SILVERSTONE, England - Lewis Hamilton shed pent-up tears of joy after ending a 945-day wait for a win with a record ninth British Grand Prix victory in front of his home fans on a fairytale Sunday at Silverstone.
Mercedes’ seven-times Formula One world champion was overcome by the emotion as he took the chequered flag in triumph for the first time since Saudi Arabia on Dec 5, 2021 - 56 races ago.
Red Bull’s triple world champion Max Verstappen finished 1.465 seconds behind, extending his overall lead to 84 points, and McLaren’s Lando Norris was third after being passed four laps from the end.
Mercedes’ pole-sitter George Russell, winner of the previous race in Austria, retired with a suspected water system issue at the end of lap 33.
The record-extending 104th win of Hamilton’s career set new benchmarks - not least the first F1 driver to win a race in 16 different seasons and first to win nine times at the same circuit.
Hamilton had previously shared the latter record with Ferrari great Michael Schumacher.
He is also the first driver to win a race after reaching the rare milestone of 300 starts. Sunday’s was the 344th race of Hamilton’s F1 career that started with McLaren in 2007.