F1 British Grand Prix: Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton Amazed by McLaren's 'Rocket Ship' at Silverstone

Seven-time Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton has heaped praise on his old team McLaren after they finished in second and fourth position at the British Grand Prix. Mercedes' driver, frustrated at his inability to pass fellow Briton Lando Norris during a late-race Safety Car, referred to Norris's highly improved MCL60 as a "rocket ship" during his post-race cool-down lap. Norris's Hard tyres made him vulnerable to the Silver Arrow's Soft tyres in the closing stretch to the finish line. Despite repeated attempts, Hamilton was never able to successfully charge into Brooklands or Luffield before his softer rubber started to weep. Lewis Hamilton, driving for Mercedes, finished third in British Grand Prix, much to the joy of the throngs of cheering home fans at Silverstone. However, Hamilton said that he was amazed by the speed of his McLaren competitors. After a poor qualifying performance on Saturday, the seven-time world champion began the race in seventh position. At the start, things went from bad to worse as he was pushed wide and off track at turn 3.

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F1 British Grand Prix: McLaren's Mega Performance at Silverstone

McLaren stole the show with a thrilling 2-3 in qualifying on Saturday and Lando Norris finished on the podium for the first time this season. McLaren's last major result came in 2021 when Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian Grand Prix.

Due to the arrival of the safety car, they were able to make pit stops at reduced costs. As a result, Norris maintained his lead over Hamilton for the second position while Piastri fell to fourth. He fought hard from the start against Verstappen, defended against George Russell, and then made a late, valiant charge on Hamilton as the Briton's tyres wore down, but ultimately came up short.

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F1 British Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri Secures Best Result of His F1 Career

After a great start and holding P3 due to Kevin Magnussen's engine failing, the rookie McLaren driver came very close to his maiden F1 podium at Silverstone. After Lewis Hamilton's pit stop during the safety car period, the seven time world champion passed Piastri for third place and went on to secure the podium. Piastri, though, was unfazed and continued to be optimistic about McLaren's achievements in terms of vehicle performance. Meanwhile, Piastri said that finishing fourth was "bitter-sweet" since he had lost out on a podium spot because of a safety Car deployment.

After Piastri publicly rejected Alpine, McLaren and Alpine engaged in a court battle last year about who owned the rights to the potential Australian driver for 2023. With McLaren's early season struggles and Alpine's consistent point making, it seemed that he would have been better served with the French team. But at Silverstone, McLaren made up ground on Alpine and moved into sixth place among constructors.

However, McLaren won't always be the team to beat at every race. Although Norris lauded the car's speed, he noted that it is still "pretty terrible in the slow-speed corners, extremely difficult to drive." That won't help much in the next race in Hungary on July 23rd, since that track has one of the slowest average speeds of any F1 track.