Drumil Modi, Pune
Lewis Hamilton wins his first Formula One race after the long 945-day struggle with the car. The seven-time world champion won at his home Grand Prix, along with marking Mercedes’ spectacular second consecutive victory this season.
All three British drivers led the race at some point George Russell, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, the home crowd cheered from the grandstands hoping they saw a British man win the race. Mercedes had a substantial stronghold on the lead since the very initial stages of the race. In the initial stages, it seemed like George Russell would bring home the trophy for Mercedes as he was constantly increasing the distance between him and his seven-time world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton.
As the rainy conditions began closing in, the teams had to pick a perfect time to change the tyres on their cars, and an epic battle unfolded.
For the first three-quarters of the race, Max Verstappen kept losing ground to Mercedes and McLaren. Lando Norris overtook Verstappen using DRS down the Hangar Straight completing the move into Stowe. A few laps down Oscar Piastri overtook Verstappen with ease. Verstappen at that point in the race did not seem to be in the position to be fighting for the podium.
Mercedes unlike in the past now allows their drivers to fight for track position under the condition they keep it clean. On lap 18, Hamilton overtook Russell but his lead did not last for a long time, on lap 19, both the Mercedes went off the track resulting in Norris leading the race. Eventually, the battle between both the Mercedes’ resulted in them losing ground to Oscar, resulting in both McLaren drivers leading the race.
Verstappen was the first to switch to intermediate tyres among the leaders. Mercedes double-stacked their drive to change the tyres whereas McLaren brought in Lando Norris leaving Oscar Piastri out for another lap.
As the sun began to come out on lap 34, Russell was asked by the time to retire the car due to a suspected water system issue. The pressure was now on Hamiton to close on Norris to win the Silverstone Grand Prix.
The battle continued between Norris, Hamilton and Verstappen till the end of the race. Verstappen had made his move on lap 49, overtaking Lando Norris for the second place. Hamilton was still at the moment 3 seconds ahead of Verstappen.
Mercedes’s dominance in the last two races shows how far the team has come since 2022. The team went from being constructors’ champions to being fourth or fifth in the last few years. In recent weeks the team has staged a massive comeback.