F1. Britain 2024 Review

Driver of the day

Aiden – Bravo Sir Lewis Hamilton, bravo. The first driver to win nine grands prix at the same event could be one of those records that lasts long after we are all gone; surpassing his and Michael Schumacher’s record is phenomenal (Schumacher won eight times in France) but the records didn’t stop there. He’s the first driver to win races in 16 different seasons. He broke the record for time between his first and last race wins (of course that will be extended with every subsequent win he manages) which now stands at 17 years and 27 days. At 39 years, 6 months and a day old he’s also the oldest grand prix winner of the 21st century, taking over from Kimi Räikkönen. A well-deserved victory as Mercedes start to match Red Bull and McLaren to give us great hope for a competitive rest of the season.

Gavin – Sir Lewis Hamilton. Some people will say he was handed this victory due to the mistakes of others, but last week George Russell had even more fortune and was lauded for his win therefore I don’t agree with the naysayers. Last week I said you could hear Lewis crying as George won, this week you could actually hear and see him crying as he, finally, won again. To do it at Silverstone in front of the adoring British fans would have made that victory even sweeter. You could see how much it meant to him, and the team. I think the only thing that could top these celebrations would be a win at Monza for Ferrari next year!

Chelsea – Sir Lewis Hamilton stood on the top step for the first time since 2021, and while I’m sure there was a dry eye in the house (this is Britain after all), mine wasn’t one of them. While last week’s Mercedes victory had an element of fortune thrown in, this was classic Hamilton – head cool, tyres coddled, and race… paced. “I thought it was never going to happen again,” but it did, and what a race for it – there was barely time to boil the jug in between moments. It was perfect Silverstone.

 

Moment of the weekend

Aiden – Saturday was the first time British drivers have taken the top three qualifying positions at any F1 race since the 1968 South African Grand Prix as Russell, Hamilton and Norris made it a qualifying session for the home crowd to savour. Away from the racing, it was funny to see Martin Brundle brush off a request by an aide to talk to Peter Kyle (the new Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology). A lesson for the aide; don’t approach Martin during the gridwalk itself, get your request into him and Sky Sports before he sets his sights on, say, Sir Brian May.

Gavin – The mad couple of laps when the rain appeared were such fun to watch. Some teams got it right, some teams got it wrong, some teams got it wrong and changed, some teams got it wrong and refused to change. All those brains, all that technology, all that experience, yet you can still be sure teams will make the wrong call in these circumstances. It was in this period that McLaren put both drivers on the back foot, whilst Ferrari and Red Bull handicapped only half their teams. Any different calls here and the outcome of the race would have been very different which underlines how much F1 is about those small margins. Give me more races like this please.

Chelsea – Tyre management was everything in the capricious British weather, and the final round of pit stops really was the turning point. Lando Norris overran his pit box, resulting in a slower stop, but crucially switched to the soft tyre. Swift degradation led to an overtake by Verstappen, himself on hards, and a third place finish by six seconds.

 

Hot take of the weekend

Aiden – Passing the baton for this one to Jeremy Clarkson this week.

Gavin – Six different race winners so far this season, can we now say that these regulations (eventually) work? Seriously, apart from Max Versappen period of winning everything for ages these regulations have allowed the teams to converge to the point where I don’t believe anyone was sure who was going to win the race. Is this change of fortune the result of Red Bull wind tunnel penalties, the other teams finally understanding their cars, drivers maturing – no idea but it is delivering entertainment and a sport that is fun to watch again. I now expect all the journalists who said they won’t cover F1 because it is a boring Max Verstappen led procession to be fully on the bandwagon again.

Chelsa – The tyre management situation exposed a key difference between the Red Bull and McLaren teams – one mature and very used to winning, and the other fresh and occasionally faltering. Red Bull put Verstappen directly onto hard tyres, and if the race were five laps longer, he would have caught Hamilton in the lead. McLaren gave Lando the choice, though analytics almost certainly pointed to the medium, and Lando chose swiftly-degrading softs. Lando is well-known for self-flagellation but hopefully he, and more importantly his team, will move on from this one swiftly.

 

Cold take of the weekend

Aiden – McLaren are starting to slip into making those strategic errors that we all laughed at Ferrari for over the last few years. They seem reactive rather than proactive and they are getting caught out. At Silverstone it was all around tyres (again). When to pit, what tyres to use, etc. With their car going so well and their awesome driver line-up in place they can’t afford to get these decisions wrong. For all the praise they’ve had, they’ve still only got one victory this season and Mercedes have just gone two from two.

Gavin – McLaren have taken a huge step forward this year and they deserve all the accolades they are getting, however their race strategy this weekend was abysmal. Lando would feel that he could have won, and he may be right, but the team let both drivers down at stages in the race. Taking a leaf out of the (comically) bad Ferrari school of communications we had the farce over the radio of discussing all the tyre options and leaving it to the driver to decide. It brings to mind the old adage “Don’t ask a woman her age, a man his salary, or Lando Norris his choice of tyre compound”. Look guys, your job is to make these decisions and that was not good enough. It shows they are not quite on the level of Red Bull just yet, but if anything I think they will learn from this and sort it out sooner rather than later.

Chelsea – It was another rough weekend for Sergio Perez, who spun out in Q1 and started the race from the pits. Even with DNFs from Russell and Gasly, he still only managed to finish in 17th, continuing a disastrous run that seemed to start with his Red Bull contract extension. So what now for the team? There’s always a loophole in driver contracts, but Danny Ricciardo’s recent form hardly puts him in contention, and Yuki Tsunoda seems equally out of favour. Could this be why Carlos Sainz is demurring on announcing his future plans? Or is Liam Lawson’s upcoming driver test exactly the augury we’d like it to be?

 

Bonus Pictures of the Week

Lewis celebrating his win with the fans.

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