Lewis Hamilton won his first F1 race in over two years at Silverstone on Sunday, but it was far from a comfortable outing for the seven-time champion. He had to fend off his former rival Max Verstappen along with Lando Norris in the closing stages of the race, and Hamilton revealed how the latter would have gotten the better of him had it not been for a McLaren mishap.
Rain played a big role at the 2024 British GP. Midway into the race, when the track was drying up, Hamilton had to make a big call – when to pit for slick tires.
Norris was his closest competitor at the time, and Hamilton admitted that he had to nail the timing of the stop. In the post-race press conference, he said, “I think if Lando had stopped before us, it would have been very, very, very difficult to have got by.”
Make it another podium visit, @LandoNorris!
P3 at Silverstone! #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/eyf4ch3xkk
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 7, 2024
“And I think the moment in which I came out of Turn 15 and I came in and he stayed out, I knew that this was the moment that I was going to have the chance to undercut him,” he added.
Hamilton was on soft tires towards the end of the race, as was Norris. Per him, the McLaren driver was very fast and he was having a hard time matching the lap times Norris put in.
Tires started affecting Lewis Hamilton at the end
After a few laps of Norris’ pursuit for the win, his pace fell off because of his tires. Verstappen had hard tires fitted to his RB20 and was the fastest driver on the track at that point. He started chasing Hamilton, and cut down the gap to the Briton to just over a second.
No. It wasn’t a dream pic.twitter.com/cJDHQPHSKu
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 8, 2024
Hamilton was aware of Verstappen right behind him. He stated that the Dutchman was giving his all to keep up, and said, “If we had another five laps I don’t know if we would have held on to it but I’m grateful that we were able to”.
Regardless, with the 2021 rivals finishing as the top two, McLaren have a lot to think about with their strategy. As Hamilton pointed out the timing of the pit stop and the choice of tires always play a crucial role in winning such chaotic races. That is something Norris and Co. have struggled with for a long time, case in point: Sochi 2021.
Meanwhile, Hamilton managed to cross the chequered flag in P1 for the first time since the 2021 Saudi Arabian GP. It was not an easy outing, and the fact that he had to wait so long to stand on the top step of the podium again made the whole ordeal emotional for the Briton.
