British GP: Lewis Hamilton duly impressed with ‘rocket ship’ car on field, sends his wishes to former team

British GP: After amassing 17 points in the first eight races in the 2023 season of Formula 1, McLaren came back into the reckoning with 42 points in the last two races. The latest one – British GP saw McLaren getting their best result of the season as homeboy Lando Norris took the first podium in 2023. The other teammate and rookie Oscar Piastri was not too far behind and missed a podium to Lewis Hamilton, who took third pushing Piastri to fourth.

But the seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was in full praise for his former team McLaren after their positive show at Silverstone. The Brit highlighted that he is happy seeing McLaren’s performance. He called the car a “rocket ship” and gave “big congratulations to Lando and to McLaren, where it was my family, where I first started.”

“It was a great battle we had but it’s really amazing to see the McLaren back up in competitive form. It’s been such a long time,” Hamilton added.

McLaren’s new upgrade playing role in recent races

McLaren’s work at the garage has provided them with rewards on the field. They made aerodynamic upgrades, boosting them despite having the same Mercedes engine. They used the upgrade in the previous race in Austria, where Norris bagged a fourth finish. Now they have even leapfrogged Alpine to take the fifth spot in the constructors’ championship.

But their big test will be on slower tracks, unlike the Silverstone. The next race is scheduled to be held on July 23 in Hungry, which boasts a slow average speed. Norris too is aware of the threat as he admitted that his car is “pretty terrible in the slow-speed corners, extremely difficult to drive.” The British driver knows people might expect a lot from them with the way they have done in the latest two races but it might not materialise on slow tracks. “But we’re going to go to a couple of tracks where I’m sure people are going to be saying What have you done now? Like, how has it got so bad all of a sudden?”

Max Verstappen all the way

The 2023 season is proving out to be all the way for Max Verstappen and his Red Bull. The two-time defending champion Verstappen has won six races in a row now and eight overall in 10 this season, with his teammate Sergio Perez taking the other two.

Verstappen won the British GP too after being hardly challenged. Lando Norris went past the Dutch driver early in the race but Verstappen was quick to react and kept his lead intact throughout the 52 laps in Silverstone.

Latest Sports News