Like last year, the 2024 Formula 1 season got off to a dismal, one-sided start. However, at the halfway point, six different Grand Prix winners from four different teams have emerged, and with intense competition, Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull fought it out for the top spot last weekend at Silverstone.
Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull had their positions in Formula 1 fluctuate due to the unpredictable weather at Silverstone, which alternated between dry and rainy conditions. Pole sitter George Russell and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton sprinted off to an easy one-two lead at the start of the race, but as the rain started to fall, Hamilton gained an edge before the two McLarens driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri surged to the front. As the race came to an end, the tide turned in favor of wet weather expert Max Verstappen, even if he had regressed in his Red Bull during the downpour.
When the circumstances improved after the last leg, Hamilton also profited since he was able to recover the lead and distance himself from Norris thanks to a sizable tire advantage. In the final moments, Verstappen outran Hamilton and Norris, passing the latter to finish just a hair behind the eventual victor at the checkered flag. Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff remarked, “We were really controlling the pace at the beginning, and it was very encouraging.”
The enormous performance at McLaren was visible as the rain began to fall. Simply said, they were in the tire’s sweet zone. Yet we returned. Subsequently, I believe we managed it under different circumstances. “It was a very weird race,” Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner said, attributing variances in track temperatures to the dynamic nature of the Silverstone hierarchy. The way their car seemed to move around makes me believe that whomever can explain its speed would be doing really well.
The Mercedes appeared to be in complete control, and they have traditionally been strong in cooler weather. Then the rain started to fall, and Lewis really came to life. The McLaren then overtook both of us. Thus, it was shifting in accordance with the circumstances. Max was having trouble at that moment, but under such circumstances, you would think he would also really come alive. The pace then picked back up when the circuit dried up, and we were sometimes six or seven tenths of a lap faster than Lewis and Lando.
All of it, in my opinion, has to do with the tire’s performance under specific circumstances, such as temperature. “You observed an extreme of that as the circuit went from damp to wet and back to dry. Different cars are working the tyres in different ways.” A Mercedes front-row lockout upended the widely held belief that McLaren had the fastest Formula 1 package at Silverstone during Friday’s two practice sessions.
The Principal of the McLaren team, Andrea Stella, stated that the results of the Grand Prix on Sunday did not necessarily indicate that “McLaren has the fastest car.” In summary, the question of which team finished first at the British Grand Prix cannot be answered with precision. Rather, race by race, the 2024 Formula One season continues to change drastically, with Verstappen’s status as a clear winner all but eliminated and the standings hanging precariously.