July 09, (THEW) – Max Verstappen claimed his eighth victory of the season at the British Grand Prix, solidifying his hold on the driver’s championship.
The Red Bull driver crossed the finish line 3.7 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, who achieved his best-ever race finish in Formula One with an impressive second place. Lewis Hamilton, driving for Mercedes, secured the final podium position after capitalising on a mid-race safety car period. Verstappen initially lost the lead to Norris at the start but quickly regained his position on Lap 5 and maintained it until the end of the race. The McLarens showcased their pace, creating a considerable gap to the cars behind and making a double podium finish highly likely by the halfway mark.
The turning point came on Lap 34 when an engine failure on Kevin Magnussen’s Haas prompted a full safety car period. Verstappen and Norris, both extending their first stints on medium tires, took advantage of the situation and pitted under the safety car. McLaren opted to equip Norris with hard tires, while Verstappen received a set of soft compounds. However, Oscar Piastri, in the other McLaren, had recently made a pit stop for harder tires, which ultimately dropped him to fourth place behind Hamilton, who greatly benefited from the safety car intervention.
The safety car exited the track with 14 laps to go, and Norris faced a tough battle against Hamilton’s faster tires during the restart. Despite a close and fair contest, Norris successfully held onto second place, while Verstappen comfortably extended his lead ahead. The race concluded with Verstappen securing a commanding victory, Red Bulls’ 11th consecutive victory in the circuit, with Norris finishing second and Hamilton settling for third after his soft tires had worn out.
Piastri held off George Russell to claim fourth place, his best race result to date, and Sergio Perez of Red Bull staged an impressive recovery drive from 15th to finish in sixth position.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
