Wow. Silverstone really delivered an all-time classic. It’s always one of the best races of the year, but along with Canada, this race may go down as one of the best of the decade. We witnessed a fantastic battle for the win, involving five drivers and three teams. Many drivers looked like they had the opportunity, but it was Lewis Hamilton to take the checkered flag first. Whilst ending a two-and-a-half-year win drought with a home win in front of adoring fans was a great story to witness, a great story does not always translate into a great race. Yet, the race was worthy of the story it accompanied, as constantly changing climatic conditions ensured that fun and unpredictability was aplenty.

Saturday’s qualifying proved that the Mercedes thrives in colder conditions, as the team took a dominant 1-2. This was converted at the beginning of the race, as both Mercedes opened a gap to Verstappen in third. The McLaren also proved a stronger car than the Red Bull, with both McLarens using superior tyre wear to overtake Verstappen during the opening stint. But it was in the rain that the McLaren showed its true strength. In slippery conditions, the McLaren was by far the best car, with Norris and Piastri quickly overtaking both Mercedes to establish a McLaren 1-2. It was at this point that McLaren had an opportunity to take an emphatic victory. But as they have shown over this year, McLaren are experts in bottling wins.

The first mistake McLaren made came when it was time to switch to the intermediate tyres. Whilst Mercedes made the right call to bring both of their cars in on the same lap, McLaren decided to leave Oscar Piastri out for an extra lap, to avoid him being held up in the pit box behind Lando. This was an awful decision, as Piastri lost close to a whole pit stop in the subsequent lap. This destroyed Piastri’s chance of winning the race, something heavily disappointing for a driver who had appeared to be the fastest on track. Still, McLaren had Norris in the lead during the wet section of the race, who still had a great chance of winning. Though McLaren still had other ideas.

When Hamilton made the jump onto the dry tyres first, McLaren were slightly compromised. They had been effectively undercut and were guaranteed to come out of the pit lane behind Lewis. However, the team had an advantage available to them, an extra set of medium tyres. Whilst Hamilton only had softs, the mediums were evidently the best tyres for the final stint. All McLaren needed to do was pit Norris onto mediums, like they did with Piastri, and they would have won the race. They didn’t. They instead, asked Norris if he wanted to cover Hamilton with softs or Verstappen with mediums. As he had limited information and Hamilton was ahead of him, Norris chose the soft tyres. However, it should never have been his choice. Everyone knew that having a set of mediums was an advantage, including the commentators, though seemingly excluding McLaren. Thus, Norris went onto awful tyres that he couldn’t manage and instead of taking a dominant win, he fell behind Verstappen and finished third. The Norris title campaign has proven to be a joke, though one that is at least fun to watch.

The rest of the final stint consisted of Hamilton managing his soft tyres perfectly. Whilst Verstappen had superior pace, Hamilton stopped him from catching and took an amazing victory. The emotions ran high after the race, with Hamilton crying during the interview. It was amazing to watch, he had driven perfectly all weekend and deserved it. Whilst the primary reason for his victory was because McLaren’s strategy was awful, it was nevertheless amazing to watch. Unpredictable races where multiple teams fight for the win are the best type that Formula One has to offer and I hope we see more of them during the year.