By Camille Lebez Leroy
Norris Shines at Home in a Drama-Filled McLaren One-Two
Lando Norris sent the Silverstone crowd into raptures with a sensational home victory in a chaotic, weather-affected British Grand Prix. The McLaren driver mastered the shifting conditions and relentless pressure to finish ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.
The formation lap happened behind the safety car, with drivers needing a cautious look at a damp track. Spray was minimal apart from the final sector, and conditions were clearly evolving toward slick tires. That provoked bold calls from Charles Leclerc and George Russell, who both opted to start from the pit lane on slick tires, a gamble that quickly proved premature.
Off the line, the polesitter held his lead in front of Piastri, as Norris and Lewis Hamilton went wheel to wheel. Pierre Gasly made an insane start and slotted into sixth. But the early laps were far from clean: Franco Colapinto retired with gearbox trouble, and a clash between Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, and Liam Lawson on Lap 2 caused a Virtual Safety Car. Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the opportunity to pit for hard slicks, but conditions were still tricky, and a few laps later, Gabriel Bortoleto spun off and hit the wall, inducing a second VSC.
Lance Stroll, who had switched to soft tires, suddenly found pace and started climbing through the field. But at the front, McLaren’s pace was unmatched. Piastri overtook Max Verstappen for the lead on Lap 8 and began building a gap. Norris followed closely, closing in on the Dutchman.
Then, just as slick tires seemed the obvious choice, the rain returned on Lap 11. Chaos in the pit lane followed, with McLaren attempting a double-stack. A slow tire change cost Norris dearly; he rejoined behind Verstappen, whom he’d briefly overtaken.
Despite the shuffle, Piastri surged ahead, stretching his lead to 13 seconds as Verstappen and Norris scrapped over second. That progress, however, was wiped out when heavy rain brought out the safety car. The neutralisation was a lifeline for Verstappen and a blow to Piastri’s hard-earned advantage.
There was drama throughout the field. Leclerc had a wild off across the grass, dropping to 14th. Ocon, still on worn intermediates, began to struggle and was overtaken by Russell. Then, shockingly, another safety car was called when Hadjar, unable to see through the spray, rear-ended Antonelli, ending both their races.
At the restart, Piastri slowed the pack significantly, allowing Verstappen to momentarily slip by, but the Red Bull driver immediately lost control, spinning off and falling to 11th.
Bearman was hit by Tsunoda and spun, while Piastri came under investigation for his restart tactics. He was eventually handed a 10-second penalty.
As the track dried again, McLaren continued to dominate up front. Behind them, Nico Hulkenberg was holding off Hamilton, who had worked his way into fifth after a late-race charge.
With the crossover point finally arriving, Alonso blinked first on Lap 38, switching to mediums. Russell followed a lap later on hards but spun almost immediately. The rest of the field soon followed, with most drivers pitting by Lap 42.
Piastri took his penalty during his stop, dropping to second. Norris pitted a lap later and rejoined in the lead after a flawless stop. Piastri, pushing to close the gap, made a small mistake and ran wide.
As the laps ticked down, Norris continued to extend his lead. He pulled out a gap of over five seconds and began to cruise toward victory.
Further back, the midfield battles raged on. Verstappen recovered to fifth after overtaking Stroll. Even though he suffered a slow pit stop,
Hulkenberg finished third, making it his first podium finish in his career. Hamilton’s late charge wasn’t quite enough for a podium, but he secured strong points in fourth.
Both McLaren drivers will now head to Spa with only an 8-point difference, while Sauber moves to 6th in the constructors’ championship.
Top 10:
P1 – Lando Norris
P2 – Oscar Piastri
P3 – Nico Hulkenberg
P4 – Lewis Hamilton
P5 – Max Verstappen
P6 – Pierre Gasly
P7 – Lance Stroll
P8 – Alexander Albon
P9 – Fernando Alonso
P10 – George Russell
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 