From here on in, Lando Norris will want his own personal grandstand at every race. The 25-year-old, arguably the sport’s most popular driver amongst the Netflix generation of F1 fans, had expectations sky-high this weekend at Silverstone, racing for the quickest team in a championship-contending season.
And for the 10,000 decked in bright yellow in the ‘LandoStand’ at Stowe corner, who bought tickets in the space of an hour last autumn, they were rewarded for their enthusiasm and endeavour amid grey skies around them with a dramatic win for their man on Sunday.
Norris took the chequered flag by five seconds, becoming the 13th British driver to win his home grand prix, while Oscar Piastri was left to rue a costly mid-race error behind the safety car. For the Australian, usually a modicum of composure, the customary post-race interview hit saw how vigorously his blood was boiling. “I’ll get myself in trouble,” he said.
Yet perhaps the story of the day was Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, breaking his own personal podium curse by finishing in the top-three for the first time in Formula 1, in his 239th race. Most impressively, it was Lewis Hamilton (whose streak of podiums at Silverstone dating back to 2013 is over) who he held off to secure a memorable third place from 19th on the grid. “I don’t think we can comprehend what we just did,” the emotional German said over team radio.
But for Norris, who won the prestigious race around the streets of Monaco earlier this year, this triumph took the biscuit as his finest yet. “It’s beautiful, everything I dreamed of,” he told Jenson Button afterwards.
“Apart from a championship, this is as good as it gets in terms of achievement and pride. This is where it started for me. Incredible race, stressful as always, the support from the fans made the difference.
“Your mind goes pretty blank [at the end], everything you might think before the race you forget. The main thing is don’t f*** it up!”
Norris has endured his fair share of errors so far this season but, this time, Piastri was the McLaren driver under the spotlight.
As ever at Silverstone, the start was shrouded in ambiguity across the grid due to the elements. A heavy downpour half an hour before lights out triggered all 20 cars to start on intermediate tyres, the hybrid wet-dry rubber.
Yet by the time pole-sitter Verstappen led the pack around for the formation lap, a handful of cars, including George Russell in fourth, gambled on the track drying, diving into the pit-lane before the start for slick, dry tyres. It didn’t quite pay off.
An early crash between Ocon and Lawson resulted in a virtual safety car, but with rain on the short-term forecast, the frontrunners all stayed out.
Piastri took the lead on lap eight with superior speed on the Hangar Straight over Verstappen, but his lead was soon rendered irrelevant with a full safety car on lap 14, as the heavens opened.
Norris and Verstappen had earlier squabbled for second, with the Brit coming out on top, before a slow stop meant the Dutchman took the spot back in the pit-lane. Yet by the time racing properly resumed on lap 21 – after Isack Hadjar’s heavy crash forced another safety car – the usually faultless Verstappen made a mistake, spun at Stowe, and dropped from second to 10th.
Yet there was hot water for Piastri out in front, too. Prior to the safety car ending, the Australian braked erratically on the back straight, with Verstappen needing to take drastic action to avoid a collision and gesticulating over team radio.
It looked clumsy and somewhat baffling from Piastri and the stewards agreed, dishing out a 10-second time penalty. It was an adjudication which gave Norris behind him a precious and ultimately race-winning lifeline.
Yet with no more rain on the radar, the looming question hanging in the air was: when would the frontrunners pit for dry tyres? Russell, as he often does, rolled the dice too early on lap 40 and soon spun, much to the anger of Toto Wolff in the Mercedes garage. He would finish down in 10th.
But a crossover point still seemed inevitable amid blue skies. Piastri dived in a lap earlier than Norris on lap 43, served his penalty, and the Briton took the lead by around five seconds after his stop.
Mercifully, Norris kept his McLaren safely between the white lines and to the acclaim of 160,000 fans at Silverstone on Sunday, took top spot on the podium, narrowing the gap to Piastri in the championship standings to just eight points at the halfway stage of the season.
