Max Verstappen overcame a spirited challenge from Lando Norris to win this morning’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Norris held on to take second, while Lewis Hamilton was third after a mid-race Safety Car cost Oscar Piastri, who settled for a career-best fourth.
Red Bull’s victory marks 11 in a row for the constructor, equalling a record held by McLaren, while Verstappen’s win is also his sixth consecutive.
The championship leader also took the fastest lap to extend his points gap to second-placed Sergio Perez to 99 points after just 10 rounds. Red Bull now leads the World Constructors’ Championship by 208 points.
McLaren’s upgrade package appeared to work wonders over the race, with a front-row-starting Norris able to overtake Verstappen off the line and lead the first five laps.
Verstappen, Norris, and Piastri pulled clear of the pack as Charles Leclerc and George Russell battled behind.
A Lap 32 Safety Car for a stopped Kevin Magnussen brought the field together and saw a number of front-runners, including Norris and Verstappen, venture to the lane.
Piastri was one of the biggest losers from the Safety Car, dropping to fourth, behind Hamilton, having made his stop just two laps prior to the intervention.
Norris and Hamilton would battle off the Lap 39 restart as Verstappen pulled clear, the McLaren withstanding two fierce attacks to hold position and cruise to the chequered flag.
Norris would pull 2.9 seconds clear of Hamilton in second, while Piastri fell just one second short of the podium, having held off a Russell charge following the caution, leaving the Mercedes driver fifth and making for three British drivers in the top five at their home race.
Sergio Perez recovered from a lowly starting position of 15th and would drive forward off the mid-race restart, coming home sixth, ahead of Fernando Alonso.
Alex Albon would take points away from the venue for Williams by finishing eighth, fending off a late Leclerc challenge after the Ferrari was caught out during the caution, having stopped earlier.
Leclerc was forced to settle for ninth, while his teammate Carlos Sainz rounded out the top ten.
Lance Stroll finished 11th but was relegated to 14th after making contact with Pierre Gasly, which later forced the Alpine to retire with damage. It made for a miserable day for the team, with Esteban Ocon also forced into race retirement following a hydraulic issue.
Logan Sargeant ended up a career-best 11th, narrowly missing out on his maiden points in the series, while Valtteri Bottas withstood a fight from Nico Hulkenberg for 12th.
Zhou Guanyu, Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck De Vries rounded out the finishing competitors.
The strong results for McLaren see them jump Alpine for fifth in the team’s standings, but a 98-point difference remains should they wish to bridge the gap to the top four teams.
Norris moves up to ninth in the driver’s standings, leapfrogging Ocon, while Piastri makes a jump from 15th to 11th.
Formula 1 next returns with the Hungarian Grand Prix, which takes place over the weekend of July 21-23 at Hungaroring.
Header Image: Red Bull Content Pool
