Lewis Hamilton makes F1 history with ninth British Grand Prix win

Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Credit: PA

Lewis Hamilton has made history by winning his ninth British Grand Prix, claiming his first victory in 945 days on a wet and windy afternoon at Silverstone.

Max Verstappen finished second on Sunday afternoon with Llando Norris third, as pole-sitter George Russell retired following a water system failure on his Mercedes.

“Get in there, Lewis,” yelled Hamilton’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington after the 39-year-old crossed the line. “You are the man, you are the man! I have been waiting for this.”

Hamilton’s voice cracked as he replied: “Thank you so much, guys. It means a lot to get this one. I love you guys.”

Crying in his cockpit, Hamilton said: “I love you, Bono.”

With Hamilton heading to Ferrari next year, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said over the radio: “We will prevail. We never give up and what a sign-off for our last race at the British Grand Prix. We couldn’t wish for anything better.”

After stepping out of his Mercedes machine, an emotional Hamilton embraced his father Anthony.

“I am still crying,” said Hamilton. “There is no greater feeling than to finish at the front here. It is so tough for anyone.

“But the important thing is how you continue to get up and dig deeper than ever even though you are at the bottom of the barrel and there are days since 2021 where I didn’t feel I was good enough or I would get back to where I am but I have had great people around me.”

It looked as though Lando Norris would take his maiden victory on home soil but he was left exposed by his flat-footed McLaren team in the changeable conditions.

As the Northamptonshire track dried out following a splurge of rain, Hamilton, trailing Norris by two seconds, peeled into the pit lane to switch from intermediate tyres to the soft rubber.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton leads at Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire Credit: PA

Norris was critically left out one lap longer and when the McLaren driver emerged from the pits – after a sluggish 4.5 sec pit-stop – Hamilton had taken the lead to huge roars from the 164,000 sell-out crowd.

Hamilton rolled back the years over the remaining dozen laps to take his first victory since the penultimate round of the 2021 campaign in Saudi Arabia.

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