British Grand Prix: Teams and Drivers report from Silverstone

Norris kept his head down throughout the race and capitalized on the penalty his teammate received for Safety Car rules infringement while Hulkenberg and Sauber made the most out of the tricky conditions in terms of tyre choice and pit stop timing.

The German did not put foot wrong throughout the race managing to keep seven-time Formula 1 champion, Lewis Hamilton at bay to claim third.

On the other hand, Max Verstappen paid the price of a radical low-downforce setup which earned him pole on Saturday as his car was undriveable in the treacherous wet conditions that prevailed over the 52-lap race at Silverstone on Sunday.

Fans already gearing up for the 2026 race weekend at Silverstone can compare British Grand Prix ticket prices on Ticket-Compare.com

Lewis Hamilton: "Not the result we were hoping for today but we’re continuing to grow as a team and I’m also getting more in tune with the car. Third place felt within reach at times but credit to Nico on his first podium, he drove a strong race. Silverstone always puts on a great show and the changing weather definitely made things interesting. Big thanks to the amazing crowd for all the support this weekend, it is always great to be home."

Charles Leclerc: "It was a really tough race from start to finish. In retrospect, my decision to stop on the formation lap for slicks was not the right one, but I don’t think it changed much because our pace just wasn’t there today. I went quite extreme with the set-up on my car for the last few races, and it paid off in the dry. However, in the conditions we saw here today, it didn’t seem to work as well. There is a lot of work ahead of us. Congratulations to Nico for his podium, it's a great achievement for him and his team."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal: "That was a chaotic race for everyone from start to finish. I can imagine for the fans it was a good one. The conditions were changing so frequently that it was difficult to be on the right tyre at the right moment. The many Safety Cars also meant it was very difficult to predict what would come next. At the end of the race, you always feel you could have done much better in terms of strategy. Charles’ gamble to switch immediately to slicks was a brave call and, if things had gone differently, it could have been the right one. Clearly, McLaren were much faster than us, but today we scored more points than Mercedes and Red Bull, which is positive, as is the fact that we were competitive all the way up to the final run in Q3, that our pace has improved considerably compared to earlier in the year and now we need to carry that performance level into the second half of the season. We will study this weekend’s data to see why we struggled where we did. Now, the most important thing is that we make a further step forward in performance at the next race in Spa, that we put everything together to ensure we have a perfect weekend from start to finish. Finally, congratulations to Nico on his first podium. Given his undoubted talent, he deserves it."

George Russell: "It's always difficult making the right calls in conditions like today but sadly, we didn't manage to do that. We opted to go to the Hard tyre after the formation lap and we then had a 25-minute window of dry weather, which should have enabled us to put them to good use. Unfortunately, we had 15-minutes of Virtual Safety Car running. Once we were running, we were seconds a lap quicker than others but just had too much time to make up.

"We were then a few laps too early pitting back to the slick tyre after the track had dried once again. We put on the Hard tyre and suffered with warm-up issues. I spun and lost ground; we were fortunate to be able to fight back to P10 but overall, that was a bad day and not how I wanted my home race to go. We will look to learn from this and ensure we come back stronger before the summer break."

Kimi Antonelli: "That was a tough day. I wasn't sure about stopping for the Hard tyre in the opening laps, but we made the call. Sadly, the Virtual Safety Car came out shortly afterwards and I couldn't build any temperature in the tyre. I struggled once we were back underway to generate the necessary heat and that left me unable to utilise any pace advantage we may have had as the track dried.

"Once the rain hit, the conditions became treacherous. Even once the Safety Car had come back in, visibility was still very poor and there was lots of standing water. That is what caught out Hadjar and that was just unfortunate for the both of us. I tried to continue but the diffuser damage I suffered was too much and we had to retire the car. A weekend to forget then but we will look to come back stronger in Spa."

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: "We are all in this together and that was a poor performance all around from us today. We made successive decisions which weren't right, and we will be evaluating what we did, when, and why, to ensure we improve from this. We have to take this result on the chin but must make sure we do not repeat the errors we made today.

"The first call to take the slick tyre on the formation lap was wrong. From there, we spiralled from bad to worse. We didn't opt to split strategies and, if we had, Kimi's race may have been different. He was unfortunate to suffer race ending damage after the Safety Car but he shouldn't have been back in the pack and at risk of that. We didn't fit the right dry tyre at either stop, opting for the Hard compound which suffered a challenging warm-up. All in all, that was a tough day and we need to bounce back in the final two races before the summer break."

Fernando Alonso: "I feel like it was a missed opportunity today despite scoring some points. It was difficult to read with the rain falling again and we lost some positions in the first pit-stop. For the second pit-stop we pitted too soon and I lost a lot of time on a slightly damp track with slick tyres. We had some good pace but in the end we weren't able to capitalise on an eventful race. I am very happy for Nico [Hülkenberg] to score his first podium and I hope he enjoys the celebrations."

Lance Stroll: "Very mixed weekend for us at Silverstone – we showed some decent pace during Practice on Friday, which unfortunately we couldn't build on during Qualifying and started from the back today. The team made some good strategy calls during the race and overall a good result. I really struggled with tyre degradation and unfortunately we weren't in a position where we could fight for more. [Nico] Hülkenberg had a lot more grip during that last stint and with the level of degradation we got the best possible result today."

Andy Cowell, CEO & Team Principal: "It was an intense and challenging afternoon in Silverstone with Lance and Fernando battling hard to score eight points between them [Lance P7 and Fernando P9]. We were fighting at the front, but our pace dropped off as the DRS was enabled and the track continued to dry. We probably switched Fernando to the dry tyres a bit too early, but he managed to recover to the points. Lance drove very well today: he didn't put a wheel out of place. Given the pace of the car, P7 is a great result. In these rainy races, you often reflect and see opportunities where you could have done things differently – and most teams probably feel the same – but we can be pleased to get both cars in the points at our home race."

Alex Albon: "I'm happy with our race today. We got the balance right between risky and safe, and bounced back from a tricky day yesterday. Towards the end of the race, we had really good pace, good rhythm, and managed to get Alonso on the last lap. I loved the conditions, where the racing line is so small and there's no room for mistakes. Looking to the next race, we collected a lot of useful data this weekend, which will help us get on top of the issues before Spa."

Carlos Sainz: "I had a good race, keeping out of trouble, managing the tyres and had good pace. Unfortunately, towards the end and on slick tyres, I was about to overtake Charles, but he lost the car into turn 15, came across the track and hit my front wing and front floor. We both went off, losing a lot of positions and I had a damaged car until the end of the race. It seems to be the story of my season so far and it's very annoying that different issues continue to impact our weekends. I'm driving well and I know better days will come, but it's frustrating at this point. I'm looking forward to the two-week reset and hopefully we can have a better second half of the season. Massive thanks to every Williams fan out there this weekend! Your support has been amazing! Thank you."

James Vowles, Team Principal: "Firstly, congratulations to Sauber and to Nico - an extraordinary result today and well-earned in these difficult conditions. For us, we didn't expect it to stay as wet for that duration. The car was set up more for a dry race and you could see that. In Inter conditions and even when it was drying, we were poor. We were taken by Aston Martin and dropped back, but at the end of the race, Alex was flying and able to climb back, which shows the swing in our performance. We also didn't get the second Intermediate call right and that cost us many seconds. For Carlos, he did everything right, but it was out of his control when a Ferrari spun in front of him and he had to avoid it. It's a tough reflection on today - I was hoping for more points.

"Now we go to Spa, where we've got an update coming that should give us a bit of an edge and help us fight back in that very tight midfield battle. Spa, like Silverstone, has tended to suit our car in the past, so let's reset and come back fighting. We have the pace to score points from here to the end of the year."

Ollie Bearman: "It was a tough race. We switched to slicks in the early laps – in hindsight, that wasn't the right choice with the rain coming, and we lost a lot of time throughout the race. I got tapped and spun around at one stage, but even with all that, we were P11 and fighting for the points, so it's a real shame. We've been so fast this weekend and it's just disappointing to end like that. They were tough conditions out there, and there's only one racing line so I couldn't overtake Russell at the end. The positives were that the car was fast, and I feel really confident with car balance and the step that the car has taken."

Esteban Ocon: "It was an extremely frustrating race. From the beginning when I was in the middle of two cars, I thought there was going to be contact and as soon as I saw, I backed off but there wasn't room for three cars. I glad everyone was okay and it was a miracle my car was fine, and after that we made all the right choices though we didn't box for a new set of inters. That slipped through our hands and it's not usually something that happens to me. The thing that happened with Ollie at the end I'm sad about – I'm sad for the team as well – as we both deserved more from today, we deserved to be in the points from where we came from, so we'll review to improve."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "I can't hide away from the fact that we executed a terrible race today, we have to be better. In terms of machinery, I think we have a good car now and it's really competitive. Whether it's competitive everywhere I don't know, but in Silverstone with the upgrade – all credit to the team that made this happen – we have a strong car, and we've proved that. Today, however, we didn't do justice to the car or the team, so there's a lot to learn from as a group. It's not just today, as a whole we need to focus on how we get a clean weekend together; we shouldn't be starting from P14 and P18 where we're then trying to force the result. We need to focus on executing three clean days on a race weekend and getting the result that our car deserves.

"On the incident with Ollie and Esteban today, well, our drivers' touching is the last thing that should happen – but I looked at the onboard of both drivers, I spoke with them both, and for me it was a racing incident. Again though, if you look at how they ended up in that situation, the pit stop timings for that stop were correct, so we pitted the lead car first. Ollie then went off in a high-speed corner, and that's why he was behind his team-mate when Esteban came out after his stop. As Ollie had hotter tires than Esteban, we went for the overtake, but we shouldn't have been in that position to start with. It just shouldn't happen, and when they had different speeds or strategies, we've been swapping them over, and they're complete team players – they don't argue, and they do the job straight away. It's a racing incident, but we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Pierre Gasly: "It is an incredible result for the whole team to finish in sixth place. I don't think we expected to be in that position after our Practice sessions, so credit to everyone for their effort this weekend. It's made even more sweet that it's at Silverstone, the home race for Enstone, with so many staff members here watching in the grandstands. It's a great boost of motivation for everyone, so I am very happy. We had some nice on track battles with drivers we don't normally fight with like Fernando [Alonso], Lewis [Hamilton] and Max [Verstappen], so that was fun. It was all about judging the risk and we just tried to go for it. We took the risks and it paid off with the right strategy calls and great pit-stops. I am looking forward to being at the factory this week to continue the hard work and hopefully seeing some smiles tomorrow morning!"

Franco Colapinto: "I was really looking forward to today's race, so it was disappointing not to be able to get out there and try to make up for the result yesterday in conditions that opened up a lot of opportunities. It was not clear what the issue was at the time, which took some time to investigate during the race. All I know is that I could not pull away from the box. We tried a few things to get going again, but in the end, we had to retire the car. As a racer, days like today are when you want to be out there and as we have seen from the others starting further back there were possibilities to make big gains today. It was a good weekend in terms of learnings which we can take into the next races. I followed the race as it unfolded. It was an exciting one and well done to Pierre and the team for scoring points at our home race. With two weeks between races, we will now go back to Enstone and work hard for the final push before the summer break."

Flavio Briatore: "It is a good result today for the team and a great drive by Pierre in difficult conditions. It is nice to score points at the team's home race, which is good for the whole team and the morale after some difficult races. With how we started the weekend, points didn't look possible, so well done to the team for turning it around. It's a pity about Franco's race, which ended before it even started after suffering a driveline issue. We have made up ground on Haas, RB, and Williams, while others have pulled away. The result from our rivals also gives us hope we can do the same and we will continue to push to improve on our position."

Isack Hadjar: "Racing in these tough conditions means that it's always a little bit of a gamble out there. At the start of the race, I was following Charles and it seemed we had a good pace; we were on the same strategy, but it wasn't the right one. During the laps we spent behind the Safety Car, I couldn't see much due to the heavy rain and the tyre temperature dropped. After the restart, I wish I could have maybe had a bit more margin, but when I saw the red light of the back of Kimi's car, it was already too late as there was just zero visibility. Thankfully, I'm okay. Now we reset, and I'm already looking forward to racing in Spa in a couple of weeks."

Liam Lawson: "Unfortunately, our race ended early due to a racing incident. We made the right call on tyres and had a strong start, so it's a shame we couldn't show the car's full potential. I think we had a really good car today, especially suited to the mixed conditions. It was a race full of opportunity, and we missed out on some big points. Looking ahead to Spa in a few weeks, we're aiming for another weekend in the points, it'll be another special one in an F1 car."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal: "To start with the most important thing, both Liam and Isack are okay, they escaped the accidents they had unhurt. There is never a good day to lose both cars in crashes, but it is what it is; today was not a good day for that. What matters is that we have a strong car, strong drivers and we were fast again this weekend. However we do leave here with 0 points and we will be working very hard to improve on the few things that have derailed our weekend. We will be regrouping, preparing for Spa and turning up trying to use the pace of the car that we are confident we have. It might not have been the result we wanted to leave Silverstone with, but the hard work and team spirit in both Faenza and Milton Keynes is very high and I'd like to thank everyone for pushing to unlock the next steps together."