Sir Lewis Hamilton finished Sunday’s British Grand Prix in third place, behind Lando Norris who helped McLaren record their first podium of the season in second while Max Verstappen won for the sixth consecutive race in 2023.
Norris sent the Silverstone crowd into raptures when he took the lead from polesitter Verstappen at the start. The Red Bull driver and reigning world champion however regained his lead after five laps.
A Safety Car was triggered on Lap 33 after the Ferrari engine in Kevin Magnussen’s Haas caught fire. It altered the race as Hamilton was able to jump ahead of the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri who started the race in third but dropped to fourth.
Eight-time winner at Silverstone, Hamilton, tried to hunt Norris during the closing stages of the race on the faster soft tyres but the McLaren man defended robustly to keep the Mercedes driver out of reach.
Hamilton stated that Mercedes need to follow McLaren’s development path after claiming in Saturday’s qualifying that the Woking team have taken some of Red Bull’s concept, something Norris disagrees with.
“It’s definitely been an up and down season and the last year and a half,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do. I think I know exactly what we need to do and we have got to have some serious conversations about what we are going to do moving forward.
“The McLaren is proof of the direction they have gone and it’s impressive how quick they were in the high speed. We have strengths in our car – long runs particularly are great. As soon as we have the rear end that they have, we will be on our way.”
YESSS LEWIS!! ???????? P3 AND A PODIUM AT HOME AT THE BRITISH GP!! ???????? pic.twitter.com/TmSCe5cB6B
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 9, 2023
Piastri finished ahead of the other Mercedes of George Russell who crossed the chequered flag in fifth place ahead of the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez, the Mexican starting the race in 15th after a poor qualifying session on Saturday.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was seventh while Alex Albon in the Williams and the Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz completed the top 10.
Verstappen has now claimed victory in eight of 10 races this season. The Dutchman has also extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship to 99 points over Perez.
Hamilton remains in fourth, 16 points behind third-placed Alonso and a mammoth 176 points behind former championship rival Verstappen.
