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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 DAY ON
TRACK:
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 - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
"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.”
FORMULA 2
The Marseillaise rang out from the podium in recognition of a win and the
championship lead for Isaak Hadjar. Having started from pole position,
Campos Racing’s French driver lost some places off the line but then fought
back to cross the finish line in second place. He was then promoted to
winner when the American Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil), who had taken the
chequered flag first, was given a five second penalty. That meant second
place went to the Barbadian Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport). Hadjar now
leads the championship on 133 points, 16 more than Paul Aron (Hitech
Pulse-Eight), who failed to score at Silverstone, while Maloney is third on
101.
On the tyre front, there was a pretty even split between the Soft and the
Hard at the start, with ten drivers preferring the red compound and twelve
going for the white. The difference in grip played a key role when it came
to overtaking, in favour of the softer tyre, although its performance
advantage only lasted five or six laps. As for the Hard, the key was
managing graining across the front axle in order to limit degradation.
FORMULA 3
Arvid Lindblad did the double in Formula 3 this weekend, winning the Feature
Race this morning, having claimed victory in yesterday’s Sprint. Today’s
race was affected by changing weather conditions. As was the case in F2, so
too in the junior category the winner was not actually the driver first past
the finish line: the chequered flag was waved for Callum Voisin (Rodin
Motorsport), who then was given a penalty which dropped him to third. In
second place was Gabriele Minì, thus making it a one-two finish for Prema
Racing, which puts the Italian in the lead of the championship on 119
points, six more than his team-mate and seven more than Luke Browning (Hitech
Pulse-Eight), eighth today. As for the tyres, their performance was dictated
by rapid changes in the weather. All things considered, the track conditions
were mainly best suited to the slicks and these tyres therefore made the
difference, which explains why the top three finishers only used this type
of tyre. The various safety car periods often brought those drivers who had
started on wet tyres back into the mix, but those who then switched to
slicks were able to make up places.
COMING UP NEXT FOR OUR TYRES
The longest season in the history of Formula 1 has reached its midpoint and
now there are two more Grands Prix prior to the summer break. They take
place in Hungary from 19 to 21 July and in Belgium the following week. On
the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Pirelli will also be working at the
eighth round of the WRC, Rally Lithuania and the fourth round of the GT
World Challenge America at Virginia International Speedway.
This coming Tuesday and Wednesday, the McLaren, Haas and Williams teams will
again be on track at Silverstone for a test session focused on development
of tyre constructions and compounds for 2025.
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