- Lando Norris won the British Grand Prix to go eight points behind Oscar Piastri
- Norris won his home race for the first time after a controversial Piastri penalty
- Sauber’s Niko Hulkenberg claimed his first ever podium in 239 attempts
An opportunity of a British lifetime opened itself up to Lando Norris in the most unexpected manner in a rain-punctuated race at Silverstone, handed to him by his hitherto dominant team-mate Oscar Piastri.
It was a chance the faultless Norris claimed, winning his home race for the first time in front of a 168,000-strong crowd who had portrayed their affections for him in McLaren’s papaya — the dominant colour in the stands, at least underneath the ponchos.
It was the Bristolian’s fourth victory of the season, completing his first-ever consecutive wins, burying a hoodoo, and hiked him to within only eight points of Piastri at the world championship summit.
It was also the culmination of a dream sown when little Lando was a kid knee-high to a grasshopper, watching Lewis Hamilton and Co dazzle on the old airfield.
His mother Cisca embraced the 25-year-old the moment he stepped out of the car. ‘Let me see your eyes,’ she implored of her boy hidden behind his visor. ‘Enjoy, enjoy,’ she said.
‘Beautiful,’ said Norris, his voice thin as he crossed the line, putting triumph in the Midlands ahead even of his delight in Monaco in May. Two landmarks have been ticked off in the space of a few weeks.
His unexpected break delivered itself as the safety car prepared to turn in on lap 22. Piastri led, a brilliant leader in fact until now, his speed significantly superiorto Norris’s.
But the Australian jammed on the anchors on the Hangar Straight, going into Stowe. He plunged from some 135mph to a bus-lane crawl of 32mph, trying to destabilise the pack behind him.
You’d have put on your hazard lights on the road, but here even quicker reactions were called for. Max Verstappen, immediately behind Piastri, steered out of the Australian’s path. ‘Woah, mate,’ exclaimed the Dutchman. ‘F***. He suddenly slowed down.’
An investigation was launched. The stewards did not sit injudgment long. They imposed a 10-second penalty on Piastri. At this point, his lead over Norris (who had jumped into third after Verstappen spun as the race restarted, en route to finishing fifth and complaining of an undriveable car) stood at 3.6sec.
All — all! — Norris had to do was keep it clean and wait for thepenalty to play out. The race would be his, making him only the 13th driver from these shores to win the British Grand Prix, and lift the gold Grand Prix Trophy, transported from its home in the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall for the ceremonies.
Names dating back to Sir Stirling Moss, including Jim Clark and Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill, and up to Hamilton, adorn it.
It had not looked likely to be Norris’s day. He started third, behind Piastri, with Verstappen on pole. Defending champion Verstappen’s lap on Saturday had been supreme, but the last element he wanted as he tried to convert that primacy into victory was rain, and it was soon apparent that Piastri’s McLaren was faster.
Piastri duly passed Verstappen, who ran wide at Stowe, seven of 52 laps into the action on a damp road on which rain intermittently fell.
Stowe, of ironies, is where the ‘Lando Grandstand’ housed 10,000 of his faithful followers. Still, a cheer went up for Piastri, Verstappen being the pantomime villain right on that spot.
The action was stop-start, and two virtual safety cars and two actual ones came out in the first half of the race.
The biggest shunt saw Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar catch the back of Mercedes’ unsighted Kimi Antonelli in the spray. Hadjar careered off into the gravel at Copse, though thankfully the pebbles took the worst of the sting out of it. He retired, as did Antonelli later.
That prang brought out the fateful safety car for which Norris could be so grateful.
Norris grasped this twist of fortune, needing to stay within 10 seconds of Piastri to land glory. Indeed, he narrowed the gap. There was 1.3sec in it with 10 laps remaining.
On the pit wall, McLaren chief executive Zak Brown told Sky the team would consider appealing against the Piastri sanction — what, and deny his other driver victory at home in front of fervid fans? No chance.
Late on, Piastri asked if he and Lando could be switched over if it was thought his punishment unfair. Try that one, chaps.You may not have got out of Northamptonshire alive.
They didn’t move them around, clearly. Late into the night, perhaps for ever, Piastri insisted he had done nothing wrong and Verstappen had faked his evasive steer.
I thought it was a rare Piastri mistake. Elsewhere, Hamilton had a day of nearly doing it, but not quite, on his first drive at Silverstone in Ferrari red.
He has won the British Grand Prix a record nine times and executed some sweet moves in that tradition, for example passing Mercedes’ George Russell and Haas’ Esteban Ocon in one pass.
He was contending for what would have been his first podium in a red car, but ran wide afterhis final stop and that left him with too much to do to catch Sauber’s Niko Hulkenberg for third place, the 37-year-oldGerman securing his first podium in 239 attempts from 19th onthe grid.
Of the other Brits, Russell never quite found his feet in the wet conditions, moved too early to slicks towards the end, and slipped off. He finished 10th.
The final homegrown talent, Oliver Bearman, survived a race that culled the rest of the rookies to finish a highly creditable if not entirely uneventful 11th for Haas, including a collision with his team-mate Ocon.
