2024 British Grand Prix

2024 British Grand Prix
2024 British Grand Prix
Race 12 of 24 in the 2024 Formula One World Championship
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	Layout of the Silverstone Circuit
Race details
Date	7 July 2024
Official name	Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2024
Location	Silverstone Circuit; Silverstone, United Kingdom
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.891 km (3.660 miles)
Distance	52 laps, 306.198 km (190.263 miles)
Weather	Intermittent rain
Attendance	480,000
Pole position
Driver	George Russell;
Time	1:25.819
Fastest lap
Driver	Carlos Sainz Jr.
Time	1:28.293 on lap 52
Podium
First	Lewis Hamilton;
Second	Max Verstappen;
Third	Lando Norris;
	Lap leaders ;

The 2024 British Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2024) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 7 July 2024 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. It was the twelfth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship.

George Russell of Mercedes took pole position, but abruptly retired mid-race due to a water leak in his car. Teammate Lewis Hamilton won the race for what was his first win since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix more than two seasons prior, ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and Lando Norris of McLaren. The win was Hamilton's 104th career victory and his record ninth British Grand Prix victory.

Background

The event was held at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire for the 59th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 5–7 July.^[2] The Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 2024 Formula One World Championship and the 75th running of the British Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship.^[3]

Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 237 points, 81 points ahead of Lando Norris in second, and 87 ahead of Charles Leclerc in third. Red Bull Racing, with 355 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 291 and 268 points, respectively.^[4]

Entrants

Bearman, Colapinto, Doohan and Hadjar drove in the first free practice session in place of regular drivers.

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.^[5] In the first free practice session, Oliver Bearman stood in for Kevin Magnussen for Haas, Franco Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams, Jack Doohan drove instead of Pierre Gasly for Alpine and Isack Hadjar was in for Red Bull Racing in place of Sergio Pérez. Colapinto made his Formula One practice debut.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (the three hardest in their range) designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively, for teams to use at the event.^[10]

Practice

Three free practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 5 July 2024, at 12:30 local time (UTC+1), and was topped by Lando Norris of McLaren ahead of Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and Norris's teammate Oscar Piastri. The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 16:00 local time, and was topped by Norris ahead of Piastri and Sergio Pérez of Red Bull Racing. The third free practice session was held on 6 July 2024, at 11:30 local time, and was topped by George Russell of Mercedes ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Norris.^[11]

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 6 July 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+1).^[11]

Qualifying classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Qualifying times			Final grid
Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Final grid
1	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:30.106	1:26.723	1:25.819	1
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:29.547	1:26.770	1:25.990	2
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1:31.596	1:26.559	1:26.030	3
4	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:31.342	1:26.796	1:26.203	4
5	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	1:30.895	1:26.733	1:26.237	5
6	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	1:31.929	1:26.847	1:26.338	6
7	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:30.557	1:26.843	1:26.509	7
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:31.410	1:26.938	1:26.585	8
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1:31.135	1:26.933	1:26.640	9
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	1:31.264	1:26.730	1:26.917	10
11	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:30.496	1:27.097	N/A	11
12	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	1:31.608	1:27.175	N/A	12
13	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	1:30.994	1:27.269	N/A	13
14	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:31.190	1:27.867	N/A	14
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	1:31.291	1:27.949	N/A	15
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	1:32.431	N/A	N/A	16
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1:32.905	N/A	N/A	17
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1:34.557	N/A	N/A	18
19	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	1:38.348	N/A	N/A	PL¹
20	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	1:39.804	N/A	N/A	19²
107% time: 1:35.815³
Source:^[12]^[13]

Notes

^1 – Sergio Pérez qualified 19th, but was required to start the race from the pit lane for replacing power unit elements without the approval of the technical delegate during parc fermé.^[13]
^2 – Pierre Gasly was required to start the race from the back of the grid for exceeding his quota of power unit elements. He gained a position as Sergio Pérez started the race from the pit lane.^[13]
^3 – As qualifying was held on a wet track, the 107% rule was not in force.^[14]

Race

Race report

The race was held on 7 July 2024, at 15:00 local time (UTC+1), and was run for 52 laps.^[11] At the race start, Russell kept his spot at the front, while Verstappen jumped to third ahead of Norris. Norris would eventually get back in front of Verstappen on lap 15 and started chasing after the two Mercedes, with teammate Oscar Piastri following suit two laps later. As the weather slowly transitioned to rain, Hamilton overtook Russell at Stowe corner on lap 18, but both ran off the track at Abbey just a few corners later. Norris took advantage to get past Russell almost immediately after, then got past Hamilton a lap later.

On lap 27, Verstappen pitted for the intermediate tires, being the first runner in the top five to do so. Norris, Hamilton and Russell all pitted for inters as well on lap 28, but Piastri waited a lap more. This resulted in him dropping to sixth when he would eventually switch to inters on lap 29. Five laps later, Russell unexpectedly retired from the race in the pit lane due to an issue with his water pressure. This left Hamilton as the sole Mercedes contender for the win. On lap 39, Hamilton and Verstappen switched from their intermediates to slicks - Hamilton on softs and Verstappen on hards - while Norris waited a lap to switch to the softs. Once Norris came out, he found himself behind Hamilton and ahead of Verstappen. Verstappen passed Norris with five laps left and tried to catch Hamilton, but Hamilton stayed ahead to win from Verstappen and Norris. It was Hamilton's first victory since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Additionally, it was his ninth overall victory at the British Grand Prix, breaking the record for the most wins at a single circuit.^[15]

Post-race debrief

Speaking after the race, Hamilton admitted there have "been some days since 2021 and here where I didn't feel like I was good enough, or whether I was going to get back where I am today."^[16] His father Anthony stated he had "full confidence that, whatever happened, he was going to give his best, and when Lewis gives his best it normally ends up with the win."^[17] Hamilton became the first driver to win a Grand Prix beyond his 300th race start, as all other previous drivers to reach 300 starts - Rubens Barrichello, Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button, Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso - either failed to do so or have yet to do so.

Second-placed finisher Verstappen credited his team Red Bull Racing for making the call to switch him onto the hard tires instead of the soft tires for the final stint, believing he could not have been higher had it been otherwise.^[18] Norris praised Hamilton for his victory but rued the lost opportunity for himself, stating "These tricky conditions are always on a knife-edge, and you’re risking a lot. So many things good, but a few too many letdowns today."^[19] Russell expressed his disappointment in being forced to pull out of the race, believing he "had a shot of at least a podium.”^[20]

Race classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	52	1:22:27.059	2	25
2	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	52	+1.465	4	18
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+7.547	3	15
4	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren-Mercedes	52	+12.429	5	12
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	52	+47.318	7	11¹
6	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas-Ferrari	52	+55.722	6	8
7	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	52	+56.569	8	6
8	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes	52	+1:03.577	10	4
9	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	52	+1:08.387	9	2
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB-Honda RBPT	52	+1:19.303	13	1
11	2	Logan Sargeant	Williams-Mercedes	52	+1:28.960	12
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	52	+1:30.153	17
13	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB-Honda RBPT	51	+1 lap	15
14	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	51	+1 lap	11
15	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	51	+1 lap	16
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	50	+2 laps	18
17	11	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT	50	+2 laps	PL
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber-Ferrari	50	+2 laps	14
Ret	63	George Russell	Mercedes	33	Water leak	1
DNS	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine-Renault	0	Gearbox	—²
Fastest lap: Carlos Sainz Jr. (Ferrari) – 1:28.293 (lap 52)
Source:^[13]^[21]^[22]^[23]