When Lewis Hamilton won his third consecutive race in 2021 in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on the Jeddah Street Circuit, he undoubtedly did not expect to wait 945 days for his next victory. Beating Max Verstappen to the line by 1.465 seconds, he scored a record-extending ninth British Grand Prix victory at Silverstone and the 104th win of his storied career.
George Russell led from the pole with his Mercedes teammate Hamilton, and the McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri also engaged in the contest; Hamilton used pit strategy during changing weather conditions, put slick tires on one lap before his competition, and emerged with the lead.
Verstappen was also fast on the hard tires and took second place from Norris in the closing laps, but there was not enough time to catch Hamilton.
Norris stood on the last step of the podium in third.
Hamilton’s first British GP victory came in 2008. His ninth and most recent win on that track was in 2021.
Hamilton will depart Mercedes in 2025 to race for Ferrari, and he wanted to reward the team he joined in 2013.
“This is my last race here at the British Grand Prix with this team, so I wanted to win this so much for them, because I love them, I appreciate them so much, all the hard work they’ve been putting in all over these years,” Hamilton said at F1.com.
It was the end of a long, frustrating road for Hamilton. Winless for the first time in his career in 2022, Hamilton had never gone without a win for more than 10 consecutive races during his career.
“It’s so tough, I think for anyone,” Hamilton said. “I think the important thing is just how you continue to get up, and you’ve got to continue to dig deep even when you feel like you’re at the bottom of the barrel.
“There’s definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn’t feel like I was good enough, or whether I was going to get back to where I am today, but the important thing is I had great people around me, continuing to support me.”
Since his last victory, Hamilton came close with 17 podiums, the most recent of which was earned two rounds ago in Catalunya.