Hamilton closes on British GP wins record

2016 British Grand Prix stats and facts

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Lewis Hamilton’s fourth British Grand Prix victory means he needs just one more to equal the most successful drivers ever at his home race.

Jim Clark and Alain Prost won the British Grand Prix five times, and Prost holds the record for most victories at Silverstone with his five wins at the current home of the race. Clark won three times at Silverstone plus once each at Brands Hatch and Aintree.

One other driver has taken five wins in Britain: Nigel Mansell, who won the British Grand Prix four times after his debut success in the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

Hamilton is only the second driver to win the British Grand Prix for three years running – the other being Clark, who won four in a row from 1962 to 1965. It was the fourth consecutive British Grand Prix win for Mercedes, equalling the record held by Ferrari (1951-54), Lotus (1962-65) and Williams (1991-94).

This was the 24th home victory in the 67 world championship British Grands Prix so far.

Hamilton’s career tallies now advance to 47 wins (four shy of Prost who’s second on the all-time list) and 55 pole positions (ten behind Ayrton Senna who’s second on the all-time list). However his team mate prevented him from taking a hat-trick: Nico Rosberg took the 19th of his career, putting him level with Stirling Moss, Ayrton Senna, Damon Hill and Mark Webber.

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Verstappen has out-scored Rosberg since joining Red Bull
The top five drivers on the grid took the chequered flag in the same order they qualified, but Rosberg’s penalty which dropped him to third spoiled that symmetry.

The track record for the reconfigured Silverstone circuit was broken on Saturday by the previous holder of the record. Hamilton’s 1’29.243 in Q2 bested his 1’29.607 from Q3 three years ago by 0.364s.

Daniel Ricciardo became the last driver this year to be out-qualified by his team mate. He had beaten Daniil Kvyat 4-0 and is now 5-1 up against Max Verstappen.

Verstappen took his third podium finish and second in a row. In the six races since he joined Red Bull he has scored 77 points, more than Raikkonen (63), Ricciardo (64), Vettel (65) and even Rosberg (68). Only Hamilton has scored more points in the last six races, taking 110.

Williams failed to score for the first time since the United States Grand Prix last year. However on that occasion both cars retired – yesterday both finished outside the top ten.

Review the year so far in statistics here:

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the British Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

2016 British Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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75 comments on “Hamilton closes on British GP wins record”

  1. Williams really need to ditch their low drag (and hence at times low downforce) philosophy.

    1. It worked well in 2015 for them, they punched well above their budget weight. But this year with Force India seeming to have overturned them, and with Torro Rosso getting a current engine for next year I think you’re right that it’s time has passed for the low drag philosophy.

      I do however think that their downturn this year could be down to a switch in focus to next year.

    2. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      11th July 2016, 16:07

      I’m not so sure about this because their low down force setup still really suits then on certain tracks.

      I still think they are doing well considering their budget. I feel more that other teams that are improving rather than them getting worse.

      However, their car obviously does seem to get affected during wet races and this is maybe where they need to apply more down force. I still think there will be a few more podiums to come from the team this year though. Mexico looked like it was a good track for them last year that should suit them.

    3. @ijw1 Are we sure it´s a purposefully chosen philosophy? I doubt that.

  2. Thomasi (@salsaturation)
    11th July 2016, 13:36

    Thanks for the stats Keith, but:

    * I’m guessing this ‘Nico Rosberg took the 19th of his career’ is meant to read ‘Nico Rosberg took the 19th fastest lap of his career’.

    * Also this is statement is confusing “Daniel Ricciardo became the last driver this year to be out-qualified by his team mate.”

    1. Tommy Scragend
      11th July 2016, 13:51

      Before the British GP, Ricciardo had outqualified his team mate at every event. This was not the case in any other team – so Ricciardo was the last man standing to have achieved that feat.

      He qualified behind Verstappen at Silverstone, so his record went.

      1. Thomasi (@salsaturation)
        11th July 2016, 13:53

        Ohh ok – thanks for the clarification Tommy

        1. How can it go from 4-0 to 5-1 in just one race?

          1. For races against Daniil Kvyat: 4-0, Six races against Max Verstappen: 5-1.

  3. “In the six races since he joined Red Bull he has scored 77 points, more than Raikkonen (63), Ricciardo (64), Vettel (65) and even Rosberg (68). Only Hamilton has scored more points in the last six races, taking 110.”

    This I think is the key stat for the ‘anyone could win in that car’ brigade. This year in a car that is still behind the Mercedes a driver like Verstappen can still threaten them. This is why Mercedes need Hamilton in that can, not only because he ensures they get the results, but also because when the team cause problems like several of his qualifying issues and race reliability problems he still delivers the results. And also because Hamilton in another car, even if it weren’t as quick could like Verstappen and Vettel last year out muscle them for results despite being in a lesser car.

    And that’s not even quantifying how he helps them develop the car through feedback and delivering the consistent lap times to measure new parts effectiveness. Top teams still need top drivers.

    1. Well, but doesn’t the fact that Rosberg had a perfect score from the first races this year sort of go agains your point @philipgb?
      And without Hamilton there, he would have likely scored another win in Spain, he would have still won Baku and almost certainly Austria too, and even here, he would have probalby streaked off at the start to build a gap (because of the advantage of “starting” the race after the SC got in AND not having any spray to cope with) so that Verstappen would have only catched up with him when it was almost dry and even harder to pass, so he could have won again.

      In other words, without Hamilton in that car Rosberg could have won all but one race (monaco) this year in the dominant Mercedes.

      1. Not if, without Hamilton, they gave Rosberg Hamilton’s engine allocations ;)

      2. @bascb

        The season isn’t over yet, so the early part of the year isn’t a guarantee. Verstappen also wasn’t in a Red Bull for the early part of the year.

        Hypotheticals are all well and good, but they aren’t what points are based on. On paper Verstappen is outscoring Rosberg in a lesser car, and Rosberg is still a damned quick driver.

        I’ve no doubt he’ll still finish 2nd in the drivers championship, but it’s a bit close for comfort when he’s being outscored by slower cars. Same last year when Vettel was ahead of him for a fair chunk of the season.

        1. Off course the season is not over yet @philipgb. But to cherry pick and ignore that Rosberg just was the better Mercedes driver in the first few races and focus on the ones where Hamilton got back his mojo (and was less bothered by technical issues) doesn’t work either, it is as much theory crafting as what I did.

          So far Verstappen is proving Marko right for promoting him. It seems to have either coincided with Renault finally getting their engine to work decently or maybe rather just re-invigorated the positive competative drive with Red Bull (including Ricciardo). He is growing every day.
          But congratulating him on outscoring Rosberg in the last few races is as good a point as saying that Hamilton was outscored by Kimi from Bahrain until Spain. While true it does not quite make a good point as in both cases the Mercedes driver was affected by things other than his driving skills.

          To me seeing how Red Bull has shown an upturn in form, especially with Verstappen but clearly benefitting Ricciardo too, rather points to the mistake Ferrari is making by settling for Kimi instead of creating a driver pairing that pushes them along. It works for Red Bull, it works at Mercedes, we have seen it work for McLAren to an extent as well with Hamilton and Button, and we might see the same if again next year there with Alonso and Vandoorne.

          1. “…ignore that Rosberg just was the better Mercedes driver in the first few races”

            That is very debatable. And even ignoring Hamilton he lucked into his Australia and China wins to some extent (due to Ferrari messing up their strategy and Ricciardo’s puncture respectively).

          2. You are right that I’m ignoring the races Rosberg won because other than Australia they’ve been pretty straight forward wins, the kind people argue any driver in that car can win. I’m making the point that when the team doesn’t have it so clean cut it takes a Hamilton, Alonso or Vettel to make sure some one of their calibre in a lesser car doesn’t out muscle them for results.

          3. One thing you have to take into account with Max when comparing him to Ricciardo is the “better car effect”. Max has stepped from the Toro Rosso into the Red Bull and is revelling in the amount of grip and driveability it has whereas maybe Dan feels the car is lacking something over last years and can’t get it to where he wants it? It was much the same when Ricciardo beat Vettel in his first season at Red Bull. All Vettel could feel were deficiencies but all Dan could feel was how much better the car was than he was used to. You can see the same effect in reverse with Kvyat, he’s gone from a Red Bull to a Toro Rosso and probably can’t get 100% out of it because it just doesn’t give him the confidence he’s used to from the Red Bull.

          4. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
            11th July 2016, 16:38

            @bascb I agree with most of your point. But even when I also consider it’s a mistake for Ferrari to keep Kimi another season, Vettel’s poor results are because of car’s reliability issues. It’s like something in his own driving style damages those gearboxes. And don’t forget he couldn’t even race in Barhain, and add to that Kvyat hitting him on lap one, can’t remember which race. So his “low” points this year are not down to lacking racecraft or motivation, or because Kimi doesn’t force him to push hard, it’s just Ferrari not giving him a better machine.

          5. Yeah, I get what you say about Vettel @omarr-pepper, I certainly don’t get the impression that he is not motivated (although I can see how this could lose him his motivation!). I rather meant to say that a more dynamic driver line up could help push the whole team forward, push them more to go after these issues etc.

            I think Alonso will feel more and more convinced that he took the right step leaving Ferrari (although I am not sure the alternative he chose was such a great one!)

          6. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
            11th July 2016, 22:57

            @Gavyn good points.

            I also think Verstappen has a lot less pressure than Ricciardo because he can afford to be behind Ricciardo for 1 or 2 years and no one would think bad of him as long as he did well during the races and beat him a few times. Having won his 1st race with Red Bull, Max has zero pressure to go after another win.

            Almost all scenarios are positive for Max.
            1. He beats Daniel
            2. He does as well as Daniel (wow, Daniel did better than Vettel etc, etc)
            3. He comes close to Daniel in his rookie year at RB
            4. Daniel beats Max by 2/3 in quali and 1/3 more points
            5. Daniel beats him in quali and has significantly more points.

            Only scenario #5 hurts Max and even so with the victory he got in his 1st race, it’s unlikely because he got tons of points over Daniel and Daniel can’t get the 7 point difference between P1 and P2 with the current car.

            On the other hand, Ricciardo has the same pressure that Alonso had at McLaren in 2007 with Hamilton challenging for the championship in his rookie year under almost all 4 scenarios.

            Look where we stand now – Daniel lost 2 race victories, had 1 pole, has outqualified Max 4-1 and we are saying that Max has outscored Daniel 77 points to 64… Granted, Daniel has looked bad in the last 2 races but he has done better overall than Max in quali and race.

            Daniel is in for the fight of his life because he’s racing for his future (and his job) while Max is simply racing. He has to dig deep and race like the wind. I would get a coach if I were him to help me cope with the stress. It was too much for Alonso and Ricciardo is too nice a guy to understand what’s happening to him before it’ll be too late.

        2. MG421982 (@)
          12th July 2016, 5:18

          Yeah, right… Suddenly Rosberg just scores less points than a driver in a lesser car. When it was Hamilton, all kind of excuses were found, on top of all being that Mercedes is doing “something” in order to hand over the champ to Rosberg… ’cause he’s German, he’s white etc etc etc. Now, when Rosberg had all kind of tech problems in the last races, nobody mentions that anymore. It’s like the driver is completely at fault for not delivering 100%. Reality is that ROS has tech problems in the last race, VES didn’t, so things kinda compensated. Then, he didn’t lost the on-track battle, but off-track… and because of a stupid rule that doesn’t even have anything to do with the actual racing.

    2. Yes, Lewis is special. But what I see in the last 6 races is a monster driver who’s only 18, I gotta agree with Horner, Red Bull has the best pair in F1 currently.

      1. @jcost

        I want just stop just shy of proclaiming Verstappen the second coming just yet, but all signs point towards us seeing something very special developing. Which is exactly why I feel teams even with dominate cars need exceptional drivers. For all the Vettel bashing about his dominant car, how many of those championships would Webber have won? You put Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel in the second best car, and if there isn’t a comparable top driver in the best car they still stand a chance.

        Red Bull potentially have two drivers of that calibre in their cars. Even with their cars pace advantage, Mercedes can’t afford to not have Hamilton.

  4. Scary stat:

    Just as in 2014 when Bianchi scored points for Manor, the race afterwards both cars retired on the same spot.

    1. Reply hope this is the last similarity for Manor between 2014 and 2016 then

    2. Don’t be superstitious, it only brings bad luck ;)

  5. Sainz has also managed to catch and pass Kvyat in the points standings despite Kvyat having a 4 race head start in a faster car.

    1. Ferrari should have signed Sainz. He wasn’t dominated by Vestappen either.

  6. Joe (@melondancer)
    11th July 2016, 14:40

    Lewis is also closing in on home victories. Lewis’ 4th home win leaves him behind Jim Clark (as mentioned above) and Alain Post who won 6 French GPs. Of the current drivers, Fernando and Massa have 2, and Rosberg & Vettel have 1 each.

    1. If you are going to categorise as “home” victories, don’t forget that Michael Schumacher has 4 European GP wins at the Nurburgring to go alongside his 4 German GP wins at Hockenheim.

      You could call this an unfair advantage, however no Italian driver ever won in San Marino.

      1. @eurobrun
        If that’s the case then Fernando should have 3. One came in the European Grand Prix in Valencia.

      2. Ricardo Patrese in 1990?
        Elio de Angelis in 1985?

  7. Tony Mansell
    11th July 2016, 14:45

    This must be getting on for the strongest era of drivers the sport has known. With the very Wimbledon-y trophy you could compare it with the Federer/ Djokovic/ Nadal/ Murray golden period tennis is now in.

    Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel, Max, Riciardo – all greats or potentially greats and 2nd stringers of the quality of Rosberg, Sainz & Button. That’s efore you start considering Perez, Hulkenberg, Bottas I cant remember a time of such strength in depth.

    1. You left out Grosjean, multiple podium winner, Magnussen (podium winner on race debut) and arguably Werlhein. Even if Massa is probably past it, he still is quality. Just showing what a strong field we enjoy today. I can’t see many hopeless drivers here.

      1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
        11th July 2016, 16:41

        @tango and add to that Haryanto is not that bad, hw outqualified Wherlein a couple of times too! Not bad for a paying driver.

        1. Indeed, Haryanto certainly showed some promise, far from hopeless.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      11th July 2016, 22:32

      Well, imagine if you had to pick the top 10 best football players in the world:

      Messi
      Ronaldo (you can swap if you want)
      Suarez
      Ibrahimovic
      Neymar
      Lewandowski
      Aguero
      Bale
      Benzema
      Higuain
      Griezmann
      Diego Costa/Sanchez/Luca Toni/Robben/Van Persie/Kane/Lukaku/Tevez and many more

      And that’s excluding the midfielder geniuses like Vidal/Pirlo/Iniesta/Reus/Gotze/Modric/Rodriguez or the defensive gods like Mascherano and Chiellini.

      You end up with 20 stupendously good players you can’t even pick from but the guys that belong at the top is pretty clear. The top 4 – Ronaldo, Messi, Ibrahimovic and Suarez are special.

      Why should F1 be any different?

      1. @freelittlebirds I’ll take your word for it! I only recognise one of those names (Ronaldo). They run the McDonalds in Portugal IIRC?

  8. Very strong field indeed, Alonso has nearly 100 podiums, Hamilton about to hit #2 on all time list, Vettel close behind..

    Rosberg by far best non-champion.

    Verstappen scoring points better than growing facial hair.

    Probably most acomplished grid since Schumacher retired… Only 3-5 drivers without a podium to their name?

    1. I think Moss still takes the cake for the best non-champion.
      I agree with your point though.

      1. Best for sure, but not most successful.

    2. @jureo
      8 drivers don’t have a podium
      Werhlein
      Haryanto
      Palmer
      Sainz
      Gutierrez
      Hulkenberg (best is two 4th’s)
      Ericsson
      Nasr

      1. Ha, that many, I guess they, except Hulkenberg never even had a chance getting a podium.

  9. All these records for Hamilton have a tinge of meaninglessness to then when they’re achieved in a car that is completely and utterly dominant — nothing else in the field is even close out has been for years — and when the rules pretty much forbid rivals from even trying to catch up.

    Sadly, the record books know no context, and the result is that they will show Hamilton to be a much better racer than he actually is. But if we continue like this for much longer, F1 itself will be so little-viewed that it may well become beside the point for all but a tiny proportion of people who are interested not in sport or meaningful entertainment, but just in gloss and hype.

    1. Tony Mansell
      11th July 2016, 16:46

      I imagine you didnt watch Schumachers utterly dominant Ferrari for 5 years. The utterly dominant Williams or McLaren in the 80s and 90s. It goes on and on right back to Fangio jumping in whatever car was the quickest in the 50s. Is his legacy diminished?

      What the record books will show is that Lewis had some seriously good team mates in Alonso, Button & Rosberg and he still delivered wins and WDC’s

      Your comment smacks of a dislike of LH and more pertinently a lack of knowledge of the history of F1

      1. To begin with neither of the two most recent domination eras were as ‘easy’ if you like as Hamilton now. Vettel had really though opposition in both 2010 and 2012. Schumacher also did not have it easy in each of his 5 years. Hamilton is hardly experiencing the same since 2014. There is only one he has to watch for and that is his teammate. If he has Rosberg covered in 95% of all races he ends them as winner.

        That does not take anything from him as he still has to do it but it would be wise to remember that it happened when watching the record books because Lewis his legacy is not being created in 2014-2016 but was already there in 2012 and 2013, same for Vettel who’s legendary status became of age in years like 2012 and 2015. Alonso is not known for his titles in 2005/06 but for his relentless attack on Red Bull in 2012/2013. Button is a top driver because of his performance in 2011, not because of his title in 2009. Schumacher won the hearts of many in 1998 and 1999, not in the years after.

        So whilst the records are achieved in the dominant years, legends are created in the seasons when they lack a dominant car. So Lewis is very surely a legend of the sport but hardly because he’s winning so much in his Mercedes.

        1. You’re spot on @xtwl, but as you mentioned @gweilo8888 seems to dislike Hamilton more than the others drivers, hence his rant.

      2. Yes, I watched Schumacher’s dominant Ferrari. What rules prevented rivals from catching up then? None. A lack of resources and talent stopped them catching up. Ditto the Williams and McLaren instances. Can’t speak to Fangio as I wasn’t watching then — I started watching in the late 80s.

        The difference in the Hamilton era is that the rules — specifically, engine homologation / lifecycle management and the token system — coupled with extremely harsh restrictions on testing — don’t allow rivals to catch up. That was never the case in past battles, and it is why we are still no closer to anybody challenging Merc than we were two years ago.

        1. To be honest @gweilo8888, I disagree with that bit

          What rules prevented rivals from catching up then? None. A lack of resources and talent stopped them catching up.

          .

          The FIA was pretty clearly favouring Ferrari in several rulings during that day hindering teams like McLaren and Williams, that was the most obnoxious part of the Ferrari dominance (remember barge boards, or flex rear wings etc?). In fact the re-fuelling being brought back in was in part to help Ferrari and their gas guzzling V12s.

      3. MG421982 (@)
        12th July 2016, 5:44

        Neah…!!! Go and have another look, maybe look twice. It was Michael that was the beast, especially in consistency, most of time. He had a truly dominant car, like Hamilton and Rosberg, for only 2 years: 2002 and 2004. One proof could be that Barrichello finished vice-champion only in 2002 and 2004. Not to mention that I’m pretty sure Schumacher would have won the 1999 champ too if it wasn’t for that accident. Hakinnen beat Irvine by only 2 points and that Ferrari was by no means a dominant car.

    2. I think the more significant factor to these records is:
      1. The number of races per season compared to the 70s and 80s.
      2. The improvement in reliability compared to even the 90s.

      A better guide to quality between eras is the percentage of classified finishes that resulted in wins, but that doesn’t sound as sensationalist as ‘most wins’.

      1. MG421982 (@)
        12th July 2016, 6:21

        Exactly. I mentioned this aspects too.

        Well, in the 70s they had between 11 and 17 races per season. On average there were like 14-15 races per season. Starting 1982, 16 races became the standard and the minimum of races in a season too. In 1995 it was added 1 more race, so 17-races champs appeared again for the 1st time since 70s. But it wasn’t the standard yet. For 1996, 1998 and 1999 only 16 races were chosen. Starting 2000, 17 races per champ became the norm, 2003 being the last champ to have 16 races… until now, of course. In 2004 it was for the 1st time (as far as I know) a champ had 18 races. In 2005 1 more race added, so 19 races. For 2006 they went back to 18 races and in 2007 back to 17 races. 2009 was the last champ to have only 17 races… and even 18 races! Starting 2010 the standard is 19 races! Since 2010 we had 19 or 20 races per season. In 2016 a new record: 21 races in a season! So, with a dominant car, more races and better reliability than ever, you can bet all kind of records are falling… faster and faster. For example, on average, Hamilton raced like 2 more races per season than MSchumacher. In 10 years… it makes 20 races… that means a full season gained. So, Hamilton raced in 10 years as many as races as MSchumacher did in 11 years. Conclusion: percentages make for a better comparison.

    3. @gweilo8888

      If your main point in that post is that the Merc advantage is unfairly shored up by the current regulations, then I agree with you.

      It doesn’t necessarily correlate that Hamilton is a bad or even average driver. The best drivers get picked up by the best teams. Its not his fault Merc have done such a fantastic job and now the rest can’t catch up. In fact, it shows what a great career move he made.

      Just the same as it doesn’t correlate that because Alonso is not making the points very much these past couple of years that he is a poor driver. Again, the car and engine are not his responsibility to create, he just drives.

    4. I don’t think so.@gweilo8888
      Few drivers can get WDC from a NOT WCC team;
      I only knows:
      Hamilton did it in 2008,
      Mika Hakkinen did it in 1999,
      Michael Schumacher did it in 1994,
      How do you think about this?

  10. 11 differents drivers in the last 11 races.
    the last time it happened was in Hungary 2003/europe 2004
    Mark WEBBER
    Jacques VILLENEUVE
    Juan-Pablo MONTOYA
    Takuma SATO
    Jenson BUTTON
    David COULTHARD
    Fernando ALONSO
    Rubens BARRICHELLO
    Ralf SCHUMACHER
    Cristiano Da MATTA
    Giancarlo FISICHELLA

    1. correction;
      11 differents 6 finishers

  11. Due to his mistakes on the track he got an undeserved win. He is lucky that in modern F1, circuits are demolished to such a degree that even once a race ending mistake, or atleast few ten seconds costing mistake is now just a drive trough with barelay losing a second or two…Atleast half the drivers in top ten did not deserve their positions…sad day for the sport again…

    1. @proteus Let’s say going wide in T1 was by definition a DNF (as was the case for both Manors) then I believe the finishing order would look like this;

      P1 Ricciardo
      P2 Hulkenberg
      P3 Button
      P4 Nasr

      All others DNF.

      1. pretty sure Rosberg also did not get off @xtwl. But yeah it did seem to be something everyone had to endure this race and I think most of us would agree that it is good that the cars did not end up stuck in a graveltrap.

    2. If there were no run off at T1, they would not push as hard. Look at Monaco, or Baku – most finish.

      The run off cost a lot of time to use and close up the field.

  12. And yet there’s still a holdout section of Alegre formula one fans who think Hamilton is rubbish, who chalk up all of his impressive achievements – and they are mighty impressive – to ‘a good car’, and who simply can’t bring themselves to acknowledge that in Hamilton we have one of the best f1 drivers ever.

    1. *alleged formula one fans

    2. @rantingmrp I don’t really think F1 fans who take themselves serious believe Hamilton is no better than a Chilton. It’s an infinite arguement on who’s better among Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton but surely all three belong to the top the sport has ever seen. Time is on their side as without a doubt neither of them would have reached the heights in titles or wins had they lived in the 60s – 90s because of the races and different competition but that only means we’ll look back upon them as we do not look back at Senna and Prost as they looked back onto Clark and Fangio.

  13. It was the first time this season Rosberg has been on the podium having not won the race

  14. I think Hamilton is a great driver. But I think he didn’t have to fight hard to get his championships. It was mostly cruising to victory.
    So by being challenged by someone else but Rosberg would benefit his legacy.
    I don’t know how great of a racer he really is.

    I know he is a great qualifier (just like Ricciardo), but he looses to Max at the moment and makes you wonder is Max extraordinair talent or was Ricciardo maybe not such a great racer as we thought.

    I noticed Max being 2 sec faster then Lewis on intermediates.

    What does that mean.

    Make a F1 fan wonder about hoe good Max really is and going to be. I believe he is already a better racer then Hamilton. But beating Hamilton in Q will be hard for anyone on the grid.
    As Max always says: points are won in the race, not in qualifying.

    1. “I noticed Max being 2 sec faster then Lewis on intermediates.

      What does that mean.”

      It means Hamilton was pacing himself to save the intermediates to avoid needing a second set before the track dried out enough for slicks. Hamilton has shown a lot of ability to manage a race when needed to despite peoples insistence on classing him as an aggressive instinctive racer. He manages fuel, tyres and engine life as best as he can when he’s out in front just keeping a chasing car at arms length rather than all out demolishing them like he probably can when he’s on a weekend like Silverstone where he just seems in his own class next to his team mate.

      If you want to see how great a racer Hamilton is I’d recommend China ’11, Hungary ’12, ’13 and ’14 as examples of his work.

      1. Also, Hamilton mentioned after the race that he had turned the engine down for a large part of the race @ia, remember he is on his last allocated engine so he is focussed on making this one last so that he might not need to take 2 grid penalties for going over the allocation twice.

        1. Interesting comment @bascb. Without realising it, obviously, you just confirmed @ia’s point.
          Quote by @ia “But I think he didn’t have to fight hard to get his championships. It was mostly cruising to victory”.

          1. I don’t think I did @sakis. My comment was focused on THIS race and why Verstappen was a lot faster than Hamilton. Not about whether his championships have been “easy” or not. Given how he won the first by one point in the last race, I think it’s sure to say that at least not all of Hamilton’s championships were that. And off course his second championship was also won only in the last race.

          2. “But I think he didn’t have to fight hard to get his championships. It was mostly cruising to victory”

            That is clearly wrong to anyone who actually follows F1. 2008 was not easy by any means and in 2014 he had to overcome multiple set backs not of his own creation. Only in 2015 could you say Hamilton had it easy. I guess F1 ‘fans’ really do have short term memories.

        2. That Max was going so much faster on intermediates to me means that he might be the fastest racer on wet.
          Sadly the track dried and we couldn’t see a Max/Lewis fight.
          Funny how Max reminded Lewis that he was gaining on him on the intermediates.
          Really?

          Maybe in Hungary, since the strait speed will not be such an advantage there for Mercedes. And they might struggle with their breaks in Hungary.

          1. Or the Red Bull has more downforce which is partly why they are slower in a straight line.

  15. This guy proves to be a true fighter and a real racer.
    I still can’t forget his royal and spontaneous NO when asked to let Carlos pass.
    F1 needs a new Senna and I think we have found our guy.

    Let’s assume that starting the next race Mercedes had a 3rd car and hired Max to drive it.
    I seriously and honestly think that Hamilton and Rosberg would be fighting for 2nd and 3rd position.
    Not for 1st.

  16. Raikkonen’s 100th F1 race for Ferrari – M Schumacher, Massa, and Barrichello are the other drivers to have managed this.

    Verstappen’s best grid position.

    5th time Ricciardo has finished 4th this year – no other driver has managed it more than once.

    Perez becomes the 10th different driver to finish 6th this year.

    Under both the 1991-2002 and 2003-09 scoring systems, Hamilton and Rosberg would be separated by 1 point – however, Hamilton would be ahead on the latter system.

    First race in which Williams haven’t scored since USA 2015. Ferrari now have the longest unbroken streak with 12 (last no score was Mexico 2015).

    Rosberg has as many podiums as Hamilton has wins (47).

    35th time Hamilton and Rosberg have shared the front row – 1 more than Senna and Prost.

    4th consecutive Mercedes win at Silverstone – first team to manage this since Williams in 1991-94.

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