Lando Norris Clinches Historic Silverstone Victory as Oscar Piastri Faces Penalty and Nico Hulkenberg Secures Podium Finish

Lando Norris won his home British Grand Prix for the first time after title-leading team-mate Oscar Piastri collected a 10-second penalty for a controversial Safety Car incident with Max Verstappen in a thrilling rain-hit race.

Winning back-to-back races in the same season for the first time having beaten Piastri in Austria last week, Norris has cut the Australian’s title lead to just eight points at the halfway stage of the 24-race Formula 1 season.

“This is a dream winning at home,” said an emotional Norris on McLaren team radio on his slow-down lap.

“Thanks for the memory. I will remember this more than anything.”

Nico Hulkenberg, meanwhile, finally ended his career-long podium wait as, at the 239th time of asking, the Sauber driver drove an extraordinary race from 19th on the grid to beat Silverstone specialist Lewis Hamilton to third.

Finishing fourth for the second week running, Hamilton’s wait for a first Grand Prix podium at Ferrari therefore continues, with the Briton’s run of consecutive Silverstone top-three finishes ending at 12.

Verstappen spun in the wet within two corners of the Piastri incident amid a difficult race from pole, before eventually fighting his way back to fifth.

But the Red Bull driver is now 69 points off the title pace and seemingly firmly out of realistic contention for a fifth straight world crown given the relentless results of the two McLarens ahead of him.

With the Mercedes drivers and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc all enduring torrid afternoons after seeing formation-lap gambles on switching to slick tyres as the track dried backfire, Sauber were not the only midfield team to cash in on rare opportunities to star.

Pierre Gasly claimed Alpine’s best result of the season in sixth with a late pass on Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who had run as high as third before eventually crossing the line in seventh.

Alex Albon was eighth for Williams and Fernando Alonso, who had earlier expressed anger at the team’s early-race strategy calls for him after Stroll had benefitted from fine calls to surge up the order, ninth in the second Aston Martin.

Russell – despite a wild trip across the gravel after a second early switch to slicks – persevered to take home the final point in 10th.

How penalty cost Piastri win to jubilant Norris

The gripping race’s controversial and victory-changing moment came on lap 21.

After a period of intensifying rain had brought out the Safety Car twice in quick succession – the second time when an unsighted Isack Hadjar crashed after slamming into the back of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes – Piastri was preparing for the restart as he led Verstappen and the rest of the pack down the Hangar Straight.

However, as he slowed down to build a gap to the Safety Car, Verstappen had to take evasive action to the McLaren’s right and briefly overshot the race leader, before dropping back in behind.

Stewards placed the incident under investigation and soon ruled that Piastri had broken the rule which states that there must be “no erratic braking nor any other manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers”.

They imposed a costly 10s penalty, which would have to be served at his next pit stop.

“What [Piastri] did was clearly a breach of that article,” read the later stewards’ report.

Seemingly unconnected, Verstappen then half-spun within two corners on the exit of Stowe, plummeting the foot of the top 10 before he got his Red Bull going again.

As the race resumed and he attempted to start building a sufficient lead over Norris to negate his penalty, an annoyed Piastri expressed his anger with the sanction on team radio.

McLaren too were happy on the pit lane and put their complaints to Race Control.

Piastri led Norris by only around three seconds all the way up to 44, when he made his pit stop to switch to dry tyres – with his 10-second penalty served in the McLaren pit box first before the tyre change could take place.

Norris duly inherited the lead and then kept it once he made his penalty-free pit stop at the end of the next tour.

While Piastri briefly threatened to chase his team-mate back down as he started to close down his new deficit, the Australian suggested to the McLaren pit wall that they consider swapping the order of the cars back if they agreed with him that his sanction had been unwarranted.

McLaren denied the request and Norris saw out the final laps to win by almost seven seconds, becoming the first British driver other than nine-time winner Hamilton to win at Silverstone since David Coulthard in 2000.

“It’s pretty incredible. Tomorrow morning is going to be the best realisation moment when I wake up,” said Norris.

“I never know how to think of it, how to picture it before. I want to win here more than any other place in the world. You’ve always got to go out and do it.”

As the Briton’s celebrations began in earnest in parc ferme, a miffed Piastri largely bit his tongue about his penalty but his annoyance was clear.

“I’m not going to say much. I’ll get myself in trouble,” said the world title leader. “Well done to Nico. I think that’s the highlight of the day.

“Apparently you can’t brake behind the Safety Car any more. I did it for five laps before that.

“I’m not going to say much because I’ll get myself in trouble. I still like Silverstone, even if I don’t like it today…”

‘It’s pretty surreal’ – Hulkenberg defies odds to end record wait

When the moment finally arrived for Hulkenberg after 15 years of trying, the 37-year-old’s run to a maiden podium could not have been more unlikely – or emotional.

Sauber had scored points in the previous three races thanks to recent upgrades but hopes of extending run that to a fourth race on Sunday had looked remote after Hulkenberg and team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto qualified in 19th and 17th positions respectively

But Hulkenberg was catapulted into the top 10 after a lap nine pit-stop and then found himself in the top four after Verstappen’s spin at the end of lap 21.

Overtaking Stroll 13 laps later, Hulkenberg then started to come under pressure from Hamilton but, despite it initially appearing an inevitably that the-usually faster Ferrari would eventually get ahead, the veteran German stayed through the dry-tyre stops and then finished a comfortable five seconds clear in the final stint with the Briton the one struggling for grip.

It cued scenes of jubilation among the Sauber team as they celebrated with Hulkenberg in parc ferme, the Swiss outfit themselves having not finished on the podium since 2012.

“What a race. Coming from virtually last, doing it all over again from last weekend,” said Hulkenberg, who finally banishes the unwanted record of the most F1 races without a podium.

“It’s pretty surreal, to be honest. I’m not sure how it all happened, but obviously crazy, mixed conditions.

“It was a survival fight for a lot of the race. I think we just were really on it with the right calls, the right tyres in the right moment, made no mistakes – quite incredible.

“I was in denial until probably the last pit stop, but then when I heard we gapped Lewis quite a bit with the one extra lap, I was like, ‘ok, this is good, this is some breathing space.'”

F1 takes a brief break before the season resumes at the Belgian Grand Prix as the Sprint format returns, live on Sky Sports F1 on July 25-27. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.