A very emotional Lewis Hamilton wins the 2024 British Grand Prix, bringing his total to a record breaking 9 British Grand Prix wins! In a race filled with drama, rain, tyre strategies, too early pit stops for intermediate tyres, slow pit stops and a race all the way to the last lap. Carlos Sainz pits on lap 51 for soft tyres to take fastest lap of the race. After 945 days, Lewis Hamilton takes his 104th career victory and became the 6th driver to win this season so far! Race Facts
George Russell started on pole for the third time in his career but for the first time at the British Grand Prix. He managed to hold off Hamilton who slots in behind Russell, protecting and covering Russell from Norris and Verstappen behind. Norris struggled to get his medium tyres up to temperature and lost a place to Verstappen, who moved into P3 on the first lap. Leclerc managed to gain three places on the race start, moving his Ferrari into P8 on the first lap. Alonso and Albon touch on Turn 3 after Hulkenberg runs wide and forces Alonso wide, concertinaing into Albon, who moved into P12 in front of his teammate. Gasly was forced to retire his Alpine after the formation lap due to a suspected gearbox issue before the start of the race. By lap 10, Russell is still 1.532s ahead of Hamilton, with Verstappen 2.454s behind him, Norris 1.334s behind Verstappen and Piastri in fifth place 0.814s behind Norris. Rain threatened the race from the start with a 60% chance of rain, but by lap 11, team radios suggested rain was arriving soon. By lap 12, Perez, who started in the pit lane after Red Bull changed his Power Unit as he qualified in P19, was up into P16 after overtaking Ocon, Bottas and Zhou. Zhou was the first to pit from his soft tyres on medium tyres on lap 13. Charles Leclerc moved into seventh place after overtaking Stroll on lap 14 and ended up 4.440s behind his teammate. Norris seemed to have figured out his tyres and started chasing Verstappen for third place, getting within the DRS range on lap 14. It isn't a repeat of Austria, as Norris gets past Verstappen on lap 16 just as Silverstone comes alive and onto its feet, with a British 1-2-3 once again. On lap 15, the rain had arrived, and by lap 17, it was coming down heavily, but the track remained mostly dry. Norris started to eat time from Hamilton, closing the gap slowly. Piastri also overtook Verstappen on lap 18, and the crowd erupted again. With Norris gaining on Hamilton, Hamilton was within 0.5s of Russell for P1 on lap 18. Hamilton took the lead of the British Grand Prix on lap 18. Both Hamilton and Russell left the track but rejoined the track with Norris right behind Russell, taking the second place from the pole sitter. DRS was disabled from lap 19 onwards as the track became slippy. It was really wet in Maggotts and Becketts. Norris and Piastri have more grip than both Mercedes, with Norris taking the lead from Hamilton, and Piastri overtaking Russell on lap 20. On lap 20, Leclerc, Ocon, Zhou, and Perez pitted for intermediate tyres, while Piastri overtook Hamilton and moved into P2. Meanwhile, further behind, Sainz closed in on Verstappen. At the same time, his teammate on slicks was struggling in P16. Perez and Leclerc were struggling on their intermediate tyres, with Ocon changing back onto medium tyres after a mistake. On lap 24, the rain had subsided enough for DRS to be enabled once again, with Norris leading over Piastri (+1.621s), Hamilton (+1.343s), Russell (+2.301) and Verstappen (+5.207). The rain once again hit lightly on lap 25. Meanwhile, Leclerc, Perez, and Ocon were all lapped, with Leclerc and Perez on intermediate tyres, both losing 20s per lap on intermediates. Sainz was once again all over Verstappen's back when he found a rainline slowing him down significantly. 12.5s covered the top seven drivers. Verstappen and Sainz pitted on lap 27 for intermediate tyres, rejoining in 5th and 6th positions. Hulkenberg, Stroll, and Riccardo all stopped for intermediate tyres, but the top four stayed out on track just as it got wetter. Norris, Hamilton, and Russell pitted for intermediate tyres while Piastri stayed out. Mercedes had a great double stack. All were on intermediate tyres, with Norris rejoining in second place, Hamilton in third, Verstappen fourth, Russell in fifth, and Sainz in sixth. Piastri stayed out on track but pitted on lap 28 for intermediate tyres a lap after Norris to avoid a McLaren double stack, but rejoined in sixth place, with Norris leading the race once again. All drivers were out on track with intermediate tyres, with Perez and Leclerc on their second set of intermediate tyres after just ten laps - a mistake from both teams pitting early. Verstappen also complained about degrading on his intermediate tyres on lap 31. As the rain began to subside on lap 32, all the drivers complained about the intermediate tyres going off, with the track drying quickly in some spots. On lap 34, Mercedes pit Russell, who is told to retire the car due to a suspected water system issue. This pushes Sainz into fourth place, Piastri into fifth, and Hulkenberg into sixth, followed by Stroll, Alonso, Tsunoda, Albon, Magnussen, Sargeant, Riccardo, Bottas, Leclerc, Perez, Ocon, and Zhou, rounding off the standings. On lap 36, Hamilton was leading a charge on Norris for first place as the rain stopped and the track started to dry. The teams started to question which tyres to use when they pitted to change from intermediate tyres. With 15 laps left in the race, Norris led, with Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, and Piastri in the top five. On lap 39, Verstappen (hards), Hamilton (softs), Piastri (medium), Magnussen, Riccardo, Leclerc and the majority of the other drivers pitting for a variety of tyres. But Norris, Sainz, Stroll, and Ocon wait for an extra lap. Hamilton once again takes the lead of the British Grand Prix on lap 40 with Norris 2.631s after a very slow pit stop where he goes long into the box. Norris and Mclaren choose to change onto the soft tyre even though they had a new set of medium tyres. Verstappen was in third place on hard tyres, followed by Piastri in fourth, Sainz in fifth on hard tyres, Hulkenberg in sixth on softs, Stroll and Alonso both on mediums and Tsunoda in ninth on softs, with Albon rounding off the top ten on mediums. On lap 44, Verstappen took the fastest lap on his hard tyres in third place. Hamilton was just 0.2s slower than Verstappen on lap 43. On lap 44, Hamilton on soft tyres was 2.136s ahead of Norris, with Norris also on softs 2.227s ahead of Verstappen and Piastri 10.853 seconds behind Verstappen. It was a race to the finish line between Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen with seven laps to go. Further back Albon overtook Tsunoda and went up into ninth place with his teammate in 11th place, with Tsunoda splitting the Williams drivers. Leclerc and Perez were caught out by an early pit stop and change to intermediate tyres and were running in 15th and 16th place with five laps to go. With five laps to go, Verstappen was all over the back of Norris, with Piastri taking the fastest lap on his medium tyres, should Norris have taken the medium tyres? Norris and Verstappen battle again and Verstappen gets ahead into P2 on lap 49. Verstappen took the fastest lap once again and was just 3.3s from Hamilton on with four laps to go. A battle between Hamilton and Verstappen to the finish line with three laps to go. With two laps to go Hamilton led Verstappen by 2.8s. Saniz pits on lap 51 for soft tyres, to try and take the fastest lap from Verstappen, Saniz was half a minute in front of Hulkenberg for 6th place. Verstappen still 2.358s from Hamilton with one lap to go. Verstappen can't close the gap and Lewis Hamilton wins the 2024 British Grand Prix for the 9th time!! Race Results1) Lewis Hamilton 1:22.27.059 2) Max Verstappen +1.465 3) Lando Norris +7.547 4) Oscar Piastri +12.429 5) Carlos Sainz +47.318 6) Nico Hulkenberg +55.722 7) Lance Stroll +56.569 8) Fernando Alonso +63.577 9) Alex Albon +68.387 10) Yuki Tsunoda +79.303 11) Logan Sargeant +88.960 12) Kevin Magnussen +90.153 13) Daniel Riccardo +1 Lap 14) Charles Leclerc +1 Lap 15) Valtteri Bottas +1 Lap 16) Esteban Ocon +2 Laps 17) Sergio Perez 18) Zhou Guanyu DNF George Russell DNF Pierre Gasly Lewis Hamilton on his ninth victory at the British Grand Prix, he said: “I can’t stop crying, it’s been since 2021 just everyday getting up to fight, to train and put my mind to the task and work as hard as I can with this amazing team. “This is my last race here with this team so I wanted to win this so much for them because I love them and I appreciate them so much and all the hard work they’ve been putting in over the years, I’m forever grateful to everyone at this team at Mercedes and all our partners. “And to all our incredible fans, I could see you lap by lap as I was coming round and there’s just no greater feeling than to finish at the front here.” On it being two and a half years since his last win, he added: “It’s tough for anyone but the important thing is how you continue to get up and you’ve got to continue to dig deep even when you feeling the bottom of the barrel. “There’s definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn’t feel like I was good enough or if I was going to get back to where I am today but the important thing is I have great people around me continuing to support me and my team. Every time I turn up and see them and put in the effort that really encouraged me to do the same thing. “My fans when I see them around the world they have been so supportive so a big thank you to everyone back at the factory and everyone here I love you guys.” Anny Wooldridge Writer at the F1 Journal
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In a thrilling qualifying session that included rain, intermediate tyres, soft tyres and Perez bringing out the red flag. It ultimately ended with an all-British top three for the first time since 1968 and the first time ever at Silverstone! Max Verstappen joined his teammate with a trip into the gravel and picked up some floor damage, which resulted in a tough qualifying session and, ultimately, a P4 start for Sunday's feature race. Leclerc was knocked out early in Q2, and his teammate Sainz finished in P7. Free Practice ThreeTop 10 Results 1) George Russell 1'37.529 2) Lewis Hamilton +0.035 3) Lando Norris +0.185 4) Carlos Sainz +0.610 5) Max Verstappen +0.864 6) Charles Leclerc +0.925 7) Oscar Piastri +1.125 8) Fernando Alonso +1.411 9) Sergio Perez +1.755 10) Nico Hulkenberg +1.811 Three Brits finished Free Practice Three in the top three positions at their home Grand Prix, in typically British wet practice session. With a 10c outside temperature and a 16c track temperature, every driver used intermediate tyres for the duration of the practice session, and there was an 80% chance of rain. Pierre Gasly was the only driver to end up in the gravel, which brought out a six-minute red flag in the first part of the session. Most of the other drivers had slips and slides, with Verstappen, Leclerc, and Bottas all taking a spin. QualifyingQ1Out In Q1 16) Valtteri Bottas 17) Kevin Magnussen 18) Esteban Ocon 19) Sergio Perez 20) Pierre Gasly In a dramatic Q1, which both Mercedes drivers topped, Sergio Perez ended up in the gravel and out of qualifying. The session started dry, had a little rain and then favoured those who left it until the last moment to do their last push lap. Verstappen ended the session in P11 after going off onto the gravel on his previous push lap with Norris, who was only just getting through in P13. Sergio Perez briefly brought out the red flag, stopping qualifying and reducing everyone else's dry time out on the track. Drivers used a mix of intermediate tyres, and those who braved it and changed onto softs at the end reaped the rewards. Q2Out In Q2 11) Charles Leclerc 12) Logan Sargeant 13) Yuki Tsunoda 14) Zhou Guanyu 15) Daniel Riccardo The rain had disappeared for Q2, with the track drying and the 15 drivers all out on the track on soft tyres. Norris topped the standings early on in the session, with Alonso, Russell, and Piastri all topping the table, but ultimately, Norris finished the session in P1. Verstappen struggled throughout the session after picking up some floor damage on his trip into the gravel in Q1. Towards the end of the qualifying session, Verstappen was in trouble, finding himself in 11 in trouble. It takes until his final flying lap to make it into P6 and just through to Q3. Leclerc also struggled throughout the session and was ultimately knocked out in P11 by Stroll, who just made it through. Q3Starting Top 10 1) George Russell 1'25.819 2) Lewis Hamilton 1'25.990 3) Lando Norris 1'26.030 4) Max Verstappen 1'26.203 5) Oscar Piastri 1'26.237 6) Nico Hulkenberg 1'26.338 7) Carlos Sainz 1'26.509 8) Lance Stroll 1'26.585 9) Alex Albon 1'26.640 10) Fernando Alonso 1'26.917 It was a thrilling Q3, which ended up with an all-British top three for the first time since 1968. George Russell topped the timesheet, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. Between Q2 and Q3, Red Bull tried to fix Verstappen's floor damage and sent him out first with a brand new set of soft tyres, but ultimately, his trip to the gravel in Q1 cost him time, and he only managed P4 for Sunday's feature race. Mercedes' George Russell earns his first pole at the British Grand Prix; he said afterwards: "What a feeling, at the start of this year, I don't think we could have even dreamt of being on pole here, one-two for me and Lewis, and Lando it's just mega. It's down to these fans as well. They give us so much energy, so thank you for that." Anny Wooldridge Writer at the F1 Journal McLaren showed their pace in the first two Free Practice sessions, with Lando Norris topping the timesheet for both sessions at Silverstone. Four F2 drivers participated in FP1 as part of the scheduled sessions, with Jack Doohan (Alpine for Pierre Gasly), Oliver Beaman (Haas for Magnussen), Isack Hadjar (Red Bull for Sergio Perez) and Franco Colapinto (Williams for Logan Sargeant all taking to the track. Rain arrived during the last six minutes of FP2 in standard British style, with some drivers opting to test out the intermediate tyres in preparation for the chance of rain over the weekend. Free Practice 1Top 10 Results 1) Lando Norris 1'27.420 2) Lance Stroll +0.134 3) Oscar Piastri +0.211 4) Max Verstappen +0.309 5) George Russell +0.318 6) Fernando Alonso +0.374 7) Lewis Hamilton +0.438 8) Charles Leclerc +0.483 9) Carlos Sainz +0.505 10) Esteban Ocon +0.554 Lando Norris and his McLaren topped the timesheet for Free Practice One at Silverstone after starting on the hard tyre, running long before moving onto medium tyres and then softs. At the beginning of the session, Lando's teammate Oscar Piastri was running the new-spec front wing and undertaking aero testing using rakes, with Lando using the old front wing to provide a comparison. Oscar's luck ran out during the last part of the session after he had a fuel cell issue and came to a stop at the pit lane entrance. Both Mercedes and Ferraris ran long on both the medium and hard tyres. Yuki Tsunoda had a quick spin and briefly brought out the red flag early in the session after he ended up beached in the gravel at Luffield. Jack Doohan (Alpine for Pierre Gasly), Oliver Beaman (Haas for Magnussen), Isack Hadjar (Red Bull for Sergio Perez) and Franco Colapinto (Williams for Logan Sargeant). After the session, the Stewards investigated two incidents: Hadjar getting in the way of Norris and an investigation into Stroll impeding Leclerc at Maggotts. Hadjar and Stroll were both given formal warnings and fines for their teams - Red Bull (20,000EUR) and Aston Martin (15,000EUR). Free Practice 2Top 10 Results 1) Lando Norris 1'26.549 2) Oscar Piastri +0.331 3) Sergio Perez +0.434 4) Nico Hulkenberg +0.441 5) Charles Leclerc +0.601 6) Lewis Hamilton +0.653 7) Max Verstappen +0.684 8) Carlos Sainz +0.700 9) Lance Stroll +0.725 10) George Russell +0.745 Rain threatened Free Practice Two with early warning signs that the rain would start before the end of the session, and the predictions were correct. A 60% chance of rain late in the session altered the teams' running strategies. Many teams opted to start on the hard tyres, then soft tyres, and back to medium and hard tyres for the end of the session. Everyone headed out to the track as soon as the session started to make the most of the time. Verstappen was the first to change onto soft tyres 15 minutes into the session, with many drivers following shortly behind. With his early switch to softs, Verstappen topped the table for the first part of the session with a 1'27.233 lap time, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, and Norris, rounding out the top five. Norris set his fastest lap during the second part of the session before the rain started, with just over six minutes and 40 seconds left in the session. With the rain, many drivers opted to stay in the pits, but some, including Norris, Sainz, and Perez, opted to do some laps with intermediate tyres in the rain. Anny Wooldridge Writer at the F1 Journal The British Grand Prix marks the end of the European Triple Header taking place at Silverstone. Red Bull and Williams are both running special liveries for the British Grand Prix. The Red Bull livery was produced by Chalaj Suvanish a team fan from Thailand and it takes inspiration from the team 2015 Camo Bull livery. The Williams one-off Union Jack livery features the names of all 1,005 team members woven into the red, white and blue engine cover design for their home race. Ollie Bearman was announced as the first Haas driver confirmed for the 2025 season. He is also driving in Free Practice One for Haas this weekend. Franco Colapinto will participate also participate in FP1 for Williams and Isack Hadjar will replace Checo for FP1 in the Red Bull. Race StatsLaps - 52 Circuit Length - 5.891km Race Distance - 306.198km Corners - 18 10 Right 8 Left DRS Zones - Detection 1: 25m before Turn 3 Activation 1: 30m after Turn 5 Detection 2: Turn 11 Activation 2: Turn 14 Downforce Level - High Tyre Degradation - Medium/High Time at full throttle - 70% Gear Changes Per Lap - 40 Time Lost in the Pitlane - 21secs Pole Side - Left Tyre Compounds - Hard Medium Soft C1 C2 C3 Minimum Starting Tyre Pressures - Front Rear 26.5psi 23.5psi Maximum Starting Tyre Camber - Front Rear -2.75° -1.50° Track Stats
SchedulePrevious Results2023 Qualifying - 1 VER 1'26.720 2 NOR 1'26.961 3 PIA 1'27.092 Race - 1 VER (1 stop) 2 NOR (1 stop) 3 HAM (1 stop) Fastest Lap - 1'30.275 VER L42 2022 Qualifying - 1 SAI 1'40.983 2 VER 1'41.005 3 LEC 1'41.298 Race - 1 SAI (3 stop) 2 PER (3 stop) 3 HAM (3 stop) Fastest Lap - 1'30.510 HAM L52 2021 Sprint Qualifying - 1 HAM 1'26.134 2 VER 1'26.209 3 BOT 1'26.328 Sprint Race/Qualifying - 1 VER 2 HAM 3 BOT Race - 1 HAM (2 stop) 2 LEC (2 stop) 3 BOT (2 stop) Fastest Lap - 1'28.617 PER L50 Track Changes
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Anny Wooldridge Writer for F1 Journal Formula 2 rookie Franco Colapinto will participate in Formula 1 free practice 1 for Williams at this weekend's British Grand Prix on Friday. Colapinto, who is from Argentina, will become the first driver from the nation to participate in a Formula One weekend since Gaston Mazzacane for Minardi. The 21-year old is in his rookie season of Formula 2 and is part of the Williams Academy. They will give him a chance to showcase what he can do in front of the British car as he will take Logan Sargeant's place in FP1 at Silverstone. This was announced by the Williams F1 Team on Monday afternoon in the lead up to their home Grand Prix weekend at the infamous Silverstone circuit. Speaking to the Williams media team, on being given the chance, Colapinto said: "I have so many emotions,.I am extremely delighted and it’s a very important moment in my life and my career.“I will be the most prepared I can; I will be doing a lot of laps in the simulator and studying the details needed to drive this year’s car. He continued: "To be able to drive it at a track like Silverstone is a privilege, it is one of my favourite tracks and to drive it at the team’s home race means a lot. “To all the Argentine fans – I hope you enjoy FP1 as much as I’m going to! It’s an important moment for our country and I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve been given. I’m going to give my all to make you proud!” Colapinto is in his rookie season of Formula 2 with Dutch team MP Motorsport and his teammate being former Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger. Prior to this year, he had spent two full seasons in FIA Formula 3. In 2022 and 2023 he spent a full in season racing in the Formula 3 category with different teams. His first season was with another Dutch team in Van Amersfoort Racing where we would pick up two wins with both coming in Italy - in the Imola and Monza round sprint races. He would finish ninth overall. In 2023 with MP Motorsport, Colapinto would have a much stronger season as he finished fourth in the standings with another two wins to his name coming at Silverstone and again at Monza. For 2024, he would continue to drive for MP Motorsport but this time in FIA Formula 2. In his rookie season, he has impressed so far, in the first half of the campaign. After the first seven rounds, he has picked up three podiums, all coming in the last four rounds. His maiden win came in the Imola sprint race, with two second place finishes in the last two feature races at Spain and most recently in Austria. Colapinto currently sits fifth in the Formula 2 standings, 42 points why of Paul Aron who currently leads the championship. With 14 races to go there could be a situation where he wins the Formula 2 title. It would take impeccable form for him to do so though. Sporting director Sven Smeets, speaking to Williams via their media, said: "Franco has had a very encouraging start to his debut season in F2 and we are delighted to reward his performances over the past two years with his first FP1 session. “We are proud of our talented group of drivers in the Williams Racing Driver Academy and it is important for us to give them the opportunity to progress and have these important chances as they move up the ladder." This will be a big chance for Colapinto, taking part in a Formula 1 weekend for the first time as the Williams seat is available for 2025 with Sargeant out of contract. If he has a clean session and impresses Williams, he could be a potential driver to partner Alex Albon next season. It is unlikely but if he continues in the same form in Formula 2 and shows what he can do in the Formula 1 car, then you never know what might happen in this sport. It seems the heart is set on Bottas, Sainz or Antonelli for James Vowles and his team but who knows what might happen if Colapinto performs. He will take to the Silverstone Circuit for free practice 1 on Friday for Williams' home Grand Prix weekend. Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal |
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