After passing Lando Norris on Lap 5, Hamilton was the fastest man on track, closing in on Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc at the front. After both Ferrari drivers entered the pit lane to change tyres, the seven-time world champion led his first laps in a race since the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Later on, a Safety Car allowed Hamilton to switch to the soft tyre as he attempted to regain the lead, but a slow restart saw Sergio Perez overtake the Mercedes driver, while Sainz pulled away to win the race. Speaking after the race, Wolff was encouraged by his team’s ability to battle with the Ferrari drivers and Perez in the Red Bull but rued their loss of “momentum” at the restart.
“Without the Safety Car, I believe he would have won the race.” Finally, only Perez remained, and Sainz simply left. It’s okay; as I previously stated, the most encouraging aspect was that we had a race-capable car.” Wolff stated.
Mercedes brought a slew of upgrades to Silverstone, and our data showed that they were now on par with Ferrari and Red Bull. Mercedes will now compete in the Austrian Grand Prix, which they have only won once in the last four years, at the Red Bull Ring (not including the Styrian Grand Prix, also previously held at the Red Bull Ring, which Hamilton won in 2020). And Wolff did not anticipate their W13 car being as strong in Austria as it could be in France the following race.
