Hamilton ends long win drought with thrilling British Grand Prix win

Lewis Hamilton took his first win in 945 days at a thrilling British Grand Prix, setting a new record for the most wins in a single event with his ninth triumph at Silverstone.

In the early stages of the race, Hamilton held on to his Mercedes team-mate and pole-sitter George Russell during the opening stint, but the seven-time world champion managed to pass him on lap 18 as the rain began to fall.

But by lap 21, Lando Norris had passed Hamilton and Russell, before passing Max Verstappen on the opening lap, with Norris starting his charge to the front on lap 17.

Norris, Hamilton and Russell pitted for the medium tyres on lap 27, with McLaren holding a 3.2s advantage over Mercedes, but after Russell retired on lap 34, the switch was made back to the dry tyres.

Hamilton pitted for soft tyres at the end of lap 38, while Verstappen stopped for hard tyres, while Norris continued the next lap, switching to soft tyres.

This final contest set up a rivalry between Hamilton, Norris and Verstappen, but the Mercedes driver, in his final home appearance for the Silver Arrows, took his ninth British Grand Prix win, breaking the record he had held jointly with himself (Hungary) and Michael Schumacher (France) for the most wins in a single race.

Verstappen finished second after catching Norris late in the race, while Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda scored points.

Turn off the lights

At the pit lights, Russell held his place with Hamilton, Verstappen and Norris behind him, with the pole-sitter looking comfortable at the front after Hamilton’s drag limiter system broke.

The stop was held until lap 18 when light drizzle began to fall and Hamilton closed in on Russell, passing Stowe at the end of the lap.

However, at the start of the next lap straight into Turn 1, both cars spun off into Turn 1 in deteriorating conditions, with Norris, who had passed Verstappen, managing to overtake Russell.

Piastri was also flying at this point, overtaking Hamilton on the grass at Hunger Street, making the order Norris-Piastri-Hamilton-Russell-Verstappen.

Verstappen and Sainz pitted in the rain on lap 26, before Norris, Hamilton and Russell responded one lap later, with Piastri forced to go one more lap, only to rejoin them in sixth.

After these stops, the order was Norris-Hamilton-Verstappen-Russell, but the track quickly dried up, although Russell was forced to retire on lap 34 due to a water pressure system failure.

Hamilton stopped for soft tyres on lap 39, while Verstappen stopped for hard tyres, while Norris also stopped for soft tyres on lap 40.

This led to an exciting chase between the three, with Verstappen able to pass Norris with four laps to go and catching Hamilton 3.5 seconds later.

Verstappen was unable to catch Hamilton, who claimed his 104th Formula 1 win 945 days after the 2021 Saudi Grand Prix, breaking the record for the most wins in a single Grand Prix, taking his 150th podium with Mercedes and securing the 30th win for a British driver.

Hamilton also became the first driver to win a Grand Prix after his 300th start in the 344th race of his career.

Piastri finished fourth ahead of Sainz and an impressive Hulkenberg, who finished sixth twice in a row for Haas.

Aston Martin scored double points with Stroll ahead of Alonso, while Albon and Tsunoda finished third and fourth respectively.

Other endings

Logan Sargent was 11th for Williams, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo in 12th and 13th.

Valtteri Bottas finished 14th ahead of Charles Leclerc, whose form suffered after switching to medium tyres on lap 20, with Sergio Perez also suffering due to the strategy.

Esteban Ocon was 16th, while Zhou Guanyu was 18th.

Russell was joined in retirement by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who retired on the formation lap with a gearbox problem.