Lewis Hamilton is a Grand Prix winner again! In 2024 in Silverstone, the Mercedes driver broke his dry spell that had lasted since Saudi Arabia in 2021 and also took his ninth victory in front of his home crowd. In a race marked by changeable weather, Mercedes didn’t do everything right, but did enough to beat Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
The winner: Hamilton and Norris battled it out for victory in mixed conditions over long stretches. In the first shower, Norris took the lead on slicks, but he and McLaren messed up when changing gear again after a rain shower and thus missed out on the win. For Hamilton, it is his ninth victory at Silverstone. No other driver has won so many times on a race track.
The podium: In the final phase, Verstappen caught up with Lando Norris, who had double-blown his mistake by switching to soft tires during the stop. Hamilton had also taken soft tires, however, and he managed to make it to the finish despite Verstappen closing in on him to within 1.465 seconds.
The result: Norris was almost caught by Oscar Piastri, who was too late for the first rain shower. He was in second place for a while, but in the end he only managed fourth place. Carlos Sainz completed the top five with the fastest lap, alone and with no chance of moving up. Nico Hülkenberg was strong again, fending off the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in the rain and in the dry. Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda completed the points positions.
The highlights of the Formula 1 race in Silverstone
- First win for Lewis Hamilton since Saudi Arabia 2021
- McLaren pit calls for Norris & Piastri completely wrong
- Verstappen too weak in the dry, but strategically correct
- Nico Hülkenberg still in top form
- Ferrari hopelessly inferior
- Sergio Perez eliminated by strategy this time
Formula 1 – World Championship standings 2024: Verstappen extends his World Championship lead again…
The World Cup table: No matter what happens, no matter who wins – Max Verstappen seems to be constantly extending his lead in the World Championship. With a late move against Norris, he increased his points tally to 255, while Norris is at 171. This puts him further ahead of Carles Leclerc, who has no points here. Oscar Piastri displaces Sergio Perez from fifth place.
McLaren is once again the team with the most points. They are only seven points away from taking over second place in the World Championship from Ferrari. Haas is once again becoming a threat in the back field. They are still in seventh place behind the Racing Bulls, but thanks to Nico Hülkenberg’s repeated strong performances they are now only four points away. In the drivers’ championship Hülkenberg only needs one more point to kick Lance Stroll out of the top 10.
Formula 1 2024: Overall ranking of drivers and teams
Before the start: It was drizzling an hour earlier. On the reconnaissance laps it dried out completely within just ten minutes. The race started with an air temperature of 16 degrees and a track temperature of 37 degrees and light cloud cover, but with a 60 percent chance of rain. Almost everyone started on the new medium, anticipating a possible wait for rain in the first stint. Only Zhou and Ocon risked soft tires; Sergio Perez started from the pits on hard tires after changing the engine. Gasly had to retire after the formation lap with gearbox damage.
Start in Silverstone: Verstappen surprises Norris, Hülkenberg makes a mistake
The leaders started cautiously. Russell and Hamilton were right at the front. Norris slipped a little too far in turn 3 in the village. Verstappen immediately moved past him and took third place. Piastri and Sainz moved in behind and formed a leading group of six cars in the early stages, but Sainz soon began to lose contact and let the top five go.
There were more position changes further back in the first lap. Nico Hülkenberg also slipped out of the village and was pushed down to P9 by Sainz, Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc, who gained three places. Behind the Haas, who had rejoined, Fernando Alonso had to slow down, causing Alex Albon to drive slightly into the back of his car. The Williams fell back to P12 with minor damage.
Mercedes set the tone in the first few laps. Verstappen looked surprisingly weak. He struggled with his front tires and began to lose contact early on. From lap 13, Norris increased the pressure and finally overtook Stowe on lap 15. The Red Bull did not even defend itself. On lap 17, it had to give up fourth place to Piastri without a fight.
Norris beats Mercedes on slicks in first shower
At the same time, a rain shower rolled over the track. But only a light one. Everyone stayed out for the time being. Hamilton now turned up the heat. He was immediately on the line, and on lap 18 he overtook Russell in Stowe. Both were surprised by the rapidly increasing rain in the first corner and drove straight ahead. Norris was there in no time, grabbing Russell and then taking the lead from Hamilton at the end of the lap.
With slicks in the drizzle, the Mercedes was suddenly inferior to the McLaren. Just one lap later, Piastri finished both of them off and took second place. Hülkenberg and Alonso passed Stroll into seventh and eighth place. Leclerc, Perez, Ocon and Zhou risked changing to intermediates – but the rain got lighter, not heavier. On lap 22, the first scare was over, the change was a mistake. On lap 25, they were already being lapped.
Verstappen with perfect stop in second shower, Russell drops out
On lap 25, however, rain came again. This time it was heavier and more persistent. Verstappen, Sainz, Hülkenberg and Stroll had the right instinct and came in for intermediates on lap 27. Norris and Hamilton were able to hold on for another lap and keep the lead. Russell, on the other hand, lost his third place to Verstappen and almost lost fourth place to Sainz.
Piastri stayed out for another lap, a complete disaster. He dropped from second place to sixth behind Sainz. Behind him were Hülkenberg, Stroll, Alonso, Tsunoda and Albon. Leclerc and Perez were doubly screwed. They had to get new intermediates again because they had already ruined their first set in the dry.
Russell began to close the gap to Verstappen on the track. Until, out of nowhere, on lap 33, he was asked to park the Mercedes in the garage due to a problem with the cooling system. Sainz moved up to fourth place, now again with the faster Piastri at the rear.
Hamilton regains lead at slick stop with soft
After a long wait, Magnussen and Ricciardo were the first to react on lap 38 and started the wave of slick changes. Hamilton, Verstappen and Piastri took a risk on lap 39 and made massive gains. Norris came a lap later and lost the lead. Hamilton was now two and a half seconds ahead of the McLaren and five and a half seconds ahead of the Red Bull. Piastri took fourth place from Sainz, who also stopped too late.
However, Hamilton and Norris had chosen soft tires. Hamilton because Mercedes had run out of medium tires. Norris because he actively chose them on the radio. Considering the long distance to the finish, Verstappen chose hard tires and Piastri chose medium tires. The two were then several tenths faster on every lap.
Hamilton saves himself from Verstappen despite tyre problems
As expected, Hamilton and Norris began to wear out their tires in the final sprint. Suddenly Verstappen was the first contender for victory. On lap 48, he finished off Norris on the outside of Stowe and took second place. With four laps to go, there were only three seconds between Hamilton and Verstappen.
However, these three seconds were too much for Verstappen. Hamilton had used the soft tyres well and managed to cross the line in 1.465 seconds. Norris was almost caught by Piastri, who was up to a second faster per lap than his team-mate in the final laps. Carlos Sainz finished a distant fifth, with the fastest lap.
In fact, Hülkenberg almost caught up with Sainz. The Haas had also switched to soft tyres and had to save himself from Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso. He managed to do so by just under a second. Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda completed the points positions.
Logan Sargeant narrowly missed out on the points, but prevailed over Kevin Magnussen in the battle for P11. Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Leclerc, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez and Zhou Guanyu completed the classification.