by Ben Ayuko
{image by Getty Images}
Lewis Hamilton came out on top in a very dramatic English Grand Prix at the Silverstone racetrack.
Having qualified in 2nd place behind teammate and pole-sitter, George Russell and fellow Englishman, Lando Norris, the English spectators were in for a special treat, and I’m not just talking about Hannah Wadingham’s iteration of the English National Anthem. It was the first time in history that 3 English drives had qualified in all 3 podium positions at their home race.
The race was made tricky from the onset, as the expectancy of rain showers meant that the teams had to carefully strategize how they would handle the change in track conditions. By the 16th lap (of 52), the rain had begun invading the track and the drivers had started to become weary. It, however, wasn’t strong enough rain to demand a change of tyre strategy. A lesson that Charles Leclerc of Ferrari learnt the hard way. Still, the conditions made it so the drivers who were comfortable getting a little wet could thrive. This was exactly the case with the McLarens as both Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri began gingerly moving up the order. By the time the showers had faded away, some 10 laps later, they were comfortably at the front of the track.
This wasn’t the end of the chaos though as, again, the conditions changed for the wetter, this time prompting the drivers to change their tyres. Max Verstappen had some foresight to change up earlier, giving him a one lap advantage on the track over the other drivers. McLaren’s Piastri stayed out too long in the rain which meant he dropped from the front of the pack to 6th position while George Russell had the most ironic retirement in all of Motorsport as he had to retire the car due to “trouble with the water system“.
Round and round they went, this time with Norris in first, Hamilton in 2nd and Verstappen in 3rd. As they conditions became drier yet again, and they needed to switch back to dry tyres, Norris made a judgement call error as he opted for the wrong tyre choice. This, coupled with a poor pitstop from the McLaren engineers, meant that both Hamilton and Verstappen would hunt him down and, eventually, overtake him.
It all came down to Hamilton vs Verstappen for the victory, somewhat of a blast from the past, and despite Verstappen having superior pace in his Red Bull, it wasn’t enough to take first place from Hamilton in his Mercedes. Norris came finished the race in 3rd position, while his teammate got, Piastri, himself back up to 4th place. Carlos Sainz, the other Ferrari driver, took the fastest lap award on the final lap, finishing in 5th.
Definitely one of the more thrilling races of the 2024 season.