Lewis Hamilton: Still He Rises
Yesterday, Lewis Hamilton won the 2024 British Grand Prix. It was win number 104 for the F1 veteran, and a rather special one, as it came at his last home grand prix with Mercedes.
The lowest of the lowsHamilton has just come out of a very difficult period in his racing career. Before the 2024 British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton’s last win was at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. That win allowed Hamilton to keep himself in contention for the 2021 title fight. At the following race, which was the season finale, Hamilton and Max Verstappen were neck and neck on points.
There, in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton drove phenomenally, building a 12-second gap between him and the Dutchman by the final stint of the race. On lap 53 of 58 though, everything would change. A crash led to very controversial decisions from the race director Michael Masi. This allowed Max Verstappen to be crowned champion by the end of the race. The questionable manner in which Verstappen won the race was later named as a result of ‘human error’ by the FIA.
Lewis Hamilton on wether todays win is helping getting over AD21:
“When I came back in 2022 I thought I was over it but I know I wasn’t. It’s taken a long time to heal. I’ve just been continuing to work on myself to find that inner peace day by day.” pic.twitter.com/47NvgQcHhB
— Stefanie (@fastpitstop) July 7, 2024
Abu Dhabi 2021 was arguably Lewis Hamilton’s lowest moment ever in his entire career. He had lost the chance of winning a record-breaking 8th World Drivers’ Championship title in the stewards’ room, rather than on the track, at no fault of his own.
Revenge or downfall?Ahead of the 2022 season, there were doubts over Hamilton’s future in F1. There were reports claiming that Hamilton would retire from the sport, refusing to continue after the heartbreak of 2021. However, the Brit eventually confirmed his continued commitment to the sport he loves.
2022 was then looked at as the year Lewis Hamilton would take ‘revenge’. However, it would be a gamble. 2022 was the start of a new era for Formula 1. It was the start of the new regulations, the ground effect era for the sport. Red Bull were expected to thrive in the new era, as the regulations were popular amongst the Milton Keynes team, and were strongly linked to the nature of Adrian Newey’s engineering style.
As for Mercedes, many were questioning whether they would get the new regulations right, as they had back in 2014. And when Mercedes launched their car, it was a jaw-dropping revelation. The W13 was not like any other car on the grid, as it had no sidepods.
Embed from Getty Images
The 2022 regulations saw an exaggeration of the sidepods of an F1 car, and therefore, Mercedes’ zeropod concept was hard to ignore. It was either they had found the perfect loophole in the regulations that would have them a cut above the rest, or they had got it completely wrong.
Unfortunately for Mercedes and Hamilton as well as his new teammate George Russell, it was the latter. Podiums came with a stroke of luck, whilst Russell’s Brazil 2022 win came on the one weekend Red Bull struggled for pace.
It took Mercedes until Monaco 2023 to dump the zeropod concept, which felt like a ‘too little too late’ situation. Whilst the zeropod concept was not the main reason Mercedes have massively struggled since the start of 2022, the decision to carry on with it for so long did contribute to the Silver Arrows’ antagonising slow progress.
The only P1 Lewis Hamilton has claimed since the introduction of the 2022 regulations was when he earned pole position at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix. Still then, the Mercedes did not have the pace to grab the win too. Oftentimes since 2022, Hamilton has either had a lack of pace or has had poor strategy inhibit him from podiums and near victories.
A special drive, in a special place, from a special manDuring qualifying for the 2024 British Grand Prix, Mercedes were in the running for pole. Mercedes have finally started making headway on the grid since Canada, where Russell claimed pole position. It was a Mercedes 1-2 this past Saturday at Silverstone. Russell was P1, and Hamilton in P2, a little over a tenth of a second between the two.
Embed from Getty Images
At the race start on Sunday, both Mercedes drivers had a great start, with Hamilton sticking close behind his teammate. However, Hamilton was faster and eventually overtook Russell for the lead of the race on lap 18. With parts of the track wet as light showers had begun, both went off track, but Hamilton maintained P1. Russell however lost P2 to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Both McLaren and Mercedes were thriving in the cooler conditions, especially in comparison to Red Bull. At that point in the race, it looked to be a 4-way fight for the win with the Mercedes and McLaren drivers. On lap 20, Hamilton lost the lead to Norris, whilst Piastri went on to overtake both Mercedes drivers.
As the rain continued and more parts of the track got wet, Red Bull were the first out front to react. They called Verstappen into the pits for Intermediate tyres. Lando Norris as well as the two Mercedes then went into the pits for Intermediate tyres as well.
By the end of lap 29, Norris, Hamilton, Verstappen and Rrussell were chasing each other in that order. However, Verstappen was the slower of the top six. At that moment, Peter Bonnington, ‘Bono’ said words that mirrored words he hadn’t said in a long while. On the team radio, Bono told Hamilton “this is our time.”
Mercedes were hoping for a double podium on Sunday. Unfortunately, they had to retire Russell’s car at the end of lap 33 due to a water system issue. All of Mercedes’ hope was now all on Lewis Hamilton.
Embed from Getty Images
Towards the end of the race, the track had mostly dried up, with drivers switching to the dry-weather tyres. At the end of lap 38, the 7-time World Champion pitted for Softs, whilst Verstappen pitted for Hards. McLaren made the gamble to keep Norris out for another lap. When he did come in, he also opted for the Softs after a rather long discussion with his team. As Lando Norris left the pits on lap 40, he came out just behind Lewis Hamilton. A consequence of the decision to stay out a lap longer. The Soft tyres also turned out not to be the best trye choice for the McLaren driver. Another consequence of their pit strategy on Sunday.
The pressure was now on Hamilton to maintain the lead for the remainder of the race, with Norris and Verstappen hot on his tails. On lap 48, Norris was overtaken by Verstappen whose Red Bull had come alive on the Hard compound tyres. With 4 laps to go, Verstappen was faster than Hamilton and was closing the gap.
However, Verstappen was not fast enough to beat the man who reigned supreme at Silverstone that day.
Record breaker945 days after his last victory, Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag ahead of the rest. And ahead of the rest, he is in the records too. After winning the 2024 British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton broke not only F1’s and Michael Schumacher’s records but his own too.
pic.twitter.com/4HHVMpUjOd
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) July 7, 2024
Lewis Hamilton broke his own record for most podiums and most wins now at 199 and 104 respectively. Michael Schumacher previously held the record for most wins at one track (8), a record now beaten by Hamilton who has won 9 times at the Silverstone Circuit.
Not only that, Lewis Hamilton is now the first driver to win a race after 300 race starts.
17 years since his first victory, Lewis Hamilton has shown the world of sports that he’s still got it. He never left. While many would have hung their heads down after a disappointing end to the 2021 season, Hamilton handled it with grace, kept his head up and kept fighting his way back to the top. A driver who can dominate in all conditions, he won a wet-dry race at his home race in a manner that showed his sheer determination, speed, natural talent and hunger for victory 17 years into his F1 career. Still he rises.
