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Introduction
Lewis Hamilton has claimed a long-awaited 2024 Formula 1 British Grand Prix victory in a thrilling race at Silverstone, with the Mercedes driver holding off a challenge from Lando Norris to take the win.
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While pole-sitter George Russell had led away from Hamilton as the event got underway, an exciting battle soon unfolded between the Mercedes cars and the McLaren pair of Norris and Oscar Piastri amid changing weather conditions.
The lead changed hands after the opening phase of the race when the field began to switch to intermediate tyres. The skies later became dry, and Hamilton capitalised from pitting for slicks one lap before Norris—who also faced a slow pit stop—to become the new race leader.
While Russell retired with a water system issue – and Max Verstappen snatched P2 from Norris in the latter stages – Hamilton held position to clinch an emotional victory, a record ninth win in a single Grand Prix and his first P1 result since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Despite looking increasingly quick on the hard tyres in the final laps, Verstappen did not have enough time to fight for the lead and crossed the line in P2 for Red Bull, while Norris completed the podium in third.
The other McLaren of Piastri took fourth, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fifth and an impressive Nico Hulkenberg in sixth for Haas. It was a better weekend than late for Aston Martin, with Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso finishing seventh and eighth, respectively, while Alex Albon scored two valuable points for Williams in ninth.
Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10 for RB, with Logan Sargeant missing out for Williams in P11 from Haas’s Kevin Magnussen in P12, and RB’s Daniel Ricciardo followed in P13.
It was a disappointing outcome for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari man had earlier made gains but slipped backwards after making an early switch to the intermediate tyres, eventually crossing the line in P14.
Valtteri Bottas was the lead Kick Sauber in the 15th, while Esteban Ocon claimed the 16th in a tough day for Alpine. Sergio Perez, meanwhile, faced another tough outing, ending the day down in 17th.
Zhou Guanyu became the final classified runner in P18 for Kick Sauber, while Russell was one of two retirees owing to that aforementioned water system issue.
Pierre Gasly also failed to finish, returning to the pits at the end of the formation lap. It later transpired that the Alpine had been suffering from a gearbox problem.
Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:
We witnessed a fascinating Grand Prix at the end of a hectic weekend, featuring a great show on the track and in the grandstands. It was a testing weekend because we tested almost our entire range of tyres in different conditions on one of the most challenging tracks on the championship calendar.
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