Lewis Hamilton once again had a lot of fun at his home race at Silverstone. He is not only pleased that he was able to finish on the podium from seventh place on the grid, but also that he was able to have an exciting battle with his compatriot Lando Norris, who, surprisingly for many, was the first pursuer of winner Max Verstappen.
Hamilton himself was amazed at how fast the McLaren MCL60 was at Silverstone: “The most impressive thing was when I followed him at the end,” says the seven-time world champion. “It was amazing to see how good his car was in fast corners. The thing really rocked. I was like, ‘Wow!’ I couldn’t keep up with that.”
With a bit of luck, Hamilton finished third in the closing stages. Because he had the only tire change under safety car conditions, he passed many rivals – including Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren, who lost his third place to Hamilton as a result.
But the Briton didn’t bother with the Australian behind him: he wanted to wrest second place from Norris. And the odds weren’t too bad, as Mercedes had given Hamilton the soft tires for the final 14 of 52 laps after clearance – while Norris was initially at a disadvantage on the hard tyres.
“I know how difficult it is to restart on hard tires when someone is behind you on soft,” Hamilton saw himself as having an advantage, but he hadn’t been in a direct duel with McLaren before and didn’t know where their strengths would be. “It was only then that I saw some of their strengths and that they got stronger as the rounds progressed.”
“Hard but fair”: Hamilton praises Norris
Hamilton attacked on several occasions and once seemed to have the upper hand when on lap 40 he found himself on the inside lane and next to Norris heading into the fast Copse corner. “I was hoping that would be the moment when it would work,” he says.
“I pressed the overtake button, did you too?” He addressed Norris directly, who answered the Mercedes driver’s question in the affirmative. “So we both drove with the overtaking button,” but Norris was able to pull away a bit and drive through the curve in front of Hamilton.
“We had a little more drag on the straights and they just shaved us at high speed,” says Hamilton. “And once he was through Turn 15, he was gone.” The Brit thinks it’s a pity that the fight didn’t last longer: “I would have wished that we could stay in this close fight for many more rounds, but it wasn’t to be.”
Unlike against Max Verstappen in 2021, there was no collision between Norris and Hamilton. “It’s great when you can have such close fights and trust the other driver to be fair. Tough but fair,” the seven-time world champion praises his young compatriot, who he says has “a lot of talent”, “as you can see “.
“There was never a moment when we thought we’d collide or something. That’s what motorsport is about,” said Hamilton. “Like he wanted to keep second place, so I wanted to get it. But it wasn’t to be today. Hopefully we’ll have more fights.”
Formula 1: Hamilton is happy for the ex-team
At least the performance of McLaren in Spielberg and Silverstone gives reason to hope that the racing team will now be up front more often.
The upgrade worked well for Norris in Austria and put McLaren back on the map. But a week later, Norris and Piastri (then also with an upgrade) proved that it was not a Spielberg flash in the pan.
“It’s really fantastic to see McLaren in competitive form again. It’s been a long time,” says Hamilton, happy for his former team, with whom he won his first Formula 1 world title in 2008.
He believes that McLaren was just really faster than Mercedes this weekend: “100 percent. And last week too,” said the Brit, who can be happy with them. “It’s the first time in a long time. They deserve this performance. We have to do a better job because they did a better job than us.”