Christian Horner: "It was a thrilling race, with one minute looking like we were out of the race and the next minute we were straight back in it. We got the strategy calls exactly right today, especially the point where we went on the inter, the slicks, and then the hard tyre which were definitely all of the right choices out there today. If there had been a few more laps the outcome might have been different but it was still a great drive and performance. The pitwall and the drivers are working really well together, Max and Checo obviously are feeding back what is going on but the pitwall have more information and they are both communicating and able to make the right calls at the right time. We will need to analyse performance as it was all over the board with pace and which team was the quickest on track at any given point, but it balanced out a bit as the track got drier. The British Grand Prix is always a special weekend, and also a big congratulations to Lewis on a great drive at his home track."
Lewis Hamilton claimed a stunning British Grand Prix victory on Sunday at Silverstone. George Russell unfortunately was forced to retire with a water system issue.
Starting from the front-row, George and Lewis led the way in the opening laps. However, a rain shower one third of the way through the Grand Prix cycled the McLarens through to the lead. That initial rain came and went before a further downpour necessitated a switch to the Intermediate tyres. With the team double-stacking, Lewis emerged in P2 with George P4. Rising Power Unit temperatures due to a water system issue forced George to retire from the Grand Prix shortly after.
With Lewis the team's sole remaining car, the team judged the switch back to dry tyres well and pitted him a lap earlier than the race-leading McLaren of Lando Norris. Switching to the Soft compound, he emerged in the lead and managed the final stint well to take a record-breaking ninth British Grand Prix win.
Lewis becomes the first driver to win a Grand Prix in 16 different season and the first driver to win a Grand Prix after making 300 starts. It is also Lewis's 12th consecutive British Grand Prix podium and his 150th podium with Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: Today's win is like a fairytale. It is our last British Grand Prix together with Lewis and what a way to sign off. It is such a great feeling to be able to achieve victory in front of the British crowds with the most iconic, and most successful British driver in a Mercedes.
Last week's win was fortuitous. Today, we were quick in almost all conditions. We were running first and second for a long time and, although the McLarens were quick when the rain fell, we were able to get back ahead of them. It is a win on merit, and it shows the grit of this team. We never stopped believing, we never stopped working, and we have been able to unlock the potential in the car. We are now on a roll.
George was unfortunate today. He has been so strong recently and took a fantastic pole position yesterday. Sadly, we had to retire his car with a water system issue. He would have likely been in position to fight for the win were it not for that.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: It was absolutely fantastic to see Lewis win today. The crowd here make it extra special, and it was an amazing drive. It's barely believable that it's been so long since we last won a race with Lewis and now, we've just won two weekends in a row as a team.
It was a difficult race for George. We were monitoring a cooling system on his car from the early laps and unfortunately that got to a stage where we had to retire the car. He can hold his head up high though. He put together a fantastic lap to take pole position and showed that he had the pace to control the race in stint one.
The last few months have seen the whole team working flat out to improve the car. What we have achieved in a short space of time is incredible. We'll enjoy this moment as it's very special but with two races to go before the summer break, we'll keep pushing to bring performance as we continue to get our championship back on track.
Scuderia Ferrari HP came away from the British Grand Prix with just eleven points courtesy of Carlos Sainz who finished fifth and picked up the extra point for the fastest race lap. The way the race played out it was the best he could do. Charles Leclerc failed to score, as his aggressive strategy did not pay off and he finished 14th.
The start was dry although rain was expected imminently and both drivers got away well, Carlos passing Nico Hulkenberg for sixth place and Leclerc doing even better, moving up from 11th to eighth behind Lance Stroll, whom he passed on lap 14. The first drops arrived on lap 15 but the rain was not heavy enough to justify fitting Intermediate tyres, but four laps later it increased in intensity and Charles, who had been struggling on his Mediums came in for Intermediates, a decision he took in conjunction with the team, as is usually the case in these conditions. Sainz opted to stay out and that worked out for him as the rain eased in a matter of minutes and those on slicks were soon putting in normal lap times again. At the same time, Leclerc was really struggling on the Intermediates as the track was barely damp and so when the entire field came in for Intermediates, he also had to pit for a second set. That additional stop effectively ended any hopes he might have had to finish in the points. Carlos managed to move up to fourth place after George Russell retired, even though before pitting again for slicks, he was passed by Oscar Piastri, which dropped him to fifth. The Spaniard was now on the Hard tyre and maintaining a good pace, pulling out a comfortable gap to Hulkenberg which became big enough for the team to bring him for a set of Softs to go for the fastest race lap, which he did in 1'28"293. Scuderia Ferrari HP is still second in the Constructors' classification and Charles stays third in the Drivers' while Carlos is still fourth, now just four points behind his team-mate.
There is now a two week break before the next round, which the team will put to good use, analysing all the data from the past few races in order to react to the drop in performance seen recently. The season resumes with the Hungarian Grand Prix from 19-21 July.
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: It wasn't an easy weekend, but today Carlos drove a strong race as he had a good start, was fast in the wet and his final position was the best he could achieve today and it included the additional point for the fastest lap.
On Charles' side it was a bit more difficult as we gambled and the strategy didn't pay off. He had a great start and moved up three places then he lost some time getting past Lance Stroll. So, when both Mercedes went off the track at turn 1 in the rain we agreed on the decision to bring Charles in for Intermediates, as an aggressive strategy was the only way to try and move him up the order. As we saw, it didn't pay off and probably cost us a P6.
This weekend we learned a lot about the car and we made a good step forward which is encouraging for the rest of the season. Now we need to build on what we have learned and apply it to the next couple of races. Everyone in the team, including me, is impatient to get some good results.
Andrea Stella, Team Principal: "The race today was intense and we leave this weekend with a bittersweet taste. We knew rain would be a factor at some stage, and several drivers were in contention to win at different points in the afternoon. I think we looked very strong when the rain started to fall, with both drivers moving to the front of the field. We then didn't capitalise on that, and it looks like a missed opportunity. We'll review the calls we made - some were good, others could have been better. Once again, it's important that we're in contention for podiums and victories, and perhaps today the difference was a matter of small details in the execution. Our pace across this triple-header has been encouraging, and we're looking forward to future races."
Mike Krack, Team Principal: "Ten important points at our home race in Silverstone with both cars in the top eight. Lance and Fernando didn't put a wheel wrong, dealing well with a couple of rain showers that made for very tricky track conditions this afternoon. We optimised the strategy today with our decision to keep two sets of Medium tyres proving the correct one. The team and drivers have worked incredibly hard to improve the car recently and this result shows our efforts our moving in the right direction. A big thank you to everyone in the team for their hard work during this triple-header, and thanks to the fans and our team partners for their support during this busy home race week."
Esteban started from P18 on New Softs, finished P16: Pit Stops on Lap 19 for Intermediates, Lap 21 for Mediums, Lap 26 for Intermediates, Lap 38 for Mediums. Fastest Lap: 1min 30.875secs. Pierre Did Not Start.
Bruno Famin, Team Principal: "Clearly, this has been a difficult weekend for the team in Silverstone. It is one we must learn lessons from, and we must apply ourselves in an improved manner at future races in order to do better. We did not give our drivers a fighting chance. One positive to come from today is our work in the pit-stops where we have made significant strides forwards. It has been an intense triple header for the team. We will debrief collectively, work tirelessly to find improvements, and come back stronger in Budapest in two weeks' time."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director: The car worked well today in these mixed and rather cold conditions. Alex picked up some damage in the first corners of the race through contact but avoided a big collision with great skill. Logan had a good start, and both cars had good pace in that first part of the race. When the first patch of rain came both drivers did an excellent job staying out on slicks as it was difficult to call when to go onto the Intermediates. In hindsight, we maybe should've boxed a lap earlier as the rain intensified quickly. When the rain had passed, we fitted slicks on both cars at the right time and Logan and Alex had great pace on a quickly drying track. Logan managed to overtake [Kevin] Magnussen for P11, and Alex made a great move on [Yuki] Tsunoda for P9 scoring two valuable points for the team. Overall, it's been a good weekend for the team after two difficult weekends.
Jody Egginton (Technical Director): "The weather has certainly played its part today, but overall, I feel we made the right calls at the right time, which certainly contributed to getting a car into the points. Yuki drove a strong race today, making a couple of passes on the opening laps and having enough pace to keep himself in touch with those in front. On Daniel's side of the garage, race day was not so straightforward. An issue was identified with his car before the race and resulted in a significant amount of work to get his car turned around for the race. In terms of overall performance, the midfield remains very tight, and the focus remains on delivering aero updates to the car to move the package forward and give ourselves the best possible chance of scoring points."
Laurent Mekies (Team Principal): "This weekend has been a great advert for Formula One and has demonstrated that while the sport is enjoying fantastic growth in new markets, the classic venues like Silverstone still have so much to offer. The huge crowd clearly enjoyed it and they should be congratulated on not letting the bad weather dampen their enthusiasm. From our side, it's clear that the fast nature of this circuit has not suited our car particularly well and we are not where we want to be, namely dominating the mid-field as we did earlier in the season. However, we are coming home from this triple header with another well-deserved point for Yuki and the team, executing strongly in difficult changing conditions. Daniel was trailing the same tight mid-field group and finished outside of the point despite putting up a good fight. This race is only the midpoint of the season, the 12th of 24 rounds and we have seen how quickly the hierarchy can change from race to race, from the front of the grid to the back. It is more than ever a development race, and everyone in Faenza and in Bicester is flat out looking for a much-needed further step of performance for our car."
Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber had a challenging Sunday under variable conditions in Silverstone. On a race that went from dry to wet and back to dry again, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu finished 15th and 18th respectively. It was a difficult afternoon, and the team will return to base knowing it needs to work hard to address its weaknesses, continuing its development plan to close the gap with its rivals.
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative: "This race confirms that we lack pace, and we were unfortunately not able to reach any of the targets we had set for ourselves before the weekend. Zhou's race was compromised by starting on softs: we did not expect the levels of graining and tyre degradation that he experienced in his first stint, and which forced us into an early pitstop before the rain came out. Of course, coming back from there was very hard, and the remainder of his race was beyond recovery. Valtteri had a better race, with good strategy calls and pit stops. He was in phase with all our main competitors, but he also suffered overheating on the front axle and graining, and this affected his pace heavily - on all compounds we used today. We clearly need to make a step forward, and this is why we need to keep working hard to address our weaknesses through a continued and committed programme of development, starting already from the next rounds."
MoneyGram Haas F1 Team finished with Nico Hulkenberg sixth, and Kevin Magnussen 12th, at the British Grand Prix, Round 12 of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, held Sunday at Silverstone.
Hulkenberg started from sixth position - his highest grid slot of the season - on Pirelli P Zero Yellow medium tires but a challenging first lap shuffled the German down to ninth. Hulkenberg made gains when the rain fell mid-race, pitting for Cinturato Green intermediate tires on lap 26, emerging in seventh place. Hulkenberg gained one more spot when George Russell retired his Mercedes, before pitting again on lap 39 for Red soft tires when the circuit dried, coming out in sixth. Hulkenberg retained the position through the final stint of the race to make it successive sixth places, equaling his and MoneyGram Haas F1 Team's best race result of 2024.
Magnussen took the start from 17th place, also on medium tires, and enjoyed a strong first stint, passing several cars to emerge in contention for the top 10. Magnussen came in for intermediates on lap 27 and held 11th through the tricky slippery middle stint of the race - taking on softs on lap 37. The Dane battled with Williams' Logan Sargeant through the final stages and came home in 12th at the checkered flag.
The result solidifies seventh place in the Constructors' Championship for MoneyGram Haas F1 Team - with 27 points scored at the halfway mark of the season.
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "It's an excellent day. It's a shame we couldn't score points with both cars as had Kevin not had that graining issue on the softs in the last stint, he would've been close to scoring points. Overall, P6 at two races in a row, what more can I ask for. The updates have worked again and Nico felt it straightaway on Friday, his qualifying on Saturday showed it and his race pace today showed it. Kevin in the old spec car was happy, but I think he had damage from FP2, so all in all today, these are results to be proud of. It wasn't an easy race, there were changeable conditions and it's easy to say you only have to put the right tires on at the right time, but it's much more difficult to do, but we achieved that. It's been a huge team effort so I'm really proud of them."
Lewis Hamilton won the 75th edition of the British Grand Prix. The seven time world champion thus ends a barren spell that lasted 945 days, since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. He now has 104 Formula 1 wins to his name, nine of them in this race, thus topping the list of drivers with the most wins at one particular Grand Prix. For his Mercedes team it is win number 127, its second in a row, the first time the team has managed that in almost three years, as the last time it happened was in 2021, when the Toto Wolff-led team won in Brazil and then at the aforementioned next round in Saudi Arabia.
Joining Hamilton on the podium were second placed Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) and in third, Lando Norris (McLaren). All three men wore a special edition of the classic Pirelli podium cap, specially made in tweed for the Silverstone round. The cap is on sale here: https://afbmotorsport.com/en/contenido/f1-pirelli-podium-caps-22.
For Pirelli, this was a very colourful Grand Prix, a four colour one to be precise, as four tyre compounds with their distinctive colour bands were brought into play - red for the Soft, yellow for the Medium, white for the Hard and green for the Intermediate and all four did in fact play an important role in a race where the track switched from dry to wet and back again and with temperatures that varied by around ten degrees depending on what the weather was doing.
The first part featured the Medium, used by 17 drivers on the grid, the exceptions being Ocon and Zhou, who opted for the Soft while, starting from pitlane, Perez went with the Hard. The C2 worked well, because the drivers were able to push even when carrying a full fuel load, while it also enabled them to manage the tricky conditions when the rain started to fall. Furthermore, the Medium ensured greater flexibility as to when to make the first pit stop, given that the threat of rain had made itself felt even before the start.
Then it was the turn of the Intermediate to take centre stage, when the crossover point arrived. Leclerc and Perez had chosen to switch to this tyre early and now found themselves with a set of worn tyres just when the track conditions were most suited to them and they had to come in for a second set. In fact, there was never as much water on track as there had been yesterday in FP3 and that meant this type of tyre was obviously going to wear much more quickly as the track had then dried out. The final part saw all three dry weather compounds compete on equal terms and it was interesting to observe how, especially among the leaders, the various car-driver packages were comfortable with different compounds: Hamilton took the win for Mercedes with the Soft, Verstappen and his Red Bull was quickest on the Hard, while Piastri demonstrated that the Medium could be very competitive on the McLaren.
Mario Isola: "We witnessed a very exciting Grand Prix at the end of a very busy weekend, which featured a great show both on the track and in the grandstands. It was a testing weekend for us because we put almost our entire range of tyres to the test in different conditions on one of the toughest tracks of the entire championship calendar.
"Right from Friday it was evident that all three dry weather compounds could play an important role in this race and that was confirmed today. In terms of strategy, the pre-race predictions were more or less respected. Leaving aside the rain, the length of the first stint on the Mediums and the performance of the Hard for those like Verstappen and Sainz who used them in the final stint, demonstrated how a C2/C1 combination could be very competitive. Obviously, the C3 suffered a bit more, partly because it was used in push mode towards the end of the race on a track that was still pretty green because of all the rain this weekend."
