Norris wins at Silverstone as Hulkenberg secures maiden F1 podium
Lando Norris won the British Grand Prix after inheriting the lead from Oscar Piastri after the latter was handed a 10 second penalty for a safety car infringement. Nico Hulkenberg meanwhile was overjoyed with finally scoring that first podium finish in his lengthy F1 career.
The hours ahead of the start of the British Grand Prix already caused additional tension as rain ensured that the track was damp for the start. After the installation lap behind the safety car with everybody on intermediates, some chose to pit immediately and switch to slicks.
Verstappen didn't and took the lead, ahead of Piastri, Norris, Hamilton, Gasly and Alonso, Sainz, Antonelli, Albon and Tsunoda. Lawson meanwhile quickly ended up at the back of the pack after spinning out while still on the intermediate tyres. He came together with Ocon who seemed like he had nowhere to go.
At the start of lap 2 a virtual safety car was instated as Lawson had eventually parked his car.
In that situation, Russell was the first of the slick runners in 14th position until Antonalli was pitted for slicks as well during this VSC period. Antonelli slotted into 13th position. Leclerc was 15th, then Hadjar, Bortoleto and Bearman.
Racing continued on lap 4 and immediately Bortoleto spun off and ended up in the gravel trap. He came to a halt rearwards against the tyre barriers while damaging his rear wing. Bortoleto still managed to drive away but had to return to the pits to retire the car. This forced another VSC.
At Mercedes meanwhile they swapped positions as Russell reported on the radio he felt much quicker than Antonelli. Stroll on the other hand pitted for slicks while at the same time heavy rain was predicted in just 5 to 10 minutes time. The switch dropped Stroll to 12th, comfortably ahead of Russell, indicating the intermediates were the better choice in these conditions.
Halfway in lap 7 the VSC ended with Verstappen just 0.6s ahead of Piastri. Norris was 3 seconds behind with Hamilton another 3 seconds further down the road.
Piastri really put the pressure on during that lap and managed to get ahead of Verstappen through Stowe Corner on lap 8.
On lap 9, Russell set the fastest lap, the first moment when slicks proved faster than the intermediates. Russell by then was already 9 seconds ahead of Antonelli who was battling to keep Leclerc behind. At the end of lap 10, Antonelli was pitted again to switch back to intermediates.
At the start of lap 11, Piastri was already 5 seconds ahead of Verstappen, and exactly 4 corners later it started to rain heavily. Norris by then had caught up with Verstappen who complained his intermediates were in poor condition. Verstappen then went off at Beckets to lose second place to Norris. It didn't last long however as the three leaders went to pit for fresh intermediates during which Verstappen regained second as some time was lost in Norris' pitstop.
As Albon hadn't pitted, he ended up in between Verstappen and Norris for half la pa, losing Norris about 3 seconds.
As rain intensified, Piastri rapidly distanced himself from Verstappen. When the gap was 13 seconds, race control decided to introduce the safety car on track as visibility was getting very problematic. Leclerc noted water had come into his helmet via the visor, making it impossible to see enough.
Behind the orange Mercedes safety car, Piastri obviously led the race, followed by Verstappen and Norris. Stroll interestingly was 4th while Alonso dropped down to 10th. The Spaniard voiced his discontent over how the pitstops had been handled. Hulkenberg was 5th, then Gasly, Ocon, Hamilton and Russell. Sainz and Albon sat just outside the points, followed by Tsunoda, Leclerc, Antonelli, Hadjar and Bearman.
At the end of lap 17 the race got going again as the rain had stopped. Russell quickly got past Ocon while Leclerc moved past Tsunoda. Hadjar was worse off and crashed out. The Frenchman simply drove into the back of Antonelli, blaming bad visibility but clearly missing his own braking point as well.
Ocon chose to pit, exchanging his intermediates from the start of the race to a fresh set, obviously returning at the back of the field. Antonelli did he same two laps later, taking Ocon's last place and promoting the Frenchman to 15th.
While spray seemed to continue to be an issue, especially in sector 3, the safety car left the track at the end of lap 21. The restart immediately sent Verstappen into a spin just before Club Corner. The Dutchman rejoined the field in 9th place but later lost control of the rear again at Turn 4 and 5, allowing Sainz to move up into 10th. Just before that time, Verstappen had overtaken Piastri when the Australian had suddenly slowed down before the restart. The move was quickly under investigation and awarded Piastri a 10s penalty even though the safety car's light were out before Piastri slowed.
Tsunoda was later also given a 10s penalty for causing a collision which sent Bearman into a spin.
Home hero Hamilton meanwhile was on the rise after struggling with tyre temperatures that cost him 6th position to Russell for a few laps. After correcting that he put the pressure on Gasly while Hulkenberg and Stroll were in eye sight as well. Hamilton cleared the Alpine at Club Corner on lap 29.
A mistake by Stroll then lost him several seconds to the McLarens ahead while Hulkenberg neared within a second. Hamilton slowly but steadily came closer to Hulkenberg as Gasly struggled on the improving track and got company of Russell and Alonso.
At the start of lap 35 Hamilton pretty much joined the Stroll-Hulkenberg battle for third place. At Stowe, Hulkenberg may his way past Stroll and immmediately distanced himself. Hamilton only needed 5 corners before also making it past Stroll, moving himself up in 4th, 1.8s behind the Stake Sauber.
At the end of lap 37 Alonso opted to gamble and went in to switch to medium compound slicks. The Spaniard seemed unable to really put more pressure on Gasly and Russell ahead of him. Russell also went for it a single lap later, opting for hard tyres and returning to the track 13 seconds ahead of Alonso.
As the Spaniard struggled, Russell spun off but quickly rejoined, still 5s ahead of Alonso. Clearly the two were too early to switch with Russell reporting "it's much wetter than we thought".
The drying track played into Verstappen's hand as after struggling to keep up with Sainz in 10th he started to make progress again. By lap 42 he was back into 6th place. At the end of that lap Hamilton, Stroll, Gasly pitted at the same time. Hulkenberg did the same one lap later while in front the McLaren duo were within 2 seconds of each other.
Leclerc pitted soon after Hulkenberg from third, rejoining in 8th.
Piastri pitted on his next passing, thereby serving his penalty. The McLaren was still comfortably ahead of Hulkenberg but obviously saw the lead disappear. Norris enjoyed a 5 second advantage over his team mate after the stop with 7 laps remaining. Piastri though had clearly not given up on the race win and was pushing hard to reduce his disadvantage but didn't come any closer 3 laps after the stop.
Further back Alonso's tyres had come alive, first passing Russell and then moving up into 8th by overtaking Albon.
Leclerc on the other hand did some serious off roading and returned to the track in 14th position.
As Norris started the final lap with 6 seconds in hand over Piastri, Stroll slid off the track and lost 5th place to Verstappen. Gasly was close to take away another position and did so at the very end of the last lap, leaving 7th place to Stroll with Alonso finishing 9th after also losing a spot to Albon in the final lap.
Norris was in tears over the radio with this victory, but perhaps the most happy man of the day is Nico Hulkenberg as the German took his first podium of his career after a record number of races without securing one. Oscar Piastri by contrast was incredibly disappointed with his penalty and didn't really want to say much after the race, but his face pretty much said it all.
