© Getty ImagesMax finishes fifth in chaotic, rain-hit British GPRead the full race report and driver reactions.
Maxmadeitthroughtorrentialrainandrecoveredfromamid-racespinafterasafetycarrestarttotakefifthplaceattheendofachaotic,incident-packedBritishGrandPrixwonbyLandoNorris.YukiTsunoda,meanwhile,struggledthroughandhefinishedin15thplaceattheflag.
With heavy rain falling ahead of the race, the start looked like taking place on a wet track. But in the hour leading up to lights out, the sun came out and conditions began to rapidly improve. That led to a gaggle of cars, including Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell, pitting at the end of the formation lap to fit slick tyres. However, on the grid, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri radioed through to tell his team it was too wet in the final sector for that compound. And it proved to be.
When the lights went out at the start, Max made a good getaway from Pole and after shrugging off a brief challenge from Oscar, the Dutchman surged into a strong lead as they swept through Abbey. Behind the top two, Lando held third ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Pierre Gasly powering through the empty grid to take P5.
Lights Out, Mist In© Getty Images
Further back, there was contact between Haas’ Esteban Ocon and VCARB’s Liam Lawson, and the New Zealander was bounced off track and out of the race. The VSC was deployed, and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli also chose to make the move to slick tyres.
When the caution ended, Max held the lead, but another incident was unfolding further back as Stake’s Gabriel Bortoleto crashed. The Brazilian was able to get going again but he couldn’t limp his car back to the pits and, with recovery required, the VSC was deployed for a second time.
The VSC came to an end on lap 7 and Max again held his lead ahead of Oscar. The McLaren driver was putting the Dutchman under heavy pressure, however, and on lap 8, with the aid of DRS, the Australian was able to power past on the Hangar Straight to steal the lead.
In The Mist© Getty Images
The rain then began to fall again, and Max complained that he had “really bad inters”. At the end of lap 11 the Red Bull driver slid off track at Chapel and Lando swept past. Ahead, Oscar pitted and followed closely by Lando and Max. McLaren took the decision to stack their drivers, and with Norris having a slow stop, Max was able to reclaim second place.
Oscar now led Max by a massive 12 seconds, with Lando just half a second behind the Red Bull. Lance Stroll, who had started 17th and put in a brief, massively advantageous stint on softs, rose to fourth ahead of Stake’s Nico Hülkenberg who started in 19th. However, with the conditions rapidly deteriorating, the safety car was sent out on lap 14 and what was an almost undriveable race was neutralised.
A Rainy Day© Getty Images
The safety car left the track at the end of lap 17 and Oscar controlled the restart well to hold his lead ahead of Max and Lando. Behind them, Lance and Nico maintained position but behind him George and Lewis tussled for P8 with the Ferrari driver eventually coming out on top.
The safety car was almost immediately out again after VCARB’s Isack Hadjar ran into the back of Kimi on the way up to Copse due to a severe lack of visibility. Remarkably, the Italian was able to carry on, despite being deprived of a rear diffuser, but Isack pirouetted off track and into the barriers, retiring him from the race.
Just ahead of the safety car leaving the track, Oscar suddenly braked hard, and Max couldn’t stop in time. He shot past the McLaren before braking to let the race leader past, but the incident was quickly placed under investigation and Oscar was later handed a 10-second time penalty.
The safety car peeled off track at the end of lap 22 and as Max chased after Oscar, he ran out of grip in Stowe and spun off track. He rejoined in P9 and slipped to P10 as he was passed by Williams’ Carlos Sainz.
At half distance, Oscar led his team-mate by 3.6s and somewhat remarkably, Lance was now up to third place ahead of Nico and Pierre. Behind them, Lewis got past George to take P6. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso sat in P8 ahead of Sainz and Max was in 10th place and hungry to claw back places despite the tough conditions.
At the back of the field, in P15, Yuki was struggling in the conditions and after colliding with Haas’ Ollie Bearman during the safety car restart, the Japanese driver was handed a 10-second time penalty.
On lap 35, Lance’s time in the podium positions came to an end as Nico closed in. On the run to Stowe the Stake driver swept past to take P3, while Lewis also muscled his way past to demote the Canadian to fifth.
Further back, despite his struggles for grip with his low-downforce rear wing, Max was making gains and on the same lap he made his way past Carlos to take ninth place.
With the sun now shining and track conditions looking like they were ready for slicks, Fernando was the first to blink. On lap 38 he pitted from seventh for a set of slick medium tyres, followed by George, who took on a set of hard compound C2 Pirellis. The two stops boosted Max to seventh and as Fernando struggled for grip and George spun off and rejoined, the Dutchman looked to have solidly inherited two positions.
With the conditions now improving, Max surged up to the back of Pierre’s Alpine, ambushing the Frenchman and subsequently rose to sixth. Immediately afterwards, as Lewis pitted for slicks, the Team brought Max in to make the switch, and the Champion rejoined in ninth. But as others pitted, he soon rose back to sixth behind Lance.
Oscar then pitted from lead on lap 44 and after serving his penalty and fitting mediums, he rejoined in P2, ahead of Nico who was now also on medium tyres. Lando headed in at the end of the following lap and with medium tyres on board, the Briton headed out and into the lead.
And with the lead in his grasp Lando didn’t let go. Finding more confidence over the final handful of laps, he stretched the gap to Oscar to 6.8 seconds at the flag. Behind the McLaren pair, Nico took his first ever podium in his 239th race start, with Lewis in fourth place.
After eight laps of relentless pursuit, Max closed right up to Lance and when the Canadian made a slight error, the Champion swept past to take fifth place. Pierre also made his way past Lance on the final lap to take P6. The Aston Martin driver managed to cross the line in seventh, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon, Fernando and George. Yuki, meanwhile, crossed the line in 15th.
