Lewis Hamilton is a historic racer and Silverstone is a historic place. There are places in sports where you know history will be Daytona in February, Indianapolis in May, Columbus, Ohio, or Ann Arbor, Michigan in November. This year had all the making of a historic race and it did not disappoint. For the first time in Formula One three British drivers would start first second and third in the British Grand Prix. George Russell is on pole, Lewis Hamilton second with a Mercedes front-row lockout, and Lando Norris third. As exciting races usually dictate rain was in the forecast.
The First Round of Rain
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At the start, we saw a battle between the Mercedes for the lead as the Mclaren’s duel with the lone Red Bull in Max Verstappen for third fourth, and fifth. Verstappen got the original jump on Norris for third but began to fade when the first round of rain came in.
Charles LeClerc and Sergio Perez took intermediate tires in this first round of rain and immediately realized it was a mistake. the track was not wet enough for the inters causing the tires to chunk and lose grip. This ended any chance of the two drivers scoring points. George Russell would also lose out after retiring the car on lap 34 due to a water system issue.
The second round of rain forced drivers to come in for the inters Verstappen came in a lap earlier allowing him to overtake Russell and Piastri putting him back in contention. Piastri was forced to go around an extra lap causing him to lose a massive amount of time.
Back to Slicks
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We knew there would be one more pit stop however the question was what tire compound would they use? Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris would go to the Softs while Max Verstappen would go to the hard compound tires and Piatri to the Mediums.
The top three came out with three seconds separating each driver with Verstappen warming up the hard tires and able to run much harder than Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris who had to save their softer tires to make it to the end. Verstappen was able to run down Norris in second and overtake but was unable to run down his old rival Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren once again makes a questionable call going to the soft tires for Lando Norris. Knowing McLaren would have to go on the attack they still went with tires that would force Lando to protect the tires where as Verstappen and Lando’s teammate Piastri could go all out and Piastri would have had the fastest lap but Sainz pitted for softs late to grab the bonus point.
Lewis Hamilton Makes History
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Lewis Hamilton was able to capture his first victory in 945 days, in his final race in his home country in the Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton also broke the record for most wins at a single track with nine wins at the historic venue. He is also the first driver to win a Grand Prix after his 300th start.
The Drivers Championship is likely out of the picture for everyone who isn’t Max Verstappen. The Constructors Championship is certainly up for grabs. Mercedes and McLaren have shown to be stronger than the Red Bulls in recent races. With Sergio Perez continuing to be nowhere near the front scoring outside the points again McLaren and Mercedes could take the Constructors Championship at year’s end.
McLaren’s Strategic Nightmare
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In the first round of pit stops McLaren elected to not double stack bring both cars and hang Oscar Piastri out to dry having to go around the track an extra time on slicks in wet conditions effectively taking the young Australian out of contention. McLaren then made the right choice with Piastri going from inters to slicks with the medium but way too far out of contention.
With Lando Norris the script was flipped making the correct call to bring Lando in for inters when they did but then on the switch back to slicks they went with softs that were deteriorating quicker not allowing him to attack the leading Lewis Hamilton and allowing Verstappen to close and and overtake Norris for the second place.
Top Racers Still Missing from the Front
Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez have once again been missing front the front. The two have top-tier rides and have been nowhere to be seen in weeks. Leclerc was plagued by a horrific pit strategy from Ferrari going to Inters too early. The alarms for LeClerc aren’t as loud because it isn’t a skill issue for the Monégasque driver it is a hail-mary strategy that Ferrari is prone to do when they are in trouble.
Sergio Perez on the other hand is in danger of losing his seat despite the contract extension earlier in the year. Perez’s best finish since Miami has been seventh in Austria but in Silverstone Perez beached it in the first round of qualifying and started from the pitlane. With horrific strategy, Perez finished 17th two laps down. Hungry could be a win-or-lose-your-seat scenario for the lone Mexican driver in Formula One.
About The Author
Dillon Hildreth is a writer for Total Apex and a lifelong fan of Football with his favorite teams being the New England Patriots and the Georgia Bulldogs. Dillon is also a fan of Motorsports Red Bull in Formula One and William Byron in NASCAR. You can catch Dillon Stream F1, NASCAR, and other video games and side casts on Twitch.
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