Today’s post-race press conference with Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Track Interviews – Conducted by Jenson Button
Lando, I’m sure very mixed emotions here in front of the home crowd. It looked like you were the man to beat out there. Your skill in those tricky conditions, getting to the front was exceptional, but not the result you were after.Lando Norris: First of all, congrats to Lewis. That crucial decision at the end, he just did a better job on, so hats off to him and Mercedes, they deserve it. It was tough. It was enjoyable. It was fun battling these guys. And these tricky conditions are always, like, on a knife edge and you’re risking a lot. So, many things good, but a few too many let downs today. As a team, I don’t think we did quite the job we should have done, or good enough, but still lovely to be on the podium here in Silverstone.
What I love about you is, I just said to you, your time will come to win the British Grand Prix, and you said, I don’t want time. You are ready. You are ready, aren’t you?LN: I don’t know. I mean, I’m not making the right decisions, you know. At the same time, I blame myself today for not making some of the right decisions. I hate it. I hate ending in this position and forever having excuses for not doing a good enough job. But I’m so happy. I’m still going to enjoy it. I think we still did so many things right. So many positives. But especially here in Silverstone, the one place I would love everything to go perfectly, it didn’t today. But I’m good. We’ll come back stronger next year and try again.
Thank you, Lando. Big round of applause for Lando Norris. Max, that was a better result than I was expecting, looking at most of the race. Half the race, you’re on the back foot, you had two Mercedes, two McLarens pulling away from you, but you were able to pull out a pretty good result in the end.Max Verstappen: Yeah, I mean, we just didn’t have the pace today. I was slowly dropping back when it mattered in the beginning. So it didn’t look great at some point. I was really thinking are we going to finish fifth, sixth? But, yeah, we made the right calls. You know, going from the slicks to the Inters and then also from the Inters back to the slicks, I think it was every time the right lap. And, yeah, then also at the end the call from the team to be on the Hard tyre instead of the Soft was definitely helping me out. That’s why I think we also finished second today. It could have been a lot worse but when making the right calls we still got onto the podium and I’m very happy with that because it looked extremely difficult.
How was it out there? It wasn’t either wet or dry for a lot of it. It was that real difficult decision to make either staying on the slicks or going on the Inters.MV: Yeah, when it started to rain for the first time, I was already dropping back. I was struggling for grip, so I didn’t want to take too many risks. And I saw the guys ahead of me, they were really going for it. So I just tried to hang in there, not going off the track. And yeah, that was quite tricky. But then at one point, it really started to come down. And then it was quite obvious that you had to go to the Inter. Then you had to make the tyre last as long as you could and then suddenly also the sun came out and the track really started to dry up quickly. But still, you know, you feel quite comfortable on the Inter but at one point you just have to gamble you know to go to the slick and luckily it all all worked out well.
Lewis, I’ve witnessed your whole career in F1 and the achievements you’ve had, 104 victories now, but I’ve never seen you quite this emotional after a race.Lewis Hamilton: Yeah, I can’t stop crying. I think, you know, since 2021, I’m just every day getting up, trying to fight, to train, to put my mind to the task and work as hard as I can with this amazing team and this is my last race here, the British Grand Prix, with this team so I wanted to win this so much for them, because I love them, I appreciate them so much, all the hard work they’ve been putting in over the years. I’m forever grateful to everyone in this team, everyone at Mercedes, and all of our partners. And I just want to say thank you to all of you for being here with us today. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. and then otherwise to all our incredible fans. I could see you lap by lap as I was coming around, and there’s just no greater feeling as to finish at the front here.
It seems that the last two and a half years, it’s been two and a half years since you won a race. I never thought we’d say that about you. You seem to always be able to get a win every single season. You’ve put on a brave face. It’s been impressive to see you, but you can tell when you’re such a winner that it’s tough, right?LH: It’s so tough, I think, for anyone. But I think the important thing is just how you continue to get up and you’ve got to continue to dig deep even when you feel like you’re at the bottom of the barrel. I mean, there’s definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn’t feel like I was good enough or whether I was going to get back to where I am today. But the important thing is I had great people around me continuing to support me and my team. Every time I turn up and see them putting in the effort that really encouraged me to do the same thing. And otherwise, my fans, when I see them around the world, they have been so supportive. So a big, big thank you to everybody back at the factory, everyone here. I love you guys, and God bless you.
They threw everything at you in that race. Weather, cars on track, everything. You came out on top.LH: Yeah.
Congratulations.LH: Thank you so much. Thank you, guys.
Press Conference
Max, we’ll start with you. It was an extraordinary race for you. You looked out of it for a while, then crossed the line just 1.4 seconds behind the winner. So talk us through it.MV: Yeah, the beginning was not very good. I mean, I tried to keep up, but I just ran out of tyres. I mean, everything was running hot and I just struggled for grip. So then Lando got by. Then Oscar got by. It started to rain. I had no grip as well there. I didn’t want to take too much risk as well because it didn’t feel good. It didn’t feel comfortable. So I was like, ‘I’ll just sit here and try to survive’. And yeah, that’s what I did. And at one point, even Carlos rocked up at the party. So I was like, ‘geez, this is a really bad afternoon’. But then, yeah, we just kept it on track, made the right calls from the slick to the Inter, and then from the Inter back to the slick tyre, which just basically kept me in contention, really. I mean, by making the right calls today, we were there at the right time. And to the end, with the Hard tyre, that was the right call for us, definitely. So we could push on the tyre, because the Medium already wasn’t good enough for us. So to the end to go flat out on the Hard was the best we could do and we finished second. At one point it was looking like P5 or P6 even. So yeah, on a poor afternoon I would say in terms of performance to be second, I’ll take that.
Why was it such a poor afternoon in terms of performance for you?MV: I just didn’t have the pace. I couldn’t follow what they were doing in front of me. And that’s something, of course, that we need to look at.
OK, what about making the right calls at the right time? Were you making that? Was it you and GP? Just talk us through those moments?MV: It’s a constant discussion that I have with GP, you know, with the radar, he tells me the information he has. as well as he can. And then as a driver, of course, at one point if you don’t feel like you can continue on a slick. or you think now it’s time to go to the Inter, you have to shout over the radio that you’re coming in. So that’s what we did. And then it’s the same from Inter to slick. Of course, the team can sometimes help you a little bit more with that if someone is on a slick already. But at the end of the day, the sun was coming out, the track was still drying up quite quickly from the last few days even and I took a bit of risk. Not being 100% sure this is the right lap, but we went for it and it was the right lap at the end of the day.
Max, on paper, the fast sweeps of Silverstone have at least in recent years suited Red Bull. How much of a concern is it that you were struggling so much today?MV: Well, over one lap, it didn’t look too bad. I think it was just pace in the race. We just didn’t have the pace. I couldn’t follow the deg of the others. And that’s something, of course, that we need to understand.
Lewis, a very warm welcome to the top-three press conference. It’s been a while since we’ve had you sat in that middle seat. And what a place to do it at Silverstone. What made this one so special for you?LH: I think ultimately because it’s been such a long time. It’s been 900… Someone just told me 946 days or something like that since the last win. And, you know, really challenging, you know, a difficult time obviously 2021 and then coming back in with a car that we’ve not been able to fight with for the last couple of years. I think just it’s been incredibly mentally challenging. I think for everyone in the team, but I think just knowing how hard everyone’s continued to work, knowing how I’ve managed just to keep my head in it, and then with everything that’s happened this year as well, with so many emotions this year, obviously announcing that I’m that I’m leaving and at the same time starting with a car that we didn’t feel that we could win with to then finally be in a place where we win and not only that but at the British Grand Prix in front of my home crowd there is… Honestly, it’s the most incredible honour to be standing on the top of the podium and hearing the national anthem with the King’s name in it, for example. It’s the first time I’ve had that. And then also my family’s here.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Silverstone here.
