We hadn’t had a proper mixed weather bonanza since the opening race in Australia, but were finally rewarded for our patience with another memorable British GP that had it all as the British summer proved why it never disappoints. McLaren took another 1-2, but it wasn’t plain sailing this time, while Nico Hulkenberg finally received the podium reward his career deserves.
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Winner: Lando Norris
Before the event Lando Norris said he would trade all his previous wins for victory on home soil, and what a dream result it was for the Briton. Norris was, of course, fortunate to benefit from Oscar Piastri‘s time penalty after having been behind in qualifying, and then having had a much tougher time jetting past a struggling Max Verstappen than his team-mate. But with so much at stake in tricky mixed weather conditions, this was no straightforward afternoon.
And after having already been dismissed in various corners, Norris’ second win on the trot – a fortuitous one while Austria was emphatic – now means he is just eight points behind the championship leader as F1 heads to Spa in two weeks. It’s very much game on.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
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Loser: Oscar Piastri
Piastri doesn’t always give much away in a public forum, but his humanity was on full display after a 10-second penalty left him absolutely seething in Silverstone. The Australian had this race well under control after passing Verstappen early on and building up a healthy buffer, which was wiped out by the safety car.
Right before the following restart, things went wrong and he was deemed to have decelerated too abruptly behind the safety car, hitting the anchors right as the safety car lights went out. Verstappen had to jump out of the way and overtook him momentarily, in a much more emphatic way than he did with George Russell in Canada, and the stewards deemed Piastri’s actions were erratic and worthy of a penalty.
Harsh or not, we’ve never seen such an emotional response from Piastri before, even inquiring with the team about swapping positions out of fairness, and his sheer despondency in the post-race press conference was also uncharted territory. Silverstone’s result was clearly a blow, but his top-notch performance shows he hasn’t got much worry about. He will dust himself off and go to Spa as the championship leader, still.
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Winner: Nico Hulkenberg
As the old saying goes: 239th time’s a charm. Stating Nico Hulkenberg’s maiden (!) podium at age 37 is long overdue is kind of obvious, but it was the glowing reception from his peers that spoke volumes about how well Hulkenberg is regarded as a driver and a person in the F1 paddock.
Hulkenberg, naturally, did it the hard way by starting in 19th, and said he was in denial until the final pitstop that he was on for a podium at last. But he was good value for it too, getting an excellent start and making an early stop for fresh inters to ensure he was ahead of most of the slick tyre gamblers. He proved too quick for Lance Stroll in the second stint, but it was his gritty defence against Lewis Hamilton that really cemented his result. His defence sort of forced Hamilton to pit for slicks too early, with Hulkenberg stopping a lap later and easily making the overcut work despite a slow pitstop. This was a race in which experience mattered – just look at where all the rookies ended up, we’ll get to that – and Hulkenberg made his count.
In doing so, Hulkenberg is the first Sauber podium finisher since Kamui Kobayashi at the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix, the first German on the podium since Sebastian Vettel in Azerbaijan 2021, and the oldest first-time podium finisher since – checks notes – George Follmer at the 1973 Spanish Grand Prix. Richly deserved.
Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
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Loser: Red Bull
Verstappen stunned the paddock once again with an impervious pole position on Saturday, but he must have cursed when he raised his curtains on Sunday morning and saw the expected rain was hitting his hotel window much heavier than anticipated. Key to Verstappen’s pole was a better balance provided by a lower downforce wing that dialled out his free practice understeer, but that all backfired in the rain when drivers want as much downforce as they can get their hands on.
Verstappen was visibly fighting the car through the opening stages as he was powerless to hold off Piastri, before spinning on the exit of Stowe ahead of the lap 22 restart. That rare mistake from one of F1’s rain kings spoke volumes about how hard the car was to drive. On top of that, Red Bull burned through the intermediates much quicker than McLaren too.
Finishing fifth after all that was a bit of a miracle in itself, and came courtesy both of Verstappen’s tenacity and his competitors faltering. But it was a Sunday to forget for Red Bull as Yuki Tsunoda was also the last car on the road, and the only one to get lapped. He too suffered from horrific tyre degradation, but a 10-second penalty for causing contact didn’t help matters.
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Winner: Pierre Gasly/Alpine
It is no secret that Alpine is in the hurt locker right now with a car that hasn’t seen as much in-season development as its direct rivals, is hamstrung on power-hungry circuits due to its power unit, and has a second driver that still isn’t clicking with his car.
It was therefore a welcome tonic for Pierre Gasly to make it through to Q3 again with a superb Q2 lap, which moved him up to eighth after penalties for other drivers. In a dry race, he would have likely been dropped like a brick, but in the rain he and the team got all their calls right to stay where they were. Gasly was part of the Hulkenberg-Stroll-Hamilton fight, and managed to pass Stroll’s Aston right at the end to move up to sixth place – Alpine’s best result of a bruising 2025 campaign.
A hapless Franco Colapinto wasn’t able to make the start due to a driveline issue, after his crash in qualifying and the choice to take a fifth power unit set him up for a pitlane start. At the time of writing, it is not yet clear whether or not the Argentinian will be afforded the last two races before the summer break, as team chief Flavio Briatore appears to be growing impatient.
But while Gasly’s sixth place won’t change the harsh 2025 reality the team is in, at least it’s a reason to go back to Enstone with something to smile about.
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team
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Losers: F1’s rookie class
As mentioned, Sunday’s race was one for cool heads and veteran hands. That was clear early on when Haas’ Ollie Bearman was the highest rookie runner… in 14th. Bearman was the only one to finish, too, despite a clash with team-mate Esteban Ocon as they were fighting side by side for a narrow dry line on slicks.
There are of course many reasons why the race transpired that way – Colapinto never even got to start, and Liam Lawson was unlucky to be on the outside of a three-wide move and got punted off by an innocent Ocon. But it was probably no coincidence that the top 10 was occupied by the fastest teams as well as drivers with bags of experience. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was a good example, being in the wars after an ill-fated strategy call that he did not have the experience yet to overrule. He was then hit by an unlucky Isack Hadjar in heavy spray. Meanwhile, Gabriel Bortoleto crashed out early after a premature call for slicks that he initiated.
F1’s 2025 rookie class has been highly praised and rightly so, but for some of them Silverstone was a great learning opportunity.
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
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Winner: Lance Stroll
Stroll has received a fair share of – often justified – criticism, so it’s only right he gets his flowers as well when he steps up. Only Hulkenberg’s outstanding 19th-to-3rd drive overshadows Stroll’s excellent comeback race, again living up to his wet weather reputation.
After a bold early gamble for slicks that worked out, in no small part due to opting for softs that got up to temperature much quicker, Stroll briefly looked like he was going to derail Hulkenberg’s fairytale story, but as the track dried up the Canadian couldn’t keep up appearances any longer with poor tyre degradation.
Still, Silverstone provided an opportunity that he snatched emphatically. And it was quite amusing for Fernando Alonso to be annoyed at missing out on a similar tyre gamble at the first pitstop, only to then go the other way and come in for slicks too early at the end.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
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Loser: Charles Leclerc
Oh boy, what a horror show Silverstone was for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque drew attention on Saturday with an extreme case of self-flagellation after a mistake in qualifying left him out of front row contention, with a team radio tirade that he later put down as “heat of the moment” frustration.
On Sunday he was all over the place too, admitting blame for a premature first stop for slicks that didn’t work out in his case, but then also having several offs in the race that he candidly owned up to, as well as muscling the two Williams cars out of the way with late lunges.
But Leclerc was also on the back foot due to a lack of race pace, more so than team-mate Hamilton. It’s a weekend to process and then forget for what has otherwise been Ferrari’s lead driver.
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