Ocon went back to slicks.

Top Ten in Round 22: Norris – Piastri – Hamilton – Russell – Verstappen – Sainz – Hulkenberg – Alonso – Stroll – Tsunoda.

On lap 25, Magnussen passed Sargent for 12th place.

On lap 26, Leclerc turned in the safety zone but kept going. While he tried to attack Verstappen, Sainz almost crashed.

The rain became heavier. On lap 27, Verstappen, Sainz, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Ricciardo and Bottas switched to intermediate tyres. In 28th place are Norris, Hamilton, Russell, Alonso, Tsunoda, Albon, Magnussen, Sargent, Ocon and Zhou. In 29th – Piastri and Leclerc, in 30th – Perez – there was a problem changing the left rear wheel.

Top Ten in Round 30: Norris – Hamilton – Verstappen – Russell – Sainz – Piastri – Hulkenberg – Stroll – Alonso – Tsunoda.

The rain stopped. Racers complained of severe front tire wear. The pace dropped by more than a second.

On lap 33, at the request of an engineer, Russell stopped the car in the pits and retired due to cooling problems.

On lap 38 Magnussen and Ricciardo changed tyres, on lap 39 – Bottas, Piastri, Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Alonso, Albon, Sargent, Perez, on lap 40 – Norris, Sainz and Hulkenberg. Everyone switched to slicks.

Top Ten in Round 41: Hamilton – Norris – Verstappen – Piastri – Sainz – Hulkenberg – Stroll – Alonso – Tsunoda – Albon.

Hamilton and Norris were on the same tyres, at almost the same pace, with a difference of two seconds. Lando tried to close the gap, Lewis replied.

On lap 48, Verstappen overtook Norris for second place.

On the 49th lap Perez changed tires, on the 51st – Sainz.

Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix, taking his first victory of the season, his ninth at Silverstone and the 104th of his career.

Max Verstappen finished second, Lando Norris took third place on the podium.

In two weeks the fighting in Hungary will continue.

Race results

Best round: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 1:28.293 (52nd lap, 240.195 km/h)

Reasons for the meetings

Championship Position: Individual Competition

Championship Position: Constructors Championship