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Laurence Edmondson
SILVERSTONE, England — Lando Norris emerged victorious in a wet and wild British Grand Prix that saw McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri stripped of his chance of victory by a 10-second penalty for a safety car infringement.
Piastri still claimed second place, but Norris’ home win, which marked his first at Silverstone and his fourth of the season, moved the British driver just eight points behind his teammate in the championship standings.
Norris said the win is as good as it gets.
“It’s beautiful. Everything I dreamed of, I guess,” he said after the race. “Everything I’ve ever wanted to achieve. Apart from a championship, I think this is as good as it gets in terms of feelings and in terms of achievement, being proud, all of it.
“This is where it all started for me, and now thankfully I’ve been able to have my go.”
Nico Hulkenberg claimed the first podium of his 239-race career, bringing an end to his unwanted distinction as the driver with the most race starts without a podium.
Piastri, who passed Max Verstappen for the race lead on Lap 8 in wet conditions, was penalized 10 seconds for driving erratically ahead of a safety car restart on Lap 21.
The McLaren driver appeared to brake aggressively on the Hangar Straight, resulting in Verstappen, who was running in second place, passing him as the Red Bull was forced to take evasive action.
“Article 55.15 of the FIA Sporting Regulations required Car 81 [Piastri] to proceed at a pace which involved no erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers from the point at which the lights on the safety car are turned off,” a stewards statement said.
“What Car 81 did was clearly a breach of that article. In accordance with the penalty guidelines, we imposed a 10-second time penalty to Car 81.”
Piastri was reluctant to speak in his postrace interview, saying: “I’m not going to say much. I’ll get myself in trouble. Well done to Nico. I think that’s the highlight of the day.
“Apparently you can’t brake behind the safety car any more. I did it for five laps before that.”
As the cars exited Stowe corner ahead of the restart, Verstappen spun to the inside of the track and dropped from second place to 10th when racing got back underway.
Verstappen’s spin moved Norris up to second place and meant the British driver only had to remain within 10 seconds of his teammate to ensure he took the lead when Piastri served his penalty at a pit stop on Lap 43.
The final round of pit stops saw the field move from the treaded intermediate tyres to slicks, with Piastri nearly losing control of his car as he took to the run-off area at Maggots on his outlap.
The Australian, who clearly felt the penalty was unfair, radioed his team to ask them to swap the cars back before the checkered flag, but with five laps left to go he was informed there would be no team orders to that effect.
Norris went on to take the victory by six seconds from Piastri, with Hulkenberg’s Sauber 21 seconds behind in third and five seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari in fourth.
Hulkenberg’s race hinged on an early switch to a second set of intermediate tires just before the safety car came out for heavy rain, but also required a determined and gritty drive to secure and retain third place.
“It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it?” Hulkenberg said afterward. “But I always knew we have it in us, I have it in me, somewhere.
“What a race. Coming from virtually last, doing it all over again from last weekend. It’s pretty surreal, to be honest. I’m not sure how it all happened, but obviously crazy, mixed conditions. It was a survival fight for a lot of the race. I think we just were really on it with the right calls, the right tires in the right moment, made no mistakes — quite incredible.”
Hamilton’s result brought an end to a run of consecutive podiums at the British Grand Prix that stretches back to 2014.
Verstappen recovered to fifth place at the finish, but his championship chances, which were dealt a critical blow when he retired from last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, now look more distant than ever with a gap of 69 points to Piastri.
Pierre Gasly secured sixth place for Alpine ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, which had run as high as third place midway through the race.
Alex Albon took eighth for Williams ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and the highest-placed Mercedes of George Russell.