Awesome round to round battle! This is how Hamilton and Norris went head to head in the British GP

They were some of the best moments of the whole race. Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris battled it out on laps 39 and 40 for the final runner-up spot in the British Grand Prix, with both drivers earning a huge applause from the crowd as home drivers.

Who doesn’t love a “wheel to wheel” battle. Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris did one in the last British Grand Prix.

Norris and Oscar Piastri (both McLaren) proved in Saturday’s qualifying that new upgrades can put the Woking team where they belong – in the fight for the podium.

Norris had a very solid race pace already at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, and at Silverstone not only he but also his teammate Piastri confirmed McLaren’s great performance.

The 23-year-old Briton started the British Grand Prix from second place, and thanks to a superb start he overtook Max Verstappen at the first corner. He was therefore the race leader for several laps before the reigning world champion overtook him and took back his first position.

Norris held a relatively smooth second position during the rest of the British Grand Prix, that is until the Safety Car exit. The latter went out on track due to the retirement of Kevin Magnussen (Haas). During the pit stop, McLaren had to fit their driver with a hard set of tyres as they no longer had a soft compound available.

And that made life difficult for the British team’s drivers. Third-placed Hamilton was wearing a soft, much faster set of tyres marked in red. It was very difficult for Norris to keep the seven-time champion behind him.

However, this made for a beautiful battle, with Hamilton trying to get past Norris for second place on laps 39 and 40. However, the McLaren driver defended his position and drove to a podium finish. Similarly, Piastri, on a hard set of tyres, claimed fourth ahead of George Russell.

McLaren therefore recorded its best result of the season, and for Piastri, as a rookie this season, fourth place is a career best. Hamilton and Mercedes again did a great job in terms of race strategy. After starting from seventh, he could celebrate his podium finish.

Hamilton on McLaren’s superb performance

“A big congratulations to Lando and McLaren. This was my family, this is where I started. So to see them up there again, looking strong… their car was very fast in the high-speed corners. Wow, I couldn’t keep up with them,” Hamilton admitted in a post-race interview.

“On the restart (of the race) we had a good battle. As soon as he went through Turns 13, 14 and 15, he was gone. I had good performance in the low speeds, but I just didn’t have the speed on the straights,” he added.