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00:00The British Grand Prix, round 12, we are ready to go racing
00:05at the track that started the World Championship in 1950.
00:09It's lights out, and away we go.
00:11Lewis Hamilton moves over to George Russell, but he's already ahead is Russell,
00:15and will preserve that lead into Turn 1.
00:17Behind comes Lando Norris, then Max Verstappen and Oskar Piastri,
00:21the top five all streaming through, and now they can get the brakes on.
00:24Russell ahead of Hamilton, almost contact there as Lando Norris has to go off the road.
00:29Verstappen round the outside, might nick a place there.
00:31Piastri's waiting to pounce. Verstappen gets into third.
00:34He's got past one Brit, two more to go.
00:36Alex had a big piece of bodywork come off.
00:41And that was because Alex Albon had contact with Fernando Alonso on the opening lap.
00:45And there is a small shower that might appear on lap 6,
00:49but it might just affect Turn 13. We'll keep you updated.
00:53If you've got a double stack, your drivers, you can lose out quite heavily.
00:57There's only one pit stop station per team.
01:00We'll explain more in a moment.
01:01There is Lewis Hamilton covering then Lando Norris.
01:04His teammate George Russell leading his home Grand Prix for the first time ever.
01:08Where's the contact at Turn 3?
01:10Potentially, you can see Alex Albon getting into a little bit of trouble there as Hulkenberg runs wide on.
01:17Because Hulkenberg came on the track and Alonso had to react,
01:20that then was where Alex Albon paid the price.
01:24So few revs.
01:26Wow, didn't want to get any wheelspin.
01:27Unbelievably few revs to get the car off the line.
01:31Turning in. Remarkably good front grip as well.
01:35And now he's going to slide up the inside.
01:36This is a big risk move there for Verstappen because it's so easy to run into the back of the other cars.
01:41And then he launches around the outside of Turn 4.
01:45So he can straighten the car up, get good traction,
01:48good drive out of there and take the place from Lando Norris.
01:52So this is Alex Albon.
01:53Watch the Aston Martin in front that has to get out of the way of Hulkenberg.
01:56And then he made contact with Fernando Alonso.
02:00No further investigation by the stewards into Nico Hulkenberg.
02:05Did he make contact with his teammate as well there as the car was recovering?
02:08I think he did.
02:09Yeah, so I think that's just one of those unfortunate situations on the first lap.
02:15Not a whole lot you could do about it.
02:17This was quite the kerfuffle, wasn't it?
02:19You can see the rain in the distance hovering on the outskirts of the track,
02:25maybe blowing over towards Club Corner and Stowe in the Buckinghamshire part of the track.
02:31That is where the rain is coming from.
02:33Let's have a look at Daniel Ricciardo, who was behind Joe Guaineu
02:40until he got himself onto that Wellington Straight.
02:43Got a really nice slipstream.
02:44They've changed his power units from this morning after the fire up to an old unit.
02:50That seems to be running quite nicely and Ricciardo making the move.
02:53And this down the inside is Kevin Magnussen on the one Alpine running in this race of Esteban Ocon.
03:00Ted Kravitz, as we see Magnussen finally making that move.
03:05Rain expected in seven laps, lasting for 10 minutes.
03:10How much rain is the key there? And can you tippy-toe around on dry tyres?
03:15It's 23 seconds to make a pit stop to a day 24.
03:19You don't want to be messing around on the wrong tyres as Sergio Perez surges past.
03:26The soft tyre runners, as Ted was saying, are starting to struggle.
03:30They took the gamble to go on the soft, maybe expecting rain or an early safety car.
03:34It hasn't happened. That's Esteban Ocon on the soft, getting past Joe Guaineu, also running those soft.
03:38So expect the rain to last around five minutes.
03:41Then there'll be a window of 10 minutes before a longer sell.
03:46Norris can stay in touch. He comes onto the hangar straight.
03:49His rear wing will be open. He's quite a long way back, but slipstream as well.
03:53If he's kept his battery together, there he goes.
03:55Here he goes, Lando Norris past Max Verstappen and back up into third place.
04:00And Verstappen kept his line true.
04:02And Verstappen, Lando Norris, dive down the inside.
04:05And that's gone down very well with the fans who stand to applaud that.
04:09That's brilliant racing from both drivers there.
04:12Verstappen just didn't have the pace, though, to defend against the McLaren, which is coming good once again.
04:18Intelligently moving out of the slipstream of the Red Bull through Luffield and corners like that.
04:24Kept himself in play and then used all the tools available to him for a nice, clean pass.
04:30And you have to say, Max was entirely correct in that maneuver.
04:35It's pretty dry still here in the pit lane.
04:38Yeah, you're right, Ted. This track would rip intermediates to shreds in two laps.
04:42And for the drivers, it's hard.
04:46229 points clear at Silverstone last year.
04:48The 64 points clear in 2024.
04:51And Max Verstappen is going to see another McLaren swoop past him and into Stowe.
04:56And that is getting tricky at Stowe now.
04:58And you can see Oskar Piastri not getting the grip that he would have got on the previous lap,
05:03but still getting the overtake done.
05:05One of the greatest Formula 1 race victories ever.
05:08And he is hunting George Russell down here in lap times at a three second slower than we had in the dry.
05:14That is how difficult these conditions are getting.
05:17Yeah, as I say, Lewis can read off the bat.
05:21He's got the DRS wide open, too.
05:23George Russell's vulnerable.
05:24George Russell's Mercedes teammate going to Stowe corner and take the lead.
05:30It's been coming now for a lap.
05:32Lewis Hamilton, the new race leader at the British Grand Prix, swoops past George Russell
05:39and is reveling in these conditions.
05:41Yeah, he's got the confidence. He's got the grip.
05:43You can see how the car's snaking around as he's trying to apply the throttle.
05:48And now Russell will have... It's raining quite hard, isn't it?
05:50You can see the rain now.
05:52But it's trying to survive these conditions and don't make any unnecessary pit stops.
05:56But both Mercedes going off there, leaving the track, coming back on.
06:01And as they come back on, Lando Norris is right on the tail of George Russell.
06:06And that in the background is Piastri going off to...
06:09And there is Lando Norris getting past the Mercedes.
06:13George Russell was leading this race when he last came on to the 1.6 seconds.
06:17Yeah, they both rejoined very unstably.
06:20I don't know how else they could have rejoined, to be honest.
06:23Hamilton extending his advantage. 1.2 seconds clear.
06:27Lando Norris is under pressure from George Russell.
06:29And all three of them, in fact, all nine team running here,
06:33under pressure from the elements as Norris now towards Vale,
06:36putting more pressure on Lewis Hamilton.
06:38Norris got tremendous grip coming out of Stowe Corner there.
06:42He got a lot of confidence.
06:44So, as I said, every corner is a new adventure.
06:47Hang on, we've got Norris down the pit straight on Hamilton.
06:50Norris in towards Abbey. Lando Norris leads the British Grand Prix.
06:55It's swapping around lap after lap.
06:57Hamilton struggling now and under pressure from his teammate George Russell.
07:01And Oscar Piastri is right there to join in the fun.
07:05This is just brilliant at Silverstone.
07:08And Lando Norris is getting all the grip.
07:10Piastri is getting more grip too.
07:12George Russell goes wheel to wheel with the Australian
07:14and loses out at the top of the Wellington Straight.
07:18It's Norris, Hamilton, Piastri, Russell and Charles Leclerc
07:21comes into the pits for Ferrari.
07:23Because now they're battling these Mercedes
07:25and seem to have the better conditions to do it.
07:27And for the lead of this race,
07:29and now Lewis Hamilton under pressure from Oscar Piastri.
07:33It's Norris in the lead.
07:34Into Stowe we go.
07:36Piastri on the inside.
07:37It's a McLaren 1.2 as Lewis Hamilton has to make way.
07:41Let's have a look at the moment of Lando Norris.
07:44Took the lead of this race.
07:47At the corner where he took the lead last year,
07:49moving past Max Verstappen
07:51and in very different conditions in 2024.
07:54And his teammate Oscar Piastri then picking his way
07:57past one of the Silver Arrows.
07:59George Russell who led the opening stages of this race
08:02and unable to cope with the McLaren around the outside.
08:07Yeah, George nearly lost the back end of the Mercedes.
08:09That's half on the grass for Piastri.
08:11He doesn't give up, does he?
08:12As he now moves.
08:14We know it's slippery down there.
08:15And he's on a nice line.
08:17The car wandering towards the outside,
08:20but he can feel the grip.
08:21And that is where Norris went off across the tarmac
08:25into Becketts.
08:27Lewis, we think it's time to jump to Inters.
08:29Let us know what you think.
08:30No.
08:31No, it's too early.
08:32I think we've beaten this try in a lot of places.
08:34OK.
08:35It's too dry, man.
08:36It's too f***ing dry.
08:38They're asking Perez if he wants to go into the intermediates.
08:40Survive the first one.
08:42And then the next bit of rain when it comes,
08:43that might be a bit heavier.
08:45We might need the intermediates then.
08:46They are the right tyre in Copse Corner or something
08:49at 170 miles an hour
08:51as Leclerc gets out.
08:54Well, it's either he's got out of the way
08:56or just had no grip to take the corner.
08:57And you have got to feel for Charles Leclerc here.
09:00Carlos Sainz gets his foot down.
09:02The Red Bull harvesting all the way
09:04towards the end of the straight there.
09:05And oh!
09:06Oh, is that a rain light?
09:08No.
09:09Could have been a rain light.
09:10I think he's got his rain light on now.
09:12He needs to back up now a little bit
09:14and buy himself some space.
09:16He will not be hindering the Mercedes.
09:19The call is there.
09:20Box, box, say McLaren.
09:21No, they've left him out.
09:22And they have left out Oscar Piastri.
09:24They have brought in Lando Norris,
09:26Mercedes bringing in Lewis Hamilton
09:28and George Russell.
09:29They could have backed Piastri up
09:30without hindering Hamilton
09:32and bought themselves some space there.
09:34Ted, down to you.
09:35This is such a tight call.
09:37The McLaren boss, Zac Brown,
09:39is actually off his seat in the pit lane
09:41with his hand up, turned to the sky,
09:43wondering if this is the right thing to do.
09:45It's that close.
09:47A very, very nice pit stop.
09:48Lando is on the intermediates,
09:50but I can fully understand.
09:52Lewis also onto the intermediates,
09:54but I can also understand
09:56someone thinking they might give it a go.
09:58George also on the intermediates now.
10:01It's better to be able to slip.
10:02Come on, we're back in the race here.
10:04They are indeed.
10:05And it's all got an awful lot tighter
10:07and Verstappen might find himself
10:09ahead of Oscar Piastri
10:10when Piastri does come out.
10:12He's had to wait an extra lap
10:13because they couldn't double-stack
10:15and into the pit lane he comes to
10:17and that doesn't look healthy.
10:18Struggling to slow it down.
10:19That's why he's got no tyre temperature at all now.
10:22He'll struggle to slow it down in his pit box as well.
10:24He'll have to approach that very carefully indeed.
10:28And he'll rue that they weren't able to just...
10:31He could have lost a second and a half, two seconds
10:33down the back straight and not have hindered Hamilton
10:36and then lost another couple on a pit stop.
10:39Would have been a better bet for Piastri.
10:41Piastri led this race.
10:43Hat to pits.
10:44A lap later than his teammate
10:45comes out behind Carlos Sainz in sixth.
10:48McLaren got it wrong with Piastri.
10:50They continue to lead the race with Lando Norris.
10:53So this rain is going to last for another six laps at least.
10:57There's no rain in Ipanema.
10:58Verstappen's already done four.
11:00The rest have done three already on these interns.
11:02Look at the rubber coming off those intermediate tyres.
11:05Yeah, it's a compound
11:07that's designed to give grip in cooler conditions
11:11because it's obviously normally splashing through some water.
11:13And Russell's stalled out.
11:14And Russell pits.
11:15Yeah, Russell into the pits.
11:17Retire the car.
11:19What has happened to George Russell?
11:22Ted Kramers, I don't know if you're down in the pits.
11:24George Russell has been told to come in.
11:26I am down in the pits.
11:27And all I can see is the disconsolate mechanics.
11:31George's mechanics from pole position to retirement.
11:34Only the second retirement of the race.
11:37But oh my goodness.
11:38What has happened as George just stops the car
11:41and a hundred thousand shoulders drop.
11:44So he's boxed, boxed.
11:45So we'll retire the car, George.
11:50I'm into that.
11:52I'm going to get information as soon as I can.
11:54What on earth has gone wrong?
11:55Just info, George retired with a suspected water system issue.
12:00Not really much Lewis can do.
12:02But about that,
12:03that's just kind of mechanical thing that happens from time to time.
12:06Kevin Magnussen's camera can't see much.
12:08I assume he can see more.
12:10He's sticking to the track at the moment.
12:14I tell you what, not only did he see that,
12:17he felt that as well.
12:18That's a good save from K-Mag.
12:20Slippery out there.
12:23Sheer terror makes you get that one back.
12:25Yeah.
12:26Thirty-eight, but we're getting very close.
12:29Massive, massive slide from Lando Norris heading in to the pit straight.
12:35You'd go medium, wouldn't you, from here?
12:36If you had a decent set of mediums there.
12:38He collected the kerb on the inside.
12:40That's what upset the car.
12:42There we go.
12:43And, yeah, he just takes that bit of kerb there.
12:48Looses off the rear axle.
12:50McLaren are going to respond as well.
12:53Do they dare go Lando first of all?
12:55Or is it going to be Oscar first of all?
12:56Lando's gone round.
12:57What about Oscar?
12:58Lewis is coming in.
12:59Ted, Lewis Hamilton is now pitting.
13:02Max Verstappen is pitting.
13:04And Hamilton might have had to just wait for the Sauber to get past.
13:08It might have lost half a second stationary time.
13:11Half compound tyres going on to Max Verstappen's Red Bulls.
13:16We need to box.
13:17The soft is better now.
13:18They need slick tyres.
13:19Okay, so we can choose a medium to cover people like Verstappen,
13:22or we choose a soft to cover people like Hamilton.
13:27Well, there's the debate.
13:28It'll be the medium, I would have thought.
13:30Hamilton making his way round Stowe,
13:32as Lando Norris now stops.
13:35They're soft.
13:36It's soft tyres that are going on.
13:38Goes a little bit longer in the box there.
13:40That's going to slow him down.
13:41Hamilton is coming round Club Corner now,
13:43as Norris makes his way out on the slick tyres.
13:46Hamilton down the main straight.
13:48That's the Lewis Hamilton straight.
13:50Lando Norris comes out onto the racetrack.
13:52Lewis Hamilton is in the lead of the British Grand Prix.
13:56And a young pretender on his tail.
13:58Who's going to win out with this one?
14:00There we go.
14:01He skidded. He skidded on the concrete as well.
14:05But he had to sort of duck around the Ferrari mechanic.
14:08And that might have cost him the British Grand Prix,
14:12but there's time to go yet.
14:13And that's on the inside, Lando Norris.
14:15And when he looked to the left, there was nobody there,
14:18because Lewis Hamilton was ahead.
14:20And back out into the lead once again.
14:23So Norris at the same time.
14:25I'll leave you to it, mate.
14:26Through these great S's.
14:29Meanwhile, onto the hangar straight.
14:31Lewis Hamilton with that dry line now.
14:33We see signs of damage on the front left for the cars ahead.
14:37And are those soft tyres starting to degrade a little bit?
14:40Because that's the other conundrum.
14:42How long do these soft tyres last at the start of the race?
14:45Didn't last very long at all.
14:46Here's Lando Norris to really defend that second place hard.
14:49We saw a move earlier in the race.
14:51Lando Norris on Max Verstappen at the end of the hangar straight.
14:55And Interstow, are we going to get a roll reversal here?
14:58Verstappen's gaining. Verstappen's gaining.
14:59Norris wants him to go round the outside.
15:01Verstappen goes round the outside.
15:03He couldn't defend against Max Verstappen.
15:05Norris has to concede second place.
15:08Verstappen moves up.
15:10And he is now 3.3 seconds behind your race leader, Lewis Hamilton.
15:14We're going to see it now.
15:16And he got the perfect launch, did Max Verstappen.
15:19Out of chapel.
15:20Picked up the slipstream.
15:21Had 17 kilometres an hour extra pace advantage.
15:24Lando did the right thing.
15:25Moved once and over towards the inside
15:27to try and force Max round the outside.
15:29And the Red Bull had too much pace
15:31for that to be anything other than a formality
15:34for the man who's led the World Championship
15:36for the last 50 consecutive races.
15:38Third round of applause.
15:40He is ready to kickstart the celebrations.
15:43Eight times we've said it before.
15:45Here's a ninth for you.
15:47Lewis Hamilton wins the British Grand Prix.
15:50What a victory. Hamilton is back.
15:53Superb. What a superb drive.
15:56Such difficult conditions.
15:58Kept it all pointing in the right direction.
16:00Lost out here. Gained there.
16:02But when it mattered, he crossed the line first.
16:07The celebrations in the grandstands.
16:11And the celebrations in the Mercedes garage.
16:14The drivers will hear that.
16:16It's been a wretched, wretched week
16:18for the fans in terms of the weather.
16:20But the sun comes out after 52 laps.
16:23And they can celebrate in the sunshine.
16:25And it's a home win. It's another win for Lewis.
16:28And it's the first driver ever to pass 300 Grand Prix
16:32and take a victory in what is his 344th Formula 1 Grand Prix.
16:39Verstappen on the scene to be the first to congratulate him.
16:42I'm sure Lando Norris is doing exactly the same.
16:44He played his part too in a terrific race.
16:47Yeah, and science did get fast as well.
16:50Get in there, Lewis!
16:52You're the man! You're the man!
16:56Oh, mate, I have been waiting for this.
16:59Jeez.
17:03Thank you so much, guys.
17:05It means a lot. It means a lot to get this one.
17:08A big thank you to all the fans here.
17:09Love you guys.
17:12Yes, mate.
17:12We will prevail. We never give up.
17:14And what a sign off for our joint trajectory
17:18here on the British Grand Prix.
17:20We couldn't wish for anything better.
17:23Seven days ago, you said we will win a race with Lewis this year.
17:29How did you know?
17:31Well, I kind of felt that it would come like a fairytale here in Silverstone.
17:37British Grand Prix, the last one, Mercedes and Lewis. Fantastic.
17:42In those kind of conditions and with George out of the race,
17:45would you have betted on anybody else?
17:47How close, how fearful were you of Verstappen,
17:49potentially on the right tyre, closing down?
17:52Well, he was closing down for a while pretty quickly.
17:56And there was no reason in between.
17:59So that was advantageous.
18:03Very good. We'll speak to you later.
18:05Well done, Toto.
18:07It means a lot to us all.
18:09I love you, Toto.
18:49I love you, Toto.