Lewis Hamilton defies odds to win rain hit British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton made a phenomenal comeback to winning ways after edging Max Verstappen and Lando Norris to secure victory at the Formula 1 2024 British Grand Prix in front of his home crowd.

Lewis Hamilton claimed an emotional home win in the 2024 British Grand Prix marking his first victory since the penultimate race of 2021, ending the longest spell without a win in the seven-time world champion’s illustrious career.

The Mercedes driver caught up to Norris in the pits after a downpour interrupted the race midway and leveraged his grit to capture his 104th race victory 946 days after his last win in Saudi Arabia back in 2021.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen battled back from fifth place to finish second ahead of Norris, who came in third.

Hamilton believed he held an ideal opportunity to claim a record ninth victory at Silverstone after starting the race behind teammate Russell who led an all-British 1-2-3 in qualifying. However things quickly changed as Verstappen passed Norris at Turn 4, while the Mercedes duo were able to break away from the pack.

Rain was predicted to fall around 25 minutes into the race, but light downpour started to fall on lap 13, right at the moment when Norris began pressuring Verstappen for third place. On Lap 15, the McLaren driver used his DRS and battery power to surge past Red Bull on the Hangar Straight.

Hamilton took advantage of Russell’s crucial mistake on Lap 18 and passed him on the Hangar Straight but as rain continued to pour down, McLaren’s grip improved dramatically, and Norris passed Hamilton and Piastri on the next lap.

Charles Leclerc pitted for intermediates along with Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon, but the track began to dry out and return grip to those on slicks before heavier rain proceeded to hit the circuit.

Sainz showed impressive speed after gaining ground on Verstappen before both drivers opted to pit on lap 27 for a switch to intermediates while the Mercedes and McLarens stayed out.

Running on a suitable tyre at the appropriate time was crucial, and Piastri found himself on the receiving end after losing a lot of time following his pit stop, rejoining the race in sixth.

By lap 29, all drivers had switched to inters, and Norris was leading Hamilton by three seconds while Verstappen’s audacious move paid off, as he passed Russell and Piastri in the pits to take third.

Russell’s home race weekend came to an awful end on Lap 34 as he was forced to retire his car due to a water system malfunction, despite having started on pole. However, all was not lost for the squad as Hamilton was closing the gap on Norris at the forefront.

With 15 laps remaining, the sun came through to intensify the battle with teams opting to switch to slicks. Verstappen opted for hards, Hamilton went for softs, while Norris continued to lead before pitting on the next lap.

But that proved to be costly for McLaren as they performed a slow stop and Hamilton pulled off a 2.5-second lead and managed to stay out of DRS range of the Red Bull and completed the final laps to take the chequered flag and end his long win drought stretching back to the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Verstappen was just a handful of seconds back in seconds, while Norris was six seconds back in third. Piastri took fourth ahead of Sainz, Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso in eighth while Alexander Albon and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top ten.

2024 British Grand Prix Race Results