Lewis Hamilton broke his long win drought in Formula 1 by winning the British Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
The Mercedes driver won the race by 1.4 seconds after a late charge from Verstappen on hard tyres, while Hamilton was on used soft tyres.
Norris led for most of the way until the last 15 laps when teams had to make a tricky call to move from intermediate tyres to slicks, after a brief and intense shower hit the circuit, and were losing too much time on the worn tyres.
McLaren stayed out a lap longer than Hamilton, enabling the Mercedes driver to effectively undercut his compatriot as Norris lost time on his worn intermediates. Speaking in the cooldown room after the race, Hamilton pointed out the critical mistake made by Norris.
Lewis Hamilton points out Lando Norris mistake in British GP
Norris found himself two seconds behind Hamilton after his pit stop, after overshooting his pit box by a few meters on the worn tyres.
This forced his mechanics to rearrange their positions when he was in the pit box, haemorrhaging more time to Hamilton.
The Mercedes driver pointed out his mistake in staying out a lap longer on the worn intermediates in the aftermath of the race.
Hamilton: “You stayed out one lap too long!” to which Norris simply replied: “Tell me about it!”
McLaren and Lando Norris strategic errors cost British GP victory
Norris was understandably downbeat after the race, acknowledging that his error in the pits and tyre strategy at the end cost him the victory to Hamilton.
McLaren had a quicker car than the Mercedes having led for most of it when the tricky changing conditions hit halfway into the race.
The switch to used soft tyres at the end ultimately cost him a chance at overtaking Hamilton and second place to Verstappen, who was charging to the front on a set of hard tyres.
Both Hamilton and Norris had to manage the front left tyre wear in the closing stages, having taken too much out of it while pushing each other for the victory.
If McLaren had fitted the medium tyre in his last stop, this would have been less of an issue as they had a new set available for Norris.
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