To close, here’s the driver and constructor standings at halfway through the season.
1. Max Verstappen – 254 points
2. Lando Norris – 171
3. Charles Leclerc – 150
4. Carlos Sainz – 146
5. Sergio Perez – 118
6. Oscar Piastri – 127
7. George Russell – 111
8. Lewis Hamilton – 110
9. Fernando Alonso – 45
10. Lance Stroll – 23
11. Nico Hulkenberg – 22
12. Yuki Tsunoda – 20
13. Daniel Ricciardo – 11
14. Oliver Bearman – 6
15. Pierre Gasly – 6
16. Kevin Magnussen – 5
17. Alexander Albon – 4
18. Esteban Ocon – 3
19. Zhou Guanyu – 0
20. Valtteri Bottas – 0
21. Logan Sargeant – 0
Constructors’ Championship standings
1. Red Bull – 373 points
2. Ferrari – 302
3. McLaren – 295
4. Mercedes – 221
5. Aston Martin – 68
6. VCARB – 31
7. Haas – 19
8. Alpine – 9
9. Williams – 4
10. Sauber – 0
4.57pm BST
There were 945 days that Lewis Hamilton went without a win, and this quote stands out. “But the important thing is how you continue to get up and dig deeper than ever even though you are at the bottom of the barrel and there are days since 2021 where I didn’t feel I was good enough or I would get back to where I am but I have had great people around me.”
Lewis Hamilton: “I can’t stop crying. Since 2021 I have been trying. It’s my last British win for this team. I wanted to win it for this team. I love them. The important thing is to dig deep. There have been days since 2021 that I didn’t think I was good enough. I love you guys, God bless you.”
4.41pm BST
Max Verstappen: “We didn’t have the pace today. It didn’t look great. I was thinking we would finsih fifth and sixth. It could have been a lot worse.”
4.36pm BST
Lando Norris speaks to Jenson Button: “That crucial decision at the end, Lewis did his better. I don’t think we did as good a job as we could have done. I blame myself for not making good enough decisions. I would love everything to go perfectly but it didn’t today.”
4.33pm BST
He has found what he was looking for
4.32pm BST
Hamilton is still crying. As well as he might. What with the England footballers and this, it’s all coming up England. It’s almost as if a dark cloud has lifted from the country. The Union Jack – not the Cross of St George – is waved by Britain’s greatest living driver who stage-dives into his team. Wonderful scenes.
4.29pm BST
“Get in there, Lewis,” says the race radio. Hamilton is in audible tears. “We never give up,” says Toto Wolff. That’s the 150th podium finish for Mercedes for Hamilton, whose popularity is perhaps even greater now he’s no longer a serial winner. “I felt it would come, the British GP, the last one,” says Toto. “I love you guys,” says Lewis.
4.27pm BST
Lewis Hamilton wins the British GP for the ninth time
52/52 Into the final corners and what a win for Hamilton, it’s been a long time coming and that will make it all the sweeter. In comes Verstappen, and then Norris. Wild scenes in the Mercedes garage, Toto Wolff close to tears! Rule Britannia.
Updated at 5.11pm BST
4.25pm BST
51/52 Hamilton is sitting pretty. Sainz comes in to pit to try and set a fastest lap. Brian May – the reticent, poodle-permed Queen axeman – will be waving the chequered flag. Hamilton just wants to break free.
4.23pm BST
50/52 Hamilton blasts past back-markers, who let him through. Big cheers as he passes the stands. Ricciardo is asked to get out of the way, and does so. Verstappen gives chase as Hamilton enters open road again.
4.22pm BST
49/52 Right, then. Hamilton v Verstappen. Old school battle over four laps or so. Hamilton last won in Saudi Arabia in 2021. Verstappen is quicker but not quick enough, gaining only tenths of seconds when the gap is three seconds.
4.20pm BST
Verstappen overtakes Norris, takes second
48/52 Piastri sets a fastest lap. Did McLaren put the wrong tyres on the wrong car. Verstappen is all over the back of Norris, who has to concede.
4.19pm BST
47/52 Norris stays ahead of Verstappen by just over a second. Hamilton must take advantage. Verstappen is 17 km/h quicker than Norris, who uses his battery pack to charge up for the battle ahead.
4.17pm BST
46/52 Hamilton loses 3/10 of a second to Verstappen. Norris looks a sitting duck, his tyres coming apart at the scene. Verstappen is getting into DRS territory.
4.15pm BST
45/52 Verstappen is only 4.5 seconds behind. This could be a thriller for the Silverstone ages.
Updated at 5.13pm BST
4.14pm BST
44/52 Verstappen is flying as he chases Norris. Hamilton may require his fellow Brit to hold up the chase for first.
4.12pm BST
43/52 Hamilton, Norris, Verstappen, Piastri, Sainz: that’s the order at the moment. DRS has been enabled, with overtakes to come. Exciting.
Updated at 4.13pm BST
4.11pm BST
42/52 Can Hamilton hang on? There are eleven laps of tension to follow. Verstappen’s tyres are doing their job, and he’s making up time.
4.09pm BST
41/52 The slowness of that Norris pit was due to a traffic problem with Ferrari’s mechanics being around. He slid to a halt, and they missed changing a wing but too. Meanwhile, a menacing Verstappen in third, is setting fastest laps
4.08pm BST
Hamilton leads after Norris pits!
40/52 Norris pits and comes out to find Hamilton is ahead of him. Did McLaren make a mistake again with the pits? The race is on to the finish, and with 2.5 seconds on his countryman.
4.06pm BST
39/52 Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo are testing out the slicks. Hamilton pits, and so does Verstappen. Norris blazes past but will have to come in. Piastri again has a slow pit. Norris, Sainz, Hamilton is the top three, with the top two to pit.
4.04pm BST
38/52 Verstappen is going to struggle to catch Hamilton and Norris ahead of them. Still, there may be pitting to come, with slick tyres the order of the day.
4.02pm BST
37/52 A view in the Norris cockpit and he’s told that Hamilton is closing on him. “The sun is coming out,” says Sir Lewis. It is now bright sunshine.
4.00pm BST
36/52 Kevin Magnussen, in 11th, almost comes to grief but just manages to stay on the course. It’s treacherous out there, and will be even when the rain ends in six minutes.
3.59pm BST
35/52 The word from Martin Brundle is some form of systems issue. Mercedes say that the Russell car was losing water pressure. He was going to overheat with a lack of water. The irony.
3.57pm BST
George Russell retires!
34/52 “Retire the car,” he’s told, having been in pole. Some rude words are bleeped out. More when we know it.
3.56pm BST
33/52 Piastri, having been nixed by that pit-stop situation, is 19 seconds off the lead and chasing Sainz. He’s had to sacrifice himself for the Norris chance of winning.
3.54pm BST
32/52 The debate over tyres continues. Hamilton tells his team there’s not much rain about. His tyres are falling apart, he says. He always likes a whinge about tyres.
3.53pm BST
31/52 More Verstappen struggles, a fairly mournful discussion with his team. The word is that the 40th lap is when the rain stops.
3.51pm BST
30/52 So, the race is on. Will there be further pits to follow? Catch Norris is the plan for Hamilton, chasing that ninth British GP. Verstappen – again – looks a little slower than his fellow competitors.
3.48pm BST
29/52 Piastri leads, and Norris is catching up. Hamilton is third, Verstappen fourth ahead of Russell. Piastri lumbers into the pits but that was a disaster, and he will drop to sixth. All now are on the intermediates.
3.46pm BST
Norris, Hamilton and Russell all pit
28/52 Piastri is out on his own, Norris is in for the pits. Hamilton and Russell go in together. They go on to the intermediates.
Updated at 5.11pm BST
3.45pm BST
27/52 Verstappen and Sainz have pitted to change tyres. The top four will have do the same very soon.
3.44pm BST
26/52 Piastri tells his team it’s too early for intermediates. Sainz finds the track is wetter than before as his Ferrari struggles to get round a bend. Up front, Norris and Piastri draw closer to each other, and will do battle with each other.
3.42pm BST
25/52 Norris, Piastri, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen, Sainz – those are the six with a chance in the race. Leclerc in the Ferrari is on the intermediates, and his tyres are not stopping him sliding all over the show.
3.40pm BST
24/52 DRS is re-enabled. Not that it’s stopped anyone overtaking on this classic old track. There’s a 30 minute batch of road rain coming, according to race radio.
Updated at 3.51pm BST
3.38pm BST
23/52 Norris and Piastri have stolen in, taken advantage. The McLaren looks in full nick, flying along. More rain to follow, it seems.
3.36pm BST
22/52 Sainz is chasing Verstappen hard for fifth. The top six can be seen down the straight. This is pure racing.
3.35pm BST
21/52 McLaren-Mercedes-McLaren-Mercedes – that’s the order. Well, until Piastri blazes past Hamilton. Make that McLaren-McLaren-Mercedes-Mercedes. Hamilton is asked if he wants to change tyres.
3.34pm BST
Norris takes the lead!
20/52 Norris is flying, out of Stowe. And he overtakes Hamilton, with Russell in the mix, and Piastri too, who overtakes Russell.
3.32pm BST
Norris overtakes Russell!
19/52 Both Mercedes come off the track, and Norris flies past Russell, who has been having a mare. DRS is taken out of commission, and we have one hell of a race on our hands.
3.31pm BST
Piastri overtakes Verstappen, Hamilton overtakes Russell
18/52 Nice and easy again for the McLaren. Russell, up ahead, is struggling with the wet while Hamilton is in his element, with added downforce. He’s in the lead.
Updated at 5.10pm BST
3.30pm BST
17/52 It’s Norris with the fastest lap now. The McLaren is flying. Red Bull are having the problems.
3.28pm BST
16/52 Britain 1-2-3. Send her victorious. And here’s the rain to celebrate as all the rainjackets go on. Ponchos are all the rage.
3.27pm BST
Norris overtakes Verstappen!
15/52 Norris is taking on Verstappen, and there’s beef between them after the clash in Austria last week. It’s getting closer and closer, and he takes him in a sweeping pass, down the inside. Verstappen lets it happen cleanly, too. Big noise.
3.24pm BST
14/52 Leclerc passes Stroll and takes seventh and will give chase to Sainz. The Ferrari driver has been pedal to the metal all race.
3.23pm BST
13/52 With that downpour imminent, plans are being laid. And drizzle is on the way. Zhou is the first to pit, changing tyres from soft to medium.
3.22pm BST
12/52 So, it remains Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris, Piastri, Sanz as the top six.
3.21pm BST
11/52 Plot twist – the McLarens are after the Red Bull points in the constructors’ championship. Verstappen is told to keep it simple on pits by his team.
3.19pm BST
10/52 Norris is giving chase to Verstappen, and is closer than the Dutchman is to the front two Brits. He’s been complaining about his tyres, the world champion.
3.17pm BST
9/52 The weather – cold and damp – is favouring the Mercs. Russell and Hamilton are holding Verstappen at bay. Rain is expected in five laps.
Updated at 3.18pm BST
3.16pm BST
8/52 Silverstone, the old lady, lends itself to plenty of passing. Gasly’s absence is the result of gearbox issues. One knows the feeling.
3.15pm BST
7/52 Russell still has that fastest lap and is having an armchair ride at the moment.
3.14pm BST
6/52 Verstappen’s Red Bull doesn’t have the pace advantage he had previously. Leclerc attempts to go past Stroll at Stowe – the bit of the course that’s in Buckinghamshire.
3.12pm BST
5/52 Repeated replays of that early incident as Russell is 1.4 seconds ahead. The rain is expected to increase around lap 16.
3.10pm BST
4/52 Norris is told that a shower is coming and may appear at the sixth lap. That could affect Mercedes’s pit stop plans. Seems Albon was the victim of Hulkenberg coming cross-track with Alonso in the mix.
Updated at 3.12pm BST
3.08pm BST
3/52 Leclerc up to eighth, has made up three places. Russell sets a fastest lap.
3.08pm BST
2/52 So, Russell and Hamilton clear. Norris is giving chase to Verstappen round Copse Corner. Russell is 6/10 ahead, with Verstappen out of DRS range. Hulkenberg has been reported to stewards for doing off-piste, while Gasly didn’t start at all.
3.05pm BST
Away we go
1/52 Russell heads off Hamilton, and Verstappen makes the move on Norris and gets there to make it to third, just two more Brits to chase. Norris struggling with tyre temperature and Alex Albon has reported a puncture.
Updated at 5.08pm BST
3.03pm BST
The race will soon be upon us, 52 laps in the jewel of Northamptonshire. The formation lap begins, under gloomy grey skies, the noise of the engines filling the sky as the cars zig zag. Sergio Perez exits from the pit lane, and there’s no Pierre Gasly, just 18 start.
2.52pm BST
Can Lewis Hamilton make it nine British GPs? Nobody has ever won nine of any Grand Prix.
2.48pm BST
And here comes the national anthem , our three plucky Brits at the fore and the Red Arrows doing a fly-by. Best of British and no mistake, with the erstwhile Brian May’s We Will Rock You pumping out.
2.47pm BST
Martin Brundle on the grid walk , and it’s dry, the rain has stopped. Chris Hoy is first up, and looking well, so is Mo Farah, who is “doing amazing”. Mary Earps on Euro 2024: “Let’s win the thing.” Jackie Stewart there, of course. Brian May is there but camera shy, even though he wrote the petrolhead anthem “Driven By You”. Brundo has two attempts and is turned down as the poodle-headed axeman claims not to know anything. Max Verstappen is similarly reticent.
2.14pm BST
Stormzy also appeared last night at the track. One of his heroes is Martin Brundle, apparently.
2.13pm BST
And that glory Saturday, when Britain took the first three spots on the grid.
A British Grand Prix with three plucky Brits at the front of the grid. Exciting, and well worth the mudbath in the Silverstone car park and all those traffic jams around the south Midlands area. Max Verstappen lies in wait, as he and Lando Norris continue their burgeoning rivalry. Sergio Perez will start from the pit lane after a change of engine. Rain is expected and that used to mean Lewis Hamilton would become even more dominant. Can he do it one last time for Mercedes?
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