Verstappen heads local heroes Norris and Hamilton to win British Grand Prix win
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overcame an early attack from McLaren rival Lando Norris to triumph in an action-packed British Grand Prix, marking his first-ever victory at this event and extending his current winning run to six races.
Norris jumped Verstappen for the lead at the start, with team mate Oscar Piastri almost following him through, meaning it was a Red Bull in a McLaren sandwich over the first few laps – but the reigning double world champion soon fought back.
By Lap 5, and with DRS at his disposal, Verstappen reclaimed P1 from Norris and never looked troubled, pulling away from the home favourite as the race developed and then managing a late Safety Car period – caused by Kevin Magnussen’s smoking Haas – that saw the leaders go for different tyre strategies.
While the majority of the front-runners chose soft tyres under the Safety Car, Norris went for hards, meaning he had to pull off some impressive defending to remain P2 over fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton, who jumped Piastri when the race was neutralised.
Piastri had held third for the majority of the 52-lap encounter, only to pit just before the aforementioned Safety Car, but fourth – a couple of seconds up on the other Mercedes of George Russell – still represented the best result of the Australian rookie’s burgeoning F1 career.
Sergio Perez delivered another solid recovery drive to sixth after the Red Bull driver’s latest qualifying woes, making a series of late moves to finish ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Williams’ Alex Albon and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Williams almost had two cars in the points on home soil, with Logan Sargeant a personal best 11th, followed by the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas, who started at the back after being excluded from qualifying, and Nico Hulkenberg, who dropped to the rear early on when he picked up front wing damage on his Haas.
Lance Stroll wound up 14th after being penalised for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly, who was forced to retire thereafter, joining team mate Esteban Ocon, who pitted early on amid apparent technical trouble – and Magnussen on the sidelines.
Zhou Guanyu was 15th in the other Alfa Romeo, having made three pit stops (one more than anyone else), with AlphaTauri pair Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries the final drivers to cross the line after Gasly’s aforementioned dramas.
After the chequered flag, there was no hiding Verstappen’s excitement as he not only moved 99 points clear of Perez in the drivers’ standings, but also gave Red Bull a record-equalling 11th successive F1 win.
