© Getty Images2024 British Grand Prix - Race ReportMax battled to P2 in the season's most exciting race
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Hampered by tyre wear, the first half of Max’s race was one of slow decline as a brave move to third at the beginning became fifth as the opening stint unfolded and he was passed by both McLarens.
“We just didn't have the pace today,” he said afterwards. “I was slowly dropping back when it mattered in the beginning. So it didn't look great at some point and I was really thinking, are we going to finish fifth, sixth?”
But with the weather changing rapidly and intermittent rain eventually giving way to sunshine, Max judged the conditions perfectly and two perfectly timed tyre switches, to Intermediates and then Hard tyres, vaulted the champion to third. And then, on the right tyre at the right time, surged forward to challenge for the win. But though he powered past McLaren’s Lando Norris to claim second place, the lap count defeated him and Max finished the race just 1.4 seconds behind Hamilton.
“We made the right calls going from the slicks to the inters and then also from the inters back to the slicks,” Max said. “I think it was the right tyre on the right lap. And then at the end the call from the team to be on the Hard tyre instead of the Soft was definitely helping me out. That's why I think we also finished second today.”
When the lights went out at the start, polesitter George Russell got away well to preserve his lead ahead of Hamilton. Max made a good start and as Norris struggled for grip off the line, the Dutchman snatched third as they swept through Turns 3 and 4.
Further back, Checo started from the pit lane on Hard tyres after changing engine elements overnight. Checo quickly latched onto the back of the field and by lap seven Checo was past Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and into 17th place.
With rain on the horizon, the order at the front began to stratify as drivers managed their tyres and by lap 14 Russell was 1.5 seconds clear of Hamilton, Max, however, had let the gap to the Mercedes spread to 4.5s and Norris was just under a second behind the Red Bull with Piastri still in fifth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
On lap 15 Norris closed right up to Max and on the run to Stowe he passed the champion under DRS to retake third place as Max reported that he was struggling on his Medium tyres. The champion’s pace was now flagging and on lap 17 Piastri made the same move into Stowe and Max slipped to fifth as rain began to fall across Silverstone.
Busy Day For The Pit Crew© Getty images
At the front, Russell was beginning to struggle in the increasingly treacherous conditions and on lap 18 Hamilton roared past his team-mate to take the lead. Russell tried to fight back and at the start of lap 19 both Mercedes drivers went off at Turn 1. That allowed Norris to slip past Russell and on the following lap the McLaren driver muscled past Hamilton on the pit straight to take the lead.
The McLarens now appeared to have grip in hand and as Norris began to stretch ahead, Piastri powered past both Mercedes to rise to second place.
Further back, to cover the possibility of heavy rain arriving, the team pitted Checo for Inters, but as the conditions began to improve, the Mexican was quick on the radio to tell the team that it was too dry for the green-banded tyres.
Max, meanwhile, was now more than 10 seconds off the lead and running almost a second slower than the front four. With rain again starting, that was enough for the team to call Max into the pits for Intermediate tyres.
Norris then pitted from the lead at the end of lap 27, followed by both Mercedes. That briefly propelled Piastri into the lead on Medium tyres, but when the Australian pitted on the following lap the time lost on track on the wrong tyre dropped him back to sixth place.
Checo Burning Through The Inters© Getty Images
Russell, the victim of a stacked Mercedes stop, also lost time and after the leaders’ switch to Inters had played out, Norris led Hamilton with Max now up into third and with GP telling the champion he had made a great call for Inters and that he was “back in the race”.
It was a different story for Checo, though. Having fitted Inters too early, the Mexican driver was forced to pit for a second set of the green-banded tyres and he rejoined in 17th place.
As the race entered its final third, the conditions began to improve and that sparked a move back to slick tyres.
On lap 38, Hamilton and Max made their moves, with the Mercedes driver taking Softs and Max moving to Hard tyres. Norris, though, stayed out, and the delay cost the McLaren driver dearly. Slower on his in-lap on Inters and then slow in the pits as he overshot his box, Norris rejoined on Soft tyres just as Hamilton swept through to take the lead once more.
It was Max, though, who was looking most dangerous. With 11 laps to go the champion was just 2.7s behind Norris, on the more durable tyre, and lapping quicker than the pair ahead of him.
Over the next seven laps, the champion stalked Norris and on lap 48 Max got a good launch out of Chapel and with his rear wing open he out-dragged Norris down the Hangar Straight before sweeping past the McLaren around the outside through Stowe.
With three laps to go, Max was just three seconds behind Hamilton but though the Red Bull driver managed to halve the gap, Hamilton held on to take a ninth British Grand Prix win and the new record for most wins at a single circuit.
However, despite missing out on a third career win at Silverstone to add to his British and Anniversary GP victories, Max was happy with the result.
“It could have been a lot worse but by making the right calls we still got onto the podium and I'm very happy with that because it looked extremely difficult.”
Behind Norris, Piastri took fourth ahead of Sainz and Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso took seventh and eighth respectively. Alex Albon took ninth place for Williams and the final point on offer went to RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, Checo ending the race in 17th.
Game Recognises Game© Getty Images
| Rank | Driver | Team | Gap | Points | | 1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | – | 25 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | +1.465 | 18 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +7.547 | 15 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +12.429 | 12 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | +47.318 | 10 (+1) |
| 6 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | +55.722 | 8 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | +56.569 | 6 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +63.577 | 4 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | +68.387 | 2 |
| 10 | Yuki Tsunoda | Visa Cash App RB | +79.303 | 1 |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| 17 | Sergio Pérez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 2L | 0 |
