Lando Norris won his first British Grand Prix leading a McLaren 1-2 ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. The changing conditions threw a spanner in the works for everyone and led to an exciting race at the spiritual home of Formula 1.
The British fans always show the world what it means to be true F1 fans with a half million people attending over the weekend. The British weather didn’t disappoint with a damp start, heavy rain and then drying track at the end.
Win
WinA big win for Lando Norris and McLaren to take the win at their home race. A McLaren 1-2 for the team who had a hefty lead over the entire field os a great result. Oscar Piastri’s 10s penalty was unfortunate but his call for reversing running order in anticipation for having the penalty reversed was never going to happen. It’s a harsh lesson to learn for the Aussie with a lot of debate of whether it was warranted. Having hit the brakes hard and scrubbed 100mph off the pace is a hard thing to explain to the stewards.
A huge win for Nico Hulkenberg for securing his first podium finish in 239 races! The team made the right calls on strategy and Nico did a great job of holding off Lewis Hamilton for his first podium appearance. Great result that moves Sauber up to 6th in the constructor’s championship. Couldn’t be happier for Nico!
A big win for Pierre Gasly and Alpine who looked nowhere on Friday but his Q3 appearance was amazing and his race performance suggests that the team are very lucky to have Pierre at the wheel. Pierre’s stock just continues to rise!
We’ve talked about it a lot but Lance Stroll just always seems to excel in races with changing conditions. He was running in P3 via some great strategy from the team putting on softs for the few laps that warranted them leaving Fernando Alonso asking why they didn’t do the same for him. A great result for Lance and a terrific drive. Aston Martin had a dual-points finish for their home race.
A win for Alex Albon who managed to finish in P8 giving Williams a few points for their home race despite looking ragged all weekend.
Fail
FailA big fail for Red Bull and Max Verstappen. After trimming out their car for speed, the rain literally rained on their pole position parade. Max held on early but when the heavy rain came, his car was underivable. He managed to get back to P5 and that was all Max but the team were really struggling for pace and grip all weekend. Yuki Tsubonda finished a lap down in P15.
A fail for George Russell and Mercedes who gambled to box George on the formation lap, boxed several more times and George was never a factor for the podium. Kim Antonelli suffered a DNF.
Brutal race for Racing Bulls with a double DNF. Liam Lawson was punted out early on by Ocon and Hadjar ran into the back of Antonelli ending both their races.
WTH
WTHNot sure what Alpine is going to do about Franco Colapinto. I think his fans are terrific but his results aren’t so the team has a big decision to make.
Not exactly sure why the race formation lap was behind SC but fair enough.
MARIO ISOLA – PIRELLI DIRECTOR OF MOTORSPORT“It’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Formula 1 than the weekend we have just witnessed. I reckon the half a million people who came to Silverstone over the four days had a great time, despite today’s rain not making life easy for the spectators! Yesterday’s qualifying was unpredictable and so too was today’s race. Congratulations to McLaren for the one-two and to Nico Hulkenberg for his very first Formula 1 podium. It was unexpected but totally well deserved! “For our part, on the technical front, just as happened here last year, four of the five types of tyre available came into play. It’s a shame we didn’t see the Extreme Wet in action, because it would have been interesting to gauge its performance level compared to the Intermediate, the compound that really shone today, proving to be competitive when there was a lot of standing water on track, as well as when the track was drying in the final stages of the race. Obviously, there was graining and significant wear, both down to the track conditions, but the drivers were able to control tyre use based on how the race unfolded. “Our work at Silverstone is not yet over. On Tuesday and Wednesday, we will back on track, working with Sauber and Aston Martin in a development test session for the 2026 tyres. Gabriel Bortoleto will be behind the wheel for the Swiss team on both days, while Lance Stroll and Felipe Drugovich will share driving duties for the team based just a stone’s throw from the circuit. |
British Grand Prix Results:
POS. | NO. | DRIVER | TEAM | LAPS | TIME / RETIRED | PTS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 52 | 1:37:15.735 | 25 |
2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 52 | +6.812s | 18 |
3 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Kick Sauber | 52 | +34.742s | 15 |
4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 52 | +39.812s | 12 |
5 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 52 | +56.781s | 10 |
6 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 52 | +59.857s | 8 |
7 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 52 | +60.603s | 6 |
8 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 52 | +64.135s | 4 |
9 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 52 | +65.858s | 2 |
10 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 52 | +70.674s | 1 |
11 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 52 | +72.095s | 0 |
12 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 52 | +76.592s | 0 |
13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 52 | +77.301s | 0 |
14 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 52 | +84.477s | 0 |
15 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull Racing | 51 | +1 lap | 0 |
NC | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 23 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 17 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Kick Sauber | 3 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 0 | DNF | 0 |
NC | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 0 | DNS | 0 |
Discover more from The Parc Fermé
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
So happy for the Hulk. Good strategy and great driving! A well deserved podium.
I understand Alonso being cross but watching Merc make the same mistake with both cars, it makes sense to split strategy in those conditions.