The British Grand Prix is a staple in the F1 calendar, especially at the historic Silverstone Circuit.
This year was extra special as it featured 3 British drivers in top teams capable of competing for a podium or for some even a win.
Russell and Hamilton being the only all British driver pairing on the grid with Mercedes went into the weekend hoping to continue the momentum created from an electrifying weekend in Montreal, while Norris looked to bring McLaren back to the top of the grid with the current “Big Three”.
The weekend started off well for Hamilton finishing P2 in FP1while Russell and Norris struggled running only a combined 6 laps and neither recording a time.
FP2 saw Hamilton continue his successes from earlier in the morning and finishing in P2 yet again, Norris found his stride to end Friday running in P3 while Russell would settle for a respectable P8.
Saturday is where the big show truly begins, and with all 3 drivers finishing FP3 in the top 10 it looked promising for the home crowd for qualifying.
Quali saw all three Brits make it to Q3 despite the tricky conditions, but a mistake by Russell in the closing stages saw him finish quali in only P8 while Hamilton and Norris qualified in P5 and P6 respectively with less than a tenth separating them.
Sunday is where the points are scored though, and all three were in a prime position to score some especially with more controlled conditions.
When the five lights went off, we saw a tale of three races for each driver. Hamilton got off the line brilliantly, jumping Alonso and Leclerc for 3rd, Norris got a decent start and was able to pass Alonso and battle Perez until an incident that leads me to the final British driver.
Russell got off the line incredibly poorly, falling back on Latifi and Zhou before clipping the wheel of Gasly and spinning off into Zhou sending Zhou into the gravel and catch fence upside down and suffering a puncture himself before stopping the car and getting out to assist in recovering Zhou.
Despite Russell’s belief that he could get the car back to the pits under its own power, the Marshalls opted to tow it back meaning an end to his race and an end to his incredible streak of P5 or better performances this season in devastating fashion.
The rest of the race would see Norris put up a brilliant effort to finish P6 throughout all the chaos and pandemonium.
For Hamilton, the race was one of highs and lows, but mostly highs. A slow pitstop would mean he would lose out on the lead and even a podium in some eyes, but there is a reason he is seen as one of the greatest to ever do it, he just finds a way.
A late safety car would allow Hamilton to pit for new softs with very little to lose. The restart would allow Lewis to have an excellent look at the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was running on much older hard tires, but with the raw pace of the Ferrari what would normally be a routine drs overtake would lead to some of the most brilliant racing we have seen in a very long time with the GOAT taking on the driver of tomorrow for a much-desired podium place. After about 7 laps of pure racing, Hamilton would get DRS and complete the move with enough time to pull away earning him a P3 in his home race to the delight of the amazing British fans.
Hope you enjoyed this piece about our lovely British drivers- make sure you show some love and tell us about your favourite moments of the drivers in the comment section.
The Fastest Sector 