McLaren wow as Verstappen takes maiden British GP win

Despite Max Verstappen taking his maiden British Grand Prix win, it was McLaren who impressed as Lando Norris wowed his home crowd with a second-place finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris provided his home crowd with a thrilling dash off the line, getting the jump on the pole-sitting Red Bull into Turn 1.

The McLaren driver pulled a momentary gap beyond one second after the first lap, however, as DRS was enabled, Verstappen eventually found his way back within reach and quickly encroached on Norris’s lead to make the pass on Lap 5.

Oscar Piastri had a decent look at Verstappen throughout his opening lap, running side-by-side with the Red Bull through Copse but being unable to distract the championship leader from the target held on his teammate.

The RB19 further down the field had an extra position to gain after running wide and dropping behind Tsunoda during the opening sequence.

With Logan Sargeant dropping a few positions, Perez capitalised and eventually made his way up to P13.  

P12 was quickly held by Perez, a thankful move for the Red Bull driver, however, massively unfortunate for Nico Hulkenberg after contact between the two resulted in a front-wing change on his Haas.

George Russell, one of three drivers running the soft tyre at the start, passed Carlos Sainz on the opening lap, with his sights shifting to the leading Ferrari ahead of him.

On his first attempt at passing Charles Leclerc, the #16 car darted across the track, delaying the move and frustrating the home racer, his feelings made clear through radio exchanges with his team.

As Russell battled up ahead, Lewis Hamilton made his way through the field after losing 2 positions at Turn 3 on his start.

Having dropped behind Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard became his first target.

On Lap 10, the move was made, with Hamilton taking P7 without much difficulty.

Esteban Ocon was forced to retire just 10 laps into the race after running in P12, the issue being put down to a hydraulic leak on his Alpine.

Rumours of the customary British weather affecting the race began rolling in, with threats off raining echoing across the radio waves, however, to no avail. 

Verstappen struggled with the handling of his RB19 in the windy conditions that naturally come with racing at Silverstone, jumping on the radio to report to his team whilst also pulling a gap beyond 3  seconds from Norris. 

On Lap 19, Leclerc was the first driver called into the pits for a planned stop, opting for a set of the white-marked tyre.

It wasn’t a quick journey back up the field, with it taking quite some time before Leclerc began regaining positions from behind Lance Stroll. 

At the halfway mark of the race, Verstappen had pulled a significant gap on Norris at over six seconds, while Piastri behind continued to follow team orders by holding position. 

Sainz was running a different strategy to his teammate, pitting within the regular window for the Medium tyre runners on Lap 27.

The Spaniard rejoined the race in P12 to set the fastest lap, prompting movement across the field.

On his fresh set of medium tyres, George Russell rejoined the race behind Leclerc after having had a slow stop in the pit lane. 

The home racer then continued his attack on the Ferrari, and after working hard at it, made the move around the outside of Leclerc to take P8. 

The momentum shifted, with Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stopped out on track, smoke and flames billowing from the rear of his car, prompting a Virtual Safety Car.

The VSC sparked the first round of cheap stops, with many holding off until a Full Safety was called just a few laps later. 

Verstappen made his first stop, switching to Mediums, with Norris not far behind opting for the hard compound.

Hamilton made up a position during the Safety Car in the pits, jumping up into the final podium position and relegating Piastri to P4.

Sainz was one of the most disadvantaged at the SC restart on Lap 39 after his team made the call to stay out.

Perez sat in P8 with nothing stopping him from taking Sainz’s seventh place.

Running the oldest and most difficult compound of tyre across the field, The Ferrari driver would shortly lose out on three positions in one sequence on Lap 44. 

Earlier at the restart, Norris was slow to react, unleashing Verstappen and falling within Hamilton’s reach through Lap 40.

The McLaren driver put his machinery to work, fending off the 7-time world champion’s exciting attempts at an overtake on the inside of Turn 7 and again at Copse.

The battle didn’t end there, continuing right to the line. 

There was another McLaren vs Mercedes fight taking place not too far behind, with Russell appreciating his competitor’s speed on the hard tyre while failing to catch Piastri. 

Further back, Lance Stroll was noted by the stewards for leaving the track and gaining an advantage after reportedly overtaking a frustrated Pierre Gasly beyond track limits.

No further action was taken against the Aston Martin driver, however, he was simultaneously dealt a black and white flag with 10 laps to go for exceeding track limits.

Barely holding on to tenth place, Sainz traded positions back and forth with Gasly into Copse before it became a double DNF for Alpine.

Gasly, having drifted back from Sainz, had contact with Stroll at Turn 16, damaging the rear suspension of his Alpine which forced the Frenchman to limp back to his garage. 

Stroll was handed a 5-second penalty for causing the Lap 46 collision.

Hamilton complained of his tyres dropping off as the gap to Norris increased, releasing the McLaren into a pressure-free P2.

But it wasn’t all good news for the young Briton, with Norris handed a black and white flag in the final five laps of his home race. 

One of the final battles on track involved Leclerc, Albon and Alonso.

To rub salt in the wounds of Ferrari fans, the #16 car failed to overtake the Williams, instead forced to sit and watch Albon’s last-ditch attempts at Alonso on Lap 51.

At the chequered flag, it was Max Verstappen who took his maiden British Grand Prix win and Red Bull’s record-breaking 11th win in a row, having ironically stolen the record from McLaren, in what was an exciting race across the board. 

Lando Norris got the crowd on their feet and cheering as he crossed the line to take second place ahead of his more experienced compatriot, Lewis Hamilton in third.

Oscar Piastri ended his Grand Prix in a bittersweet P4 after Safety Car misfortune cost him a podium finish. 

Russell and Perez finished in P5 and P6 ahead of the Alonso-Albon-Leclerc battle, with Sainz rounding out the points scorers for this weekend.

The teams will have a week off before heading to the Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix across July 21-23.

British Grand Prix Results:

Download the full F1 British Grand Prix event guide HERE with track stats and facts and a full event schedule, plus our extensive driver profiles.

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PODCAST: The latest episode of the Auto Action RevLimiter podcast is out now!

Shane van Gisbergen went to Chicago to have some fun and a job interview. He had fun, won and aced the job interview. Andrew Clarke was there for the historic win, and Bruce Williams and Paul Gover dig into the significance of it all with Clarke.

Then we look Supercars and the parity war, what changes are coming? Then F1, which needs more changes than any Motorsport on the planet.

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