At the halfway point of the Formula 1 season, Lewis Hamilton writes racing history after 57 races without a win: It is his ninth victory at the British Grand Prix, something no one else has ever achieved on a track. Under the most difficult conditions, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris – this time very well – ended up in second and third place. Take another look in the mirror, then look ahead at the home straight. He must have seen the standing ovation in the stands as if through a veil. It wasn’t the rain, but the tears. “Oh, my God,” stammered the man who is moving to Ferrari after the end of the season, “how long have I been waiting for this. That means a lot to me.” Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was similarly moved: “We will prevail because we never give up. It doesn’t get any better than today.” The winner stood with the Union Jack on his car and jumped into the crowd of mechanics. Three Brits in the first three starting positions, that last happened more than 60 years ago. The ideal scenario for the 164,000 spectators at the Silverstone Circuit made the renaissance of the Silver Arrows possible. George Russell, the winner from Austria, catapulted himself into pole position in the qualification, Silverstone record winner Lewis Hamilton and McLaren driver Lando Norris were able to leave behind the man in what is probably the best car at the moment. The three agreed that the big crowd at the 75th British Grand Prix gave them a lot of extra energy. Max Verstappen, who had ruined the undercarriage of his Red Bull Honda early in qualifying, was more satisfied than sad with fourth place on the grid. The “big fight” that George Russell had promised for the Formula 1 half-time race gave up wait. At the start he and Hamilton drove away from potential attacker Norris, the newcomer of the year made another small mistake and was overtaken by Verstappen. The top drivers huddled in their positions, sensitized by the threat of rain showers. A strategy game, as is so often the case on the former airfield site, at the mercy of the whims of nature. World champion under pressure Nico Hülkenberg, who was last sixth in the race in Spielberg, took the momentum with him to central England, started from sixth place, but lost it in the start fight. The Emmericher in the Haas-Ferrari is a great fighter, made up ground under difficult conditions and remained one of the positive surprises of the year, in the end he was sixth and another eight points. The decision about changing tires was at the discretion of the drivers Weather report was just a guide. After 15 of the 52 laps the dark cloud was there. As an overture, while still dry, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen once again dueled. The world champion was under pressure, but no comparison to the attacks of the previous week, Verstappen let Norris pass without a fight. He was then duped by the second McLaren with Oscar Piastri. The downpour began rather hesitantly, completely different to the fight for first place – on lap 18, Lewis Hamilton overtook his colleague Russell with all his might and yet great elegance. There was a brief joy at the record champion’s first lead this season, because in On lap two it was suddenly treacherously wet and the two Silver Arrows rode out over the curbs. First Norris and then Piastri took advantage of the shock coldly and with a bit of risk. Shortly before the middle of the race, the shower increased in intensity. The tension increased with the amount of rain. Whoever went in first could win – or lose – everything. While the McLaren drivers were still attacking each other on slicks, Verstappen got all-weather tires. A smart decision, because leader Piastri went to the garage and lost 20 seconds. The Red Bull bosses thanked Verstappen: “You chose the perfect time.” He had passed Russell, he still had Norris and Hamilton ahead of him. The Mercedes driver received a programmatic announcement: “Hammer time!” Complete British podium is a thing of the past. All drivers tried to get through the complicated rain phase in order to start the race again in the dry. And for George Russell, who was so optimistic, his big dream was suddenly over with 18 laps to go, he had to park the Mercedes with a problem with the water cooling. The all-British podium was a thing of the past, Verstappen was the new third – once again limiting the damage to his plans successful title defense. Before the twelve remaining races, he had increased his lead over Norris to 84 points.More on the topicThe last twelve laps began with fresh tires, Mercedes cooked McLaren during the pit stop – suddenly Hamilton was ahead of Norris again. A shoot-out between two generations of British racing drivers. The leader now made it all up to himself. Taking full risks and still protecting the rubber, that was the maddening dilemma for the top three on a track that is considered tire-killing. Hamilton handled it with routine, Verstappen took advantage of his hard tires shortly before the end – the duel remained fair. He couldn’t reach his old rival Hamilton, who was driving towards his 104th career victory – and the British sun came out to match.
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