A 39-year-old Lewis Hamilton has created history at the British GP. The F1 world has witnessed the legendary words of “Get in there Lewis” from the Mercedes driver’s race engineer after over 2 years. “You’re the man! You’re the man! Geez!” exclaimed Bono as Hamilton crossed the chequered flag at Silverstone after 3 years, with tears rolling down his face. The 7-time champion won his 104th F1 race, taking his 9th victory on home soil and breaking Michael Schumacher’s record.
With Red Bull’s RB20 struggling at Silverstone and McLaren botching up their race strategies, Hamilton struck gold. He extracted the maximum from his W15 under pressure and got 25 points home for Mercedes after George Russell’s DNF. “Thank you guys. It means a lot to get this one,” he said on the team radio with his voice trembling. “A big thank you to the fans here,” he added, as Team Principal Toto Wolff joined in on the radio.
“We will prevail,” the Mercedes boss affirmed after his champion overcame Lando Norris and Max Verstappen‘s threat. “We never give up and what a sign of our driving trajectory here at the British GP.” Soon after, a marshall handed a UK flag to Hamilton which he waved during his victory lap. With this victory under changing weather conditions, Hamilton created a new record for most races won by a driver at a single circuit – 9. Previously, he was level with Michael Schumacher, who won 8 races at the Magny-Cours circuit that held the French GP.
The Mercedes driver also has 8 wins at the Hungaroring, which is another unique achievement. After the race, Hamilton couldn’t control his emotions as he held a long embrace with his father, Anthony, and then one with his mother, Carmen Larbalestier. The seemingly endless wait after his 2021 Saudi Arabian GP victory finally ended.
Lewis Hamilton dedicates his 9th British GP victory to Mercedes
Mercedes was at the bottom of the barrel for over two years after Hamilton’s bitter 2021 championship loss. Tall promises for progress were made, but nothing materialized, pushing their 7-time champion to consider a move to Ferrari. Though Hamilton affirmed that he would’ve still headed to Ferrari even if today’s quicker Mercedes was present earlier, Toto Wolff’s promise of a beautiful farewell is hitting the mark.
“Since 2021, I’ve been getting up every day to fight, to train, to put my mind to the task and work as hard as I can with this amazing team,” Hamilton told F1TV post-race, with the Great Britain flag wrapped around his shoulders. “This is my last race here at the British GP with this team. So, I wanted to win this so much for them because I love them. I appreciate them so much. All the hard work they’ve been putting in all these years, I’m forever grateful to everyone in Mercedes,” he added, selflessly crediting the entire team for his success.
Hamilton and Mercedes are finally getting the fairytale ending they would’ve wanted. The only major record that stands in front of the 7-time champion is changing this synonym of his name to F1’s only 8-time champion. Though Ferrari, the team he deemed fit would help him do so is backtracking in performance, no one can predict what the future holds. But today belongs to Sir Lewis Hamilton.
