Lewis Hamilton took his first win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in front of a delighted home crowd at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire. The race featured a historical all-British top three on the starting grid for the record-breaking race.
The 2024 Formula 1 season has been much more exciting than most fans anticipated after the first few races. The reigning Drivers and Constructors champions are Max Verstappen and Red Bull, who won in commanding fashion after winning 19 out of 22 races, a new F1 record. To many fans, the 2024 season looked to be just as dominant after straightforward wins for the three-time World Champion in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Japan and China.
The front-running pack
However, Red Bull’s fortunes have changed since the Miami Grand Prix. While Verstappen has continued to win races, it has not been in the same dominating fashion as before. The qualifying and race pace gap between Red Bull and the rest of the grid has evidently narrowed.
McLaren have proved the most imminent threat to Red Bull and Verstappen’s dominance. Lando Norris currently sits second in the Drivers’ Championship after a shock win in Miami along with a string of podiums. In his second season of Formula 1, his teammate Oscar Piastri has continued to impress after second place finishes in Monaco and Austria.
However, the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes are not far behind. Both Ferrari drivers have won races this season, with Carlos Sainz coming back from appendicitis to win in Australia and Charles Leclerc taking a previously elusive home win in Monaco. After a mediocre start, Mercedes have turned their season around with Hamilton taking his first podium of the year in Barcelona and George Russell unexpectedly winning last time out in Austria.
Formula 1’s new rivalry
Despite being good friends off track, the Verstappen and Norris rivalry had its first flash point in Austria when the two collided late in the race. The incident, for which Verstappen received a ten second time penalty, proved costly for both drivers as Verstappen went from first to fifth and Norris was forced to retire from the race. Both Norris and McLaren team principal Andrea Stella criticised Verstappen’s driving in the immediate aftermath. However, both Verstappen and Norris revealed in the run up to Silverstone that they had discussed the incident and worked out their differences.
Victims of the weather
It was a rainy start to the session and the Mercedes pair were early pacesetters. However, this Q1 session was a rather dramatic one in terms of the weather. Over the course of the 18 minute session, the track conditions alternated between wet and dry.
Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez was the weather’s biggest victim, spinning in the runoff area at Copse Corner and ending up beached in the gravel. His car had to be lifted out, putting an end to his qualifying session.
The end to Q1 was rather frantic as the track dried up and the times began to fall. In the end, Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and the Alpine pair of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly joined Pérez and Magnussen in the elimination zone.
The second part of qualifying was much calmer in comparison, with Norris setting the pace. However, it was not without its shocks. The Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were rapid, with both cars making it into the final part of qualifying at the team’s home race after a difficult run of form. Williams also had success at their home race, with British-born Alex Albon progressing through. Haas’s Nico Hülkenberg also impressed and was safely into Q3.
However, the biggest shock of all was Leclerc’s last-moment elimination in 11th place. Joining him in the drop were Williams’s Logan Sargeant, Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, and the RB pair of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo.
Home heroes star in qualifying
It was a four-way fight for pole position between the two Mercedes and the two McLarens, with Verstappen on the periphery due to car damage after his Q1 excursion in the gravel. In the end, it was an all-British top three at home for the first time since 1962 with George Russell taking pole position by over a tenth of a second. His teammate Hamilton secured a Mercedes front row lockout, with Norris coming in third. Verstappen was able to muster fourth place and Piastri was in fifth.
A record-breaking Sunday
It was the dream start for Mercedes, with Russell and Hamilton leading in the early stages. Verstappen initially got past Norris, but later fell behind both McLarens as the Red Bull struggled for pace. The rain started to fall on Lap 17 and the leading battle between Hamilton, Russell, Norris and Piastri was tight.
The McLarens pounced on Lap 20, with Norris taking the lead and Piastri overtaking both Mercedes. The rain got heavier as the race went on, with Hamilton, Russell and Norris called in for intermediate tyres on Lap 28. This left Piastri out in the lead on dry tyres for one more lap, which proved to be an error as the McLaren driver fell behind Verstappen and Sainz, who had stopped earlier. Russell would suffer heartbreak not long after as he was told to retire the car due to a water systems issue.
Hamilton breaks through
On Lap 39, Hamilton and Verstappen both stopped for slick tyres and one lap later, Norris followed them in. McLaren’s pit stop did not go to plan as Norris overshot his mark and the stop was slightly long at 4.5 seconds, which allowed Hamilton to take the lead. Verstappen was closing down on both of them on his hard tyres, overtaking Norris on Lap 48. However, Hamilton was too far ahead for the Red Bull driver.
After 52 laps of racing, Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag to clinch his record-breaking ninth win at Silverstone to the elation of the home crowd. The win was an emotional one for both team and driver, with Hamilton tearfully embracing his team and parents in parc fermé.
Verstappen was pleased to finish second after his early struggles and Norris was a disappointed third. Piastri finished fourth after getting ahead of Sainz in the second round of pit stops. Hülkenberg, Stroll, Alonso, Albon and Tsunoda rounded out the Top 10.
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