Race Notes - Hamilton wins British GP

By Mark Karp

Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in his Mercedes GP, a race that saw rain interrupting in the middle, over Max Verstappen in the Red Bull-Honda by 1.465 seconds.

Lando Norris in the McLaren-Mercedes was third, 7.537 seconds behind the winner.

The win is the first for Hamilton since 2021, and 104th career victory. It is Hamilton’s ninth British GP victory.

Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren finished fourth, followed by Carlos Sainz (47.318s) in the Ferrari was fifth, Nico Hulkenberg (55.722s), in the Haas-Ferrari was sixth, Lance Stroll (56.569s) in the Aston Martin-Mercedes was seventh, Fernando Alonso (1m03.577s) in the second Aston Martin was eighth, Alex Albon (1m08.387s) in the Williams-Mercedes was ninth, and Yuki Tsunoda (1m19.303s) in the RB- Honda took the final point in tenth.

In the run up to start, rain started spitting - drivers expecting changeable conditions - reports are that it will be dry for the first half of the race, with rain possible the second half of the race.

Russell sits on pole with his team mate Hamilton alongside for a Mercedes front row, Norris and Verstappen on row 2, Piastri and Hulkenberg on row 3, Sainz and Stroll on row 4, and Albon and Alonso rounding out the top ten.

Verstappen overnight changing his floor which was damaged in his off in qualifying. Perez will start from the pit lane after changing his engine overnight.

Most drivers starting on medium tyres except for Guanyu Zhou and Esteban Ocon on softs, and Sergio Perez on hards.

At the appointed time the drivers came around on the formation lap - Pierre Gasly pits before the start - took their positions on the grid, the lights went out and the race started with Russell gets a good start with Hamilton second, Verstappen passes Norris for third. Charles Leclerc up to eighth, Hulkenberg down to ninth.

On lap 2 the two Mercedes edging away at the front.

Logan Sargeant reports that his team mate Albon had a piece of bodywork fall off his Williams.

On lap 3 Russell sets fast lap at 1n31.298s, and holds a 1.4 second lead over Hamilton.

Teams reporting to drivers that they think there might be some rain at around lap 16, for around 10 minutes, and then more showers expected later on.

At lap 5 Russell leads Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Stroll, Leclerc, Hulkenberg and Alonso in tenth, Perez 18th.

At lap 10 Russell leads Hamilton by 1.4 seconds, followed by Verstappen (3.9s), Norris (5.3s), Piastri (6.3s), Sainz (9.4s), Stroll (13.4s), Leclerc (14.2s), Hulkenberg (14.8s), and Alonso (16.7s) in tenth, Perez (24.7s) in 16th.

On lap 13 Zhou pits and changes from soft to medium tyres and rejoins 19th.

On lap 14 Leclerc passes Stroll for seventh.

Norris has closed on Verstappen.

There are drops of rain falling.

On lap 15 Norris passes Verstappen into Stowe corner for third place. Norris sets fast lap at 1m30.946s.

Kevin Magnussen passes Daniel Ricciardo for 14th.

On lap 17 Piastri passes Verstappen for fourth.

On lap 18 Hamilton closes on Russell. Hamilton in DRS passes Russell for the lead.

The next lap Hamilton and Russell both run wide in the first corner. Norris passes Russell for second place.

With rain starting to fall DRS is disabled.

On lap 19 Norris passes Hamilton for the lead. Piastri passes Russell for third.

On lap 20 Leclerc and Perez pit.

Piastri passes Hamilton for second into Stowe.

Perez on intermediates tells the team, "it is too dry".

On lap 21 Norris sets fast lap at 1m30.860s.

Perez and Leclerc on intermediates are running 12s slower than the drivers on slick tyres, waiting if more rain starts to fall.

DRS is enabled once again.

Teams are expecting when the rain begins to fall again, that it will continue for 30 minutes.

Leclerc goes a lap down, and runs off track but continues.

At lap 25 Norris leads Piastri by 1.6 seconds, followed by Hamilton (3.5s), Russell (5.6s), Verstappen (12.5s), Sainz (13.9s), Hulkenberg (30.0s), Alonso (32.7s), Stroll (33.9s), and Tsunonda in tenth.

On lap 27 Verstappen, Sainz, Hulkenberg and Stroll pit for inters.

On lap 28 Norris pits from the lead, Hamilton and Russell also pit.

Alonso, Tsunoda, Albon Magnussen, Sargeant all pit for intermediates.

On lap 29 Piastri pits from the lead for intermediates and rejoins sixth.

Norris leads Hamilton, Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Piastri, Hulkenberg, Stroll, Alonso, and Tsunoda in tenth.

Mercedes radios Hamilton, and tells him, "Lewis, it is our time".

Norris leads Hamilton by 3.3 seconds.

On lap 30 Perez pits a second time for intermediates.

Verstappen reports that his intermediates are wearing out.

It is still spitting down rain, but the drivers are reporting that the track surface is quite dry.

Piastri is closing on Sainz in fifth.

On lap 33 Russell pits from fourth and retires his car with a suspected water issue.

At lap 35 Norris leads Hamilton by 2.9 seconds, followed by Verstappen (9.7s), Sainz (s19.1), Piastri (21.6s), Hulkenberg (39.9s), Stroll (43.3s), Alonso (52.3s), Tsunoda (56.4s), and Albon (1m00.4s) in tenth place.

The track still is damp, and the sun is starting to come out with 15 laps to go.

On lap 38 Norris leads Hamilton by 1.9 seconds.

Magnussen, Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas pit.

On lap 39 Hamilton pits for soft tyres, Verstappen for hard, Piastri for

On lap 40 Norris pits for soft, Sainz pits.

Norris rejoins and Hamilton takes the lead by 2.4 seconds.

Piastri sets fast lap at 1m29.913s.

At lap 41 Hamilton leads Norris by 2.3 seconds, followed by Verstappen (5.6s), Piastri (16.3s), Sainz (16.3s), Hulkenberg (48.4s), Stroll (52.4s), Alonso (57.0s), Tsunoda (1m02.6s), and Albon (1m03.5s) in tenth.

On lap 42 Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m29.472s, then again the next lap at 1m29.105s.

On lap 45 Hamilton leads Norris by 2.0 seconds, who leads Verstappen on hard tyres by 1.6 seconds.

On lap 46 Verstappen is closing on Norris. 4.0 seconds separating the top three.

On lap 48 Verstappen is within DRS of Norris.

Piastri sets fast lap at 1m29.049s.

In the DRS into Stowe corner Verstappen passes Norris for second place.

Verstappen sets fast lap at 1m28.952s.

On lap 49 Hamilton leads Verstappen by 3.1 seconds.

On lap 51 Hamilton leads Verstappen by 2.5 seconds.

Piastri set fast lap at 1m28.748s.

At the finish Hamilton wins over Verstappen and Norris.

On the final lap, Sainz takes the fastest lap of the race at 1m28.293s.