Lewis Hamilton ends winning drought with record ninth British Grand Prix

SILVERSTONE – Lewis Hamilton shed pent-up tears of joy after he held off Max Verstappen in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 7 for a first victory since Saudi Arabia in December 2021, silencing doubts that have been lingering for 945 days.

“I’ve been waiting for this,” shouted the Briton after crossing the line in his Mercedes to claim a ninth victory at Silverstone, breaking a tie with Michael Schumacher for most wins at one track.

Lando Norris of McLaren was third.

Said Hamilton: “It’s so tough, I think for anyone, but the important thing is just how you continue to get up and you’ve got to continue to dig deep even when you feel like you’re at the bottom of the barrel.

“There have definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn’t feel like I was good enough or I was (not) going to get back to where I am today. But the important thing is I had great people around me.”

After his record-extending 104th Formula One victory, the 39-year-old wept as he fell into the arms of his father as the home crowd roared.

“Since 2021, every day fighting, training and putting my mind to the task, working as hard as I can,” Hamilton, who will be moving to Ferrari after this season, said at the finishing line.

“This is my last race for the team here, I love them so much, I’ll be forever grateful to everyone at Mercedes and to the incredible fans.”

Hamilton’s race engineer Peter Bonnington, who joined the driver on the podium, yelled over the team radio: “Get in there Lewis, you are the man. You are the man. Mate, I have been waiting for this.”

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called it a “fairy tale” result.

He told Sky Sports: “You couldn’t have written it better for our farewell at the British Grand Prix. 

“He had some difficult times recently. Then, some faultless driving in various conditions...

“The last British Grand Prix together. It’s like a fairy tale, how we leave the British crowds there with the most successful British driver ever.”

Hamilton started second on the grid behind his teammate George Russell.

Russell, the winner on June 30 in Austria, was forced out with a hydraulic problem.

He said: “Probably about 10 laps before I had to retire. I saw temperature alarms coming up my steering wheel and some sort of water cooling failure... I struggled a bit around the damp patches but very gutting.“

Hamilton overtook Russell on lap 18, but was passed by Norris two laps later. But a poorly executed McLaren pit stop allowed Hamilton to regain the lead with 12 laps remaining.

Hamilton finished 1.465sec ahead of Verstappen, who overtook Norris three laps from the finish as the race ended in sunshine after a brief shower during the race.

Said Norris: “It was enjoyable and fun battling these guys. As a team I don’t think we did the job we could have done. At the same time, I blame myself. I hate ending in this position. I’m still happy.”

Red Bull’s Verstappen increased his lead in the drivers’ standings over Norris by three points to 84 points, despite failing to win for two consecutive races for the first time since Silverstone and Austria in 2022.

Said Verstappen: “We just didn’t have the pace today. I was slowly dropping back when it mattered in the beginning, so it didn’t look great at some point. I was thinking ‘are we going to finish fifth, sixth?’

“But we made the right calls, going from the slicks to the inters and also from the inters back to the slicks. It was every time the right lap. Also in the end, the call from the team to be on the hard tyre.”

Oscar Piastri of McLaren was fourth with Carlos Sainz of Ferrari fifth and Nico Hulkenberg of Haas sixth.

The Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were seventh and eighth respectively. Alex Albon took two points for Williams and Yuki Tsunoda was 10th for the Red Bull-owned RB team. AFP, REUTERS