Lando Norris takes out British Grand Prix
Source: Getty Images
The British Grand Prix marked the halfway point in the championship. With a wet track, all runners started went inter the intermediate tyres. But before the lights went out, George Russell and Charles Leclerc pitted for slick tyres and Piastri commented the 3rd sector was too wet for slicks at that point.
Verstappen on pole got the better start and led into the first corner. But heading onto the Wellington Straight, Liam Lawson made contact with Esteban Ocon and was out of the race. 3 cars went for the apex it ended with Lawson having broken suspension. The virtual safety car (VSC) was out and on Lap 4, Gabriel Bortoleto went in backwards into the tyre barriers and smashed his rear wing. He tried to make it back to the pits but the stricken car brought out the full safety car. Safety Car ended on Lap 7 and the Championship Leader Oscar Piastri was catching Verstappen the race leader as the clouds darkened with rain imminently landing at the circuit.
The next lap heading onto the back straight, Verstappen lost the rear of his car and Piastri in 2nd took the opportunity and sailed down the inside to take the lead of the race. On Lap 11, the rain thrashed down onto the circuit with the spray from the cars making visibility difficult for everyone following the closet cars. But Norris was able to take his opportunity to get past the slower Verstappen. The top 3 (Piastri, Norris and Verstappen) pitted on Lap 12 for fresh intermediate tyres, but a slow Norris pit stop of 5 seconds allowed Verstappen back up into 2nd place.
The Safety Car was back out on Lap 14 due to visibility and rather than red flagging the race, they allowed the cars to stay behind the safety car and keep the race running. At this point in the race, there were 8 different constructors in the top 10 due to the unpredictable conditions. On lap 18, the safety car was in but it had seemed visibility had failed to improve as the other Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar plowed into the back of Kimi Antonelli and Hadjar crashed into the tyre barrier causing another retirement. Anontelli also retired due to damage at the back of the Mercedes. 5 retirements by Lap 20 and this race was just about to take another turn.
With the safety car out to recover the Hadjar car, the race was naturalised. But on Lap 21, the lights were out and Piastri slowed down quite dramatically to the point Verstappen flew by the front straight which caught the attention of race control. On the next corner, Verstappen itching to get under way dropped his tyres into a wet pace and spun the car around. Verstappen tumbled from 2nd to 11th before the start/finish line. The story that was developing was Nico Hülkenberg up from 19th position to 4th position. In his 239th race start, had had yet to score a podium and was looking to shake the monkey.
Lap 25, The Championship Leader Piastri received a 10 second penalty for the safety car restart that he would have to serve at the next pit stop. Norris became the effective race leader. The race wouldn’t get any better for Red Bull Racing, with Verstappen tumbled down the order, Yuki Tsunoda received a 10 second penalty for causing a collision with Ollie Bearman. Further in front on Lap 33, Hülkenberg was catching Lance Stroll in 3rd position and on Lap 33, he would take the position, Hülkenberg is sitting in 3rd!
Lewis Hamilton in his home race chipped away and was looking to take his Ferrari onto the podium to contrite his podium streak and was chasing Hulkenberg. With the track drying, engineers and drivers were waiting to see who blinked first to jump onto the slick tyres. It would be Fernando Alonso and a couple laps later George Russell did too but the gamble did not pay off for Russell who spun out heading through the fast flowing Maggotts and Becketts corners.
Whilst people were struggling, Verstappen started his climb up the field and on Lap 41, he overtook former teammate Pierre Gasly for 6th position. On Lap 42, Hamilton and Verstappen jump into the pits for fresh slick tyres for the end of the race. Hulkenberg stormed into the pits a lap later to ensure no undercut from Hamilton could spoil his 1st podium opportunity. On Lap 44, Piastri out in front came into the pitman to serve his 10 second penalty and Norris became the new race leader. Whilst Piastri was in the pitlane, the afternoon didn’t get any better for Haas with both drivers making contact and spinning out when Esteban Ocon dived down the wet part of the corner and tagged Ollie Bearman.
But out in front Lando Norris on the last lap was able to wave to his Lando Grandstand in the bright Neon colours and crossed the line to win his home race! Norris fulfilled a childhood dream of winning the British Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri close behind was 2nd, but the big celebration was Nico Hülkenberg finally scoring his first podium finish in 3rd and getting the monkey off his back.
As we look to the championship, Piastri continues to hold onto a 8 point gap to his teammate Norris in 2nd, with Max Verstappen a considerable margin behind Norris with 61 points separating 2nd & 3rd.
