SILVERSTONE, England :Lando Norris won his home British Grand Prix for the first time in a wave of elation as McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri finished second and made his unhappiness evident to all on a wet and chaotic Silverstone Sunday.
The Australian, his championship lead cut to eight points from 15, had looked a more likely winner but a 10-second penalty for braking sharply behind the safety car while leading ultimately left Norris as the one celebrating.
McLaren had indicated they could appeal, prompting Piastri to suggest more in hope than expectation that he and Norris switch places, but in the end the team told the drivers to continue racing for position.
Norris was overcome by emotion, although he said he had not cried behind the visor, as he took the chequered flag 6.8 seconds clear.
“We did it, at home. Oh my god, we did it. It’s beautiful,” he gasped over the radio after winning back-to-back races for the first time.
“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,” he said later.
It was the Briton’s fourth win of the season, one less than Piastri, and McLaren’s fifth one-two.
Piastri gave every impression of chewing on lemons as he was interviewed by 2009 world champion Jenson Button.
“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,” he said acidly of third-placed finisher Nico Hulkenberg.
Hulkenberg’s achievement was also emotional, the 37-year-old German making up 16 places to shed an unwanted record of the most races without a podium in Formula One history – Sunday being his first in 239 starts.
“I don’t think I can comprehend what we’ve just done,” said the stunned German before wild pitlane celebrations with his teammates.
“It feels good. It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it? But I always knew we had it in us, I have it in me, somewhere.”
HAMILTON FOURTH
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, last year’s winner with Mercedes, finished fourth with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fifth after starting on pole position but spinning out of contention.
Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine, Lance Stroll seventh for Aston Martin – after running third for a while – and Alex Albon eighth for Williams.
Fernando Alonso gave Aston Martin a double points finish in ninth at their home race and George Russell bagged the final point for Mercedes.
Organisers said 168,000 people attended the race with a record four-day crowd of half a million.
The whole field had looked set to start on intermediates but Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc peeled into the pitlane on the formation lap to switch to slicks, leaving grid slots four and six empty.
Verstappen led away from pole, the rest following in the spray, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson colliding with Haas’s Esteban Ocon and pulling off to retire on the Wellington straight.
“Who the hell was that? I’m out,” exclaimed the New Zealander.
A virtual safety car was in place for a couple of laps, with Argentine rookie Franco Colapinto also retiring his Alpine with a gearbox problem after starting from the pit lane.
The virtual safety car was triggered for a second time on lap six when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto spun into the gravel, got going again and then pulled over with a severely damaged rear wing.
Piastri got past Verstappen on lap eight, shortly after racing resumed, and Norris moved up to second on lap 11 when the champion ran wide at Becketts with his tyres struggling for grip.
Both McLarens pitted on lap 12, followed by Verstappen who regained second place when Norris was held up with a front-left wheel issue.
The full safety car bunched up the field again on lap 14 as the rain fell more heavily and conditions became more treacherous, and stayed out for three laps.
As soon as it came in Isack Hadjar crashed his Racing Bulls into the back of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes in heavy spray and the safety car was back out again.
When it returned to the pits on lap 22, Piastri suddenly slowed and Verstappen inadvertently went past in a breach of the rules and spun at Stowe on the restart, dropping down to 11th.
Stewards ruled Piastri was at fault and handed him the 10- second penalty, which he served nine laps from the end.
