Hamilton reflects on his home race that “was pretty bad from the get-go”

Lewis Hamilton admitted his British Grand Prix “was pretty bad from the get-go” after a five-second penalty for a jump start and balance issues derailed his chances of fighting for victory, despite ultimately recovering to finish on the podium at Silverstone.

Ferrari’s strong pace throughout the weekend put both Charles Leclerc and Hamilton in contention at the front. Leclerc controlled the opening stages after passing Kimi Antonelli and only briefly surrendered the lead during the pit stop phase, before Antonelli’s wheel shield issues ended Mercedes’ challenge and allowed the Ferrari driver to secure his first win of the season.

Hamilton, meanwhile, ran second early on but quickly found himself on the back foot after receiving a five-second penalty for moving before the start signal. Serving the penalty at his first pit stop dropped him into the midfield, forcing a recovery drive.

He fought back strongly, eventually overtaking Max Verstappen to climb back into second place. However, Ferrari’s decision to pit him under a late Safety Car shuffled him back to third. His race was further complicated by a post-race investigation for a yellow flag infringement, though he ultimately received only a reprimand.

Speaking after the race, Hamilton was blunt in his assessment of his performance and opening-lap mistake: “Yeah, not that great. Charles did a mega job today, fully deserves the win,” he said.

“From my side, pretty bad from the get-go. I jumped the start, which I have done very few times in the 380-odd races that I’ve done.”

He went on to explain how early setup decisions and changing balance conditions made the opening stint particularly difficult.

“And then just balance-wise, I noticed Charles went up on his balance, I think compared to qualifying, added more wing, and I felt the car was really oversteer with the diff settings that we had had.”

“So, I took out wing and then I had the biggest understeer at the beginning of the race. So, he just pulled away from me," the seven-time world champion continued.

Hamilton admitted the combination of setup issues and the penalty left him unable to fight at the front.

“I just couldn’t even turn the car until halfway kind of through that first stint, I managed to start turning the car a little bit better with some diff changes, but by then the gap was already huge.”

“And then the five-second at the stop, and then there’s just one thing after the other.”

Explaining the unusual start infringement, Hamilton insisted it was not a deliberate mistake: “I just, yeah, my hand just moved just like that. Don’t really know where it went. I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t even tell my hand to do it. But anyway, it happens.”

He also addressed the late-race yellow flag investigation, clarifying that he never saw the warning while battling Verstappen for position.

“I literally just got past Max. So, I’d come through Turn 9 and I was literally staring in the mirror because I was thinking he’s going to come in a bit like George coming back past me, and that’s where I was looking, and I didn’t see the flag.”

“So that’s why later on, if you hear the radio, later on I asked if there was a yellow flag, because I didn’t see one. Yeah, that was it.”

Despite the frustration, Hamilton highlighted Ferrari’s overall progress and the competitiveness shown throughout the weekend as a major positive.

“I mean, it’s amazing. It’s amazing to see the pace that we’ve had this weekend at this sort of circuit. We definitely didn’t anticipate it," Hamilton continued.

"So just phenomenal to be strong weekend as a team and come away with really good points is really, really special.” And a big, huge thanks to the team.”