Triple-header Rewind: the Highs and Lows
The last three weekend have delivered an incredible triple-header. Three different Grand Prix winners. No end of news and stories. Some memorable battles.
We started in Spain…
Barcelona delivered some great racing, culminating in another Verstappen win. But all was not lost for the fans – Lando Norris was just 2 seconds behind when the checkered flag was waving. The closeness of the two leaders, with Hamilton in 3rd, reignited hope for fans that battles would be coming. After the incredible Red Bull domination at Bahrain, this was a sign for everyone that the front of the field was becoming much tighter, with margins becoming increasingly negligible.
The question after Spain’s result was whether Max truly won, or whether Lando lost. The Red Bull was not outpacing the McLaren. The reality was that with a few extra laps, the outcome would likely have been inverted. McLaren fans surely hoped that this would be indication of another win soon to come – this has not materialised yet. The wins are now taken by margins, and so far, the Woking team have not found themselves quite in the right place.
The other major headline from Spain was the Ferrari infighting. Leclerc and Sainz were racing wheel-to-wheel, and this led to contact between the pair. In post-race media duties, the tensions were clear, with the Monegasque saying that the Spaniard touching him was because he wanted to impress at his home race given the moment in his career. This is, of course, referring to the fact that Carlos Sainz remains without a contract for next year. The press and social media have no doubt taken this slightly out of proportion – one cannot truly expect completely neutral reactions from drivers after an incident like this.
Coming next up was Austria.
The iconic Red Bull Ring was host to a sprint weekend. The sprint did not really contribute anything of note. A VER-NOR-PIA qualifying top-3 ended in a VER-PIA-NOR podium. A fairly enjoyable watch but nothing spectacular.
The more interesting events came in Sunday’s GP. The top three qualifiers were Verstappen, Norris, and Russell. The big shock of qualifying was Leclerc’s Q2 exit landing him in P11 for the race start. The Ferrari driver’s points ambitions were soon crushed when contact with Piastri into turn 1 meant he had to pit early. His race was ultimately unsalvageable from that point on.
By contrast, some outstanding performances came from the Haas duo. The pair finished P6 and P8, bringing home a nice bag of points.
The headline was the collision between race leaders Verstappen and Norris. Coming into a turn, Norris was attempting to move past the Dutchman, who moved across to close the door. In doing so, the McLaren ran out of room and the two touched. Both got damage and while the Red Bull could carry on, the Brit was forced to retire. This chaos near the end of the race gifted viewers a surprise win by George Russell. This was Mercedes’ first win since 2022. A memorable finish to say the least. While Russell did not have the pace to win on strength alone, effective strategy calls and a good stroke of luck changed everything and delivered his second ever win.
The latest race was the British GP at Silverstone. What a race.
There is surely no need for introductions for this race – the story writes itself. After 945 days, Lewis Hamilton finally won a Grand Prix. This ended the longest winless streak of his career – nearly two and a half years. It was an emotional win, culminating in him crying in his father’s arms and celebrating with fans.
This was most certainly not a comeback. He never left.
The king of Silverstone was rightfully back on the top step. After mixed weather conditions, Hamilton proved once again why he is one of the greatest of all time. His forceful ‘nope’ to Bono’s suggestion to box for inters, followed by changing tyres at all the right moments to maximise the effectiveness of these strategy calls, proved (if it still needed proving) that this driver is an all-time legend. He has broken records again – most wins (104), most wins at one track (9), and the first driver to have won after his 300th race.
This also marked the end of the Nico Rosberg curse it seems!
For much of the race it looked like his teammate might be headed for that top step, but he was then forced to retire due to mechanical failure. The McLarens also could have had better finishes but poor strategy decisions limited their potential. First was the decision not to pit Oscar Piastri at the same time as Lando Norris – leaving him out for longer ultimately meant he was undercut by the others and lost his race position in the long run. Nearer the end of the race, Norris was put on soft tyres despite having a new set of mediums that he could have used. The medium tyres might have improved his chances of outpacing Max Verstappen and even catching up to the Mercedes ahead of him. Alas, it seemed to be another example of McLaren’s strategy failing them under pressure. Ferrari also gave us another example of a poor strategy call in pitting Leclerc for inters far too early, essentially cutting him out of any chance of points.
Further impressive performances from the Haas drivers brought home even more points. A rather unexpected statistic is that Hulkenberg has now scored more points in the last 2 races (16) than Perez in the last 6 (15). No doubt this should bring applause for Hulkenberg and calls into question Perez’s recent drives. Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have been speaking to the press recently with the general message being that his seat is not secure despite the contract extension.
Nonetheless, the part of this weekend that we will all remember for years to come is finally witnessing another Lewis Hamilton win. A sign of brighter things to come? We will have to wait and see.
