Lando Norris emerged as the winner of the chaotic 2025 British GP at Silverstone with teammate Oscar Piastri taking P2, and Sauber‘s Nico Hulkenberg getting his first ever podium in Formula 1 having started in P19.
It was a race packed full of safety cars and incidents with the weather making things incredibly difficult for the teams and drivers, but ultimately a 10-second time penalty for Piastri for a safety-car infringement proved to be the key moment when it came to the race victory.
It was clear from well before the race that weather would be a major factor at the Silverstone, with the early part of the day seeing heavy rain in southern England. By the time the race got underway, the rain had stopped and the track was drying. The forecasts showed that a fresh band of rain was expected after roughly 15 laps, so teams were somewhat in the dark in regard to strategy.
The entire grid started the race on the intermediate tyre, with the formation lap surprisingly taking place behind the safety car. That formation lap showed just how dry the track seemed to be, meaning some decisions needed to be taken. George Russell was told to get ready to box before the race had even begun, although the final sector was wet. Russell, Charles Leclerc, Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar and Oliver Bearman opted to pit and start from the pit lane.
Liam Lawson was the first casualty as the opening lap saw him hit the barrier and after some confusion as to whether he could keep going, a virtual safety car was thrown and Lawson was out of the race. Replays showed that Lawson connected with Esteban Ocon and was spun out. In amongst all of this, Alpine‘s Franco Colapinto retired from the race.
“It is beautiful. Apart from a Championship, this is as good as it gets in terms of feelings. Incredible race, stressful as always but the support from the fans made the difference so I have to thank them,” Norris said after winning the 2025 British GP.
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“The main thing is don’t f**k it up, that is rule number one. It might never happen again, hope it does, but these are memories I’ll have forever. As far as being a stressful race, it’s as stressful as it gets. A round of applause for Oscar as he put in a good race, he was fast. Credit to him and of course McLaren, to win at home is pretty amazing.”
Chaos at Silverstone
Kimi Antonelli took the VSC as an opportunity to put slicks on and then as soon as the VSC ended, Bortoleto entered the gravel at Turn 2. As safety car of some sort seemed inevitable, but the Brazilian managed to get his Sauber going again. That was too good to be true, though, as he had to stop the car due to the damage on his way back to the pits and another VSC was called. It came just in time for Verstappen who was sliding all over the race track and had Piastri right on his tale.
Once that VSC ended, it took just under two laps for Piastri to get past and into the lead, aided by DRS being enabled. At exactly the same time, Russell told his pit wall that the rain had started. Leclerc and Antonelli were in a superb fight on the slicks and after the Ferrari got the move done, Antonelli dived into the pits for another set of intermediates.
The DRS was disabled again on Lap 11 and all cars on slicks were straight into the pits. The interesting element was that the cars who stayed on inters from the start began to struggle as the largely dry running previously had chewed them up. That was evidenced as Verstappen went off the track at Chapel when under pressure from Norris. They both headed into the pits for new inters, with Norris in P2 and Verstappen down to P3, but a slow stop for Norris let Verstappen back through in the pits.
One driver who did very well out of the situation was Lance Stroll. Aston Martin opted to put him on the soft tyre at around Lap 7 and it meant he was able to run quicker than most for a short period of time, and then got onto the inters at the right moment. By Lap 13, he was on fresh inters and sitting in P4, with Hulkenberg, Gasly and Ocon behind him.
The rain got rapidly more intense and a safety car was thrown, with visibility almost non-existent. That safety car ran until it came in on Lap 17, with rain still falling but very much at an intermediate level rather than a wet-tyre level.
Almost a whole lap of racing took place before Hadjar had a big crash at Copse and quickly confirmed that he’s okay. The damage to the Racing Bull was extensive and the car ended up tucked into a corner where two barriers meet. Replays showed that Hadjar had ploughed into the back of Antonelli at the entry to Copse with visibility so poor, and it was a surprise that Antonelli kept his car on the track. He soon retired due to the extensive floor damage, becoming the fifth casualty of the day.
Safety car restart shakes up the order
By Lap 21 the safety car came in and as Piastri sped away in the final sector, Verstappen spun and dropped from P2 to P10. Just before that, Piastri had slowed when the safety car headed into the pits and Verstappen actually went past him. Piastri was noted for that and the replays did not look favourable, whilst Bearman than had an adventure onto the grass but kept his car going. Incidentally, Verstappen falling down the order put Stroll into a podium place.
Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty for a safety car infringement whilst he was three seconds ahead of Norris, so his task became very clear. The two McLaren‘s were so much quicker than the cars behind them in this phase of the race, with Stroll in P3 soon 13 seconds off the lead. The penalty did mean that McLaren were now not able to double-stack in the pits as Piastri would be first in and the pit crew could not touch the car for 10 seconds. Tsunoda was then also handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision, as it was the Red Bull driver who caused Bearman to spin onto the grass previously.
Something that nobody expected to develop was a battle for P3 between Stroll and Hulkenberg, but that is exactly what was happening by Lap 33. The German got past at the end of Lap 35, and that move put Hamilton right on the tale of Stroll. The Ferrari made it into P4 quickly and then he was chasing Hulkenberg who was yet to secure a podium in his long F1 career.
With around 15 laps to go, Norris was just over two seconds behind Piastri so it was clear that barring a disaster for Norris, he would be winning the grand prix. Alonso was the first car to make the call and move onto the slick tyres on Lap 38, having complained to the team about Stroll getting that chance earlier in the race.
Russell soon boxed from P7 for the hard tyre and he emerged in P13, waiting for the race to come to him. There was immediate evidence that he boxed too soon as he had a severe spin into Chapel and was very fortunate that his race didn’t come to an end. Needless to say, Alonso was also struggling on his mediums.
Having gotten stuck behind Hulkenberg, Hamilton pitted from P4 on Lap 42 for soft tyres which seemed like a major risk, but he was followed in by a host of cars. Hamilton immediately went off track when coming out of the pits and was passed by Leclerc who stayed on the inters, but only for one lap more. Hulkenberg pitted one lap later than Hamilton and it was a slow stop, but he still emerged back in P3.
Whilst Piastri pitted and served his penalty, the two Haas‘s came to blows and both had a spin with some bodywork flying into the air. Norris then pitted a lap later than Piastri and emerged as the leader of the race and a five second lead over his teammate.
Norris was able to grow that gap slightly and hold onto the victory, whilst Hulkenberg had no trouble holding Hamilton off and secured that special first podium after more than 200 races in the sport. Verstappen recovered to P5 after his spin, with the top 10 being completed by Stroll, Gasly, Alonso, Albon and Russell.
