Lewis Hamilton won out over Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in a thrilling mixed-conditions race at the British Grand Prix to take his first Formula 1 win since 2021.
The Briton capitalised on McLaren’s indecision during a late crossover period to accrue a record ninth success at Silverstone, with Verstappen pushing Norris to third.
The favoured starting rubber was the Medium as all about Guanyu Zhou and Esteban Ocon (both Softs] went with the middle-range compound as the track had dried.
George Russell made a good start to protect his advantage from Hamilton as Norris slotted into third place with Verstappen’s Red Bull behind in his mirrors in fourth.
However, Hamilton compromised Norris’ line going into Village to enable Verstappen to make up a vital place on the McLaren at Turn 4 to elevate his Red Bull to third.
Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg lost three positions at the start to Carlos Sainz, a fast-starting Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc, who gained three places from 11th spot.
Pierre Gasly was striving to make up ground from second last, but a gearbox hitch prompted the Frenchman to park his Alpine car in the garage prior to the race start.
Kevin Magnussen made a bold lunge down Esteban Ocon’s inside into Village to climb into 15th, while Daniel Ricciardo powered past Zhou on the Wellington Straight.
Zhou was struggling on the Soft compound and he lost out to Sergio Perez’s recovering Red Bull into Copse and then Ocon down the Hangar Straight on the ninth lap.
Russell was maintaining a one-plus-second gap over Hamilton, but the positive news on the Mercedes pit wall was that Verstappen lied more than two seconds back.
But Norris was not close enough to activate DRS on Verstappen ahead on Lap 12 and it was rather his team-mate Oscar Piastri who was best-placed to make a move.
The rain was hanging about in the air and the drivers were being advised about the evolving radar, but Sauber could not hold out before changing Zhou from the Softs.
Stroll had been holding up the cars behind since the opening lap, but Leclerc utilised the DRS along the Hangar Straight to dive to the Aston Martin’s inside into Stowe.
Norris had crept into Verstappen’s DRS now and the Briton delighted the home fans packed around the Silverstone track as he overtook his rival into Stowe on Lap 15.
Verstappen had been unable to maintain speed with Norris since that pass and Piastri’s pressure saw him dance around the outside at Stowe to demote the Red Bull.
Hamilton was thriving in the damp conditions and was right on Russell’s rear coming onto the Hanger Straight to make a move stick with ease on the inside at Stowe.
But both Mercedes drivers ventured wide at Turn 1 and Russell being slow as he came back onto the circuit at Village allowed Norris to slice up the inside into Village.
Norris was excelling as the conditions deteriorated in certain areas and was clambering over Hamilton’s Mercedes enough to make a surprise move into the first turn.
Piastri was also making inroads into the leading group and capitalised on Russell getting stuck behind Hamilton on Lap 20 to go round the outside at Turn 4 into third.
The Australian was on a charge and Hamilton was powerless to stop the sister McLaren from surging past his Mercedes down the Hanger Straight into second place.
Elsewhere, both Leclerc and Perez had come in to put Intermediates on, but the track was not wet enough and the pair were not making up ground on the pack ahead.
Indeed, both Perez and Leclerc were going too slow as their Intermediates became shredded on the drier parts and the two went a lap down on the leading McLarens.
However, that changed on Lap 26 and resulted in both Verstappen and Sainz coming into the pits to discard their slicks, as Piastri was stalking Norris out in first spot.
But Norris remained ahead and got the preference on pit call, which made the difference as the conditions became too wet and Piastri slipped to sixth once he pitted.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s earlier stop had seen him leapfrog Russell as well as Piastri to rise back into the top three positions, with Norris leading Hamilton on Lap 30.
Russell’s showing was run on Lap 34 as he was told to retire his Mercedes with a suspected water system issue, bringing an unfortunate end to his podium prospects.
But team-mate Hamilton remained in the race and he was on the pursuit as he reduced Norris’ gap to two seconds with the sun breaking out from behind the clouds.
Hamilton was told to pit to move onto slicks on Lap 38 and he moved onto the Soft compound as Norris continued to circulate as Verstappen and Piastri also boxed.
Norris came in the next time round and a sluggish 4.5-second stop contributed to Hamilton coming out in the lead with his compatriot more than one second behind.
Verstappen had been a non-fixture at the sharp end through the race, but the Dutchman was coming alive on the Hard compound and was hunting the top two down.
Red Bull had nailed the decision to switch onto the Hardest compound and Norris was unable to stop Verstappen from going around the outside at Stowe on Lap 48.
But Verstappen did not have enough time in hand to catch Hamilton as the seven-time champion took the chequered flag and his first win since Saudi Arabia in 2021.
Verstappen did at least extend his championship lead as he beat Norris to second spot as the McLaren driver trailed back a distant and disappointing third in the end.
Piastri appeared a contender at one stage until circumstances went against him and the Australian wound up in fourth position, with Sainz fifth in the leading Ferrari.
Hulkenberg recovered from his slow start to make it back-to-back sixth-places for Haas, with Stroll fronting a double Aston Martin points score with Fernando Alonso.
Alex Albon converted Williams’ encouraging one-lap pace into a ninth-place finish and a two-point haul, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda bagged the last point with 10th place.
