Lewis Hamilton: I could feel the energy
If his race start wasn't ideal, Lewis Hamilton took advantage of the safety car and secured his 4th podium of the season.
Starting 7th on the grid, Lewis Hamilton started from his lowest position at his home Grand Prix since the 2012 edition, back when he was still with McLaren. The road was going to be long for the seven-time world champion if he wanted to secure his 11th consecutive podium at this former military base.
His departure did not help him in his comeback, on the contrary. Taking a wide line at turn 3, the British driver lost a position to Fernando Alonso. Showing disappointing pace, the Aston Martin was not performing well just a few tracks away from its factory. Lewis Hamilton took advantage of this and regained his position on the 7th lap. The rest of the early part of the race for the Mercedes driver was relatively uneventful. Slowly closing in on the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in front of him, he spent a few laps studying his rear wing but never managed to seriously threaten the Spanish driver.
It was the safety car that propelled the Stevenage native to the forefront. The low degradation of the Mercedes tires allowed him to extend his first stint longer than his competitors. Thus, when the race was neutralized, they had already pitted, not Hamilton. The retirement of Magnussen gave him a free pit stop. He found himself propelled ahead of poor Oscar Piastri, who was nevertheless having a race free of errors.
Even equipped with soft tires, Hamilton had a hard time overtaking Lando Norris in the McLaren. His best opportunity came on the 40th lap. Managing to squeeze through a tiny gap at the entrance of Luffield, completing the overtake at Copse was too risky. His soft tires had then overheated, and passing under the checkered flag, third place was within Hamilton’s reach.
« It wasn’t me who made this podium, it’s the fans! They are the best fans in the world, I could feel the energy in the car. I also want to congratulate Lando and McLaren. They are my family, where I started. My start wasn’t brilliant but our second stint went well. It shows us that we are not far from the front of the race, we just have to keep working. »
Although he didn’t manage to secure a 9th victory at Silverstone, this new podium for Hamilton shows his ability, along with his team, to always turn the situation in their favor, even after a qualifying session that didn’t suggest such a result.
For the third time this season, Lewis Hamilton achieves a better scoring result than Fernando Alonso. In the battle for third place in the drivers’ championship, only 16 points now separate the two men.
