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43/52 Hulkenberg holds third. Piastri is called in.
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42/52 Pitting time: Hamilton can’t get past Hulkenberg and so comes in, the slicks it is. Verstappen comes in, too. Hamilton is struggling on these new tyres. Hulkenberg pits – and it’s too slow – such a shame.
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41/52 Verstappen past Gasly and into sixth. Piastri is told not to be too silly if Norris comes close to him.
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40/52 George Russell spins and into the gravel – that’s the slicks shown up to be not up to the job. Thankfully he’s able to continue but a pit and a spin means he’s in 14th. Alonso also struggling on slicks.
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39/52 Verstappen is in eighth, his lack of downforce – a “tea tray”, as Christian Horner called it – presents a problem.
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38/52 Quicker from Piastri, and he opens his lead on Norris. Alonso plays guinea pigs as he comes in to change to dry tyres. Russell and Mercedes will take that action – they go to the slicks.
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37/52 Norris has the fastest lap. The race is McLaren’s but which of their cars? Piastri has the choice of going into the pits or having 10 seconds chalked off.
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36/52 Hamilton is enjoying the dry and Hulkenberg’s quest for a podium place is to be denied by the Ferrari’s straight-line speed.
Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari. Photograph: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.23 BST
35/52 Hulkenberg blazes past Stroll, who soon has Hamilton for company. The old master chases a podium place. Verstappen finally overtakes Sainz.
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34/52 Verstappen is stuck behind Sainz in 10th. This is desperate for him.
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33/52 Russell is chasing Gasly as he seeks to chase old teammate Hamilton.
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32/52 Piastri: “It’s drying but slowly, too soon for slicks.”
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31/52 Hulkenberg gives chase to Stroll, and third is in sight for the Sauber. Stroll says the track is starting to dry. Norris and Piastri look set for a battle at the front. It’s Norris’s to lose.
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30/52 Hamilton has finally overtaken Gasly for fifth. Hulkenberg, in fourth, has never been on the podium. We are willing him on.
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29/52 Piastri and Norris are 3.6 seconds apart. It’s over 15 seconds to Stroll.
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28/52 Hamilton and Gasly really going at it. Great racing.
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27/52 Hamilton goes after Gasly – his old mate – and the Frenchman has more battery, and is using it to defend himself. “So slow,” complains Verstappen of a car in deep traffic.
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26/52 Zak Brown of McLaren confirms that an appeal has gone in. Hamilton has overtaken Russell. These are his conditions. Discussions on the 10-second penalty within the McLaren pit.
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10-second penalty for Piastri!
25/52 That’s his punishment for his jiggery pokery behind the safety car. He’s 10 seconds clear of Stroll, and 3.6 on Norris who is de facto leader. Verstappen is way back in 10th.
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri behind the safety car. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PAShare
Updated at 16.24 BST
24/52 The McLarens are flying – three seconds per lap ahead of the rest. Could a penaly for Piastri hand it over to Norris? Russell and Hamilton do battle, the Ferrari comes wide, and Russell holds the line to go through. Antonelli has retired by the way.
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23/52 Piastri is under investigation for messing around by the safety car. Norris is second, Stroll is third, Hulkenberg fourth, Gasly fifth, Hamilton sixth.
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Verstappen spins off!
22/52 Just as the safety car departed, Verstappen spins off, Piastri and him were jousting. He’s down in 10th. And then spins wide again, and is in 11th, before going past Ocon again. Did Piastri cause that? “Whoa, mate! He just suddenly slows down.” Piastri in lumber? Verstappen was lucky not to get in a smash there.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands spins at the restart. Photograph: Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 16.00 BST
21/52 “This puddle at turn two is a problem,” says Piastri. Does a red flag result? Antonelli comes in for a tyre change. His diffuser has gone after that Hadjar crash. Bits are coming off his car. Will he complete? No rear downforce.
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20/52 More safety car “action”, with plenty of spray.
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19/52 Hadjar smashes into the back of Antonelli. “From out of nowhere, man,” says Hadjar. Hamilton is complaining he can’t see anything.
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18/52 The spray is huge as they race. Russell overtakes Hamilton, and Ocon drops two places to ninth. Nobody can see much, surely. Piastri opens up a two-second lead on Verstappen as Norris closes – and Isack Hadjar crashes out. Oof, that was some prang, he’s into the stands. Another safety car.
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17/52 Verstappen and Piastri jousting behind the safety car. George Russell asks why the race hasn’t been stopped. The safety car is set to be removed, and we are going to race once more.
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16/52 Alonso, in 10th, is complaining about tyres and the pre-race change he made, as Lance Stroll is in fourth in the Aston Martin car.
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15/52 More safety car “action”…it’s stopped raining at Aston Martin so the blue skies will soon return.
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14/52 Leclerc has set the fastest lap but almost came off. He’s in 14th of just 17 drivers remaining. Another safety car, and the race comes back together when Piastri was 13 seconds clear. Leclerc: “I couldn’t see anything.” He cut the corner completely. It’s stopped raining.
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13/52 An exciting race, and what’s making it exciting is good old British weather. The water is flying off the leaders, who can hardly see anything in these conditions. It’s sprayaway time.
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A bad pit means Norris loses P2 to Verstappen
12/52 Not a Brad Pitt. Norris lost his place to Verstappen and Albon. He’s in fourth, then overtakes Ocon. There are 10 more minutes of rain expected.
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Norris overtakes Verstappen
11/52 Norris makes his move and just as Verstappen starts his defensive move, he comes off the track, but back and Norris is in P2. All three leaders pit!
McLaren’s Lando Norris in action. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/ReutersShare
Updated at 15.43 BST
10/52 Leclerc is lapping three seconds quicker than everyone, and now Mercedes Antonelli comes in to change tyres. The rain is back again. The dry tyres are coming in – that’s Russell and others.
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9/52 Norris is four seconds off Verstappen but has set a fastest lap. It’s between the McLarens and the Red Bull.
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Piastri overtakes Hamilton!
8/52 Piastri goes for it again at Copse, Verstappen on the defensive. Wheel to wheel at the Hangar Straight and Piastri leads.
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7/52 Back racing – for now. Piastri is on Verstappen’s tail. No DRS due to the conditions as they got to Stowe.
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6/52 Piastri has the fastest lap. The forecast is rain in 10 minutes. They crawl along in stasis. Not much racing but Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Hamilton and Gasly is our top five.
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5/52 Up at the front, Piastri is after Verstappen, who is sliding all over the place. Bortoletto is told to retire. Another virtual safety car. Russell is asking to overtake teammate Antonelli. “I’m much quicker here.”
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4/52 We are back racing. Gabriel Bortoletto is off, and he’s back racing. No need for a safety car but this is carnage. Proper racing. Bortoletto will crawl along, his race surely done.
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3/52 Colapinto is retired now, in the Alpine. He started at the back of the grid. The word is the track is good for slicks aside from the last two corners. Charles Leclerc 15th, Russell in 13th after those tyres.
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2/52 Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton took each other on in the closing sections. Hamilton couldn’t get past Norris. Those on slicks are losing time. Lawson is off, after being hit by Ocon. There’s a virtual safety car in action. Lots of froth coming off the cars in those late sections. Lawson: “who the hell was that?”
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Away we go
1/52 They start slowly but Verstappen holds the lead ahead of Piastri. No prangs but Liam Lawson looks to have come off. Yellow flags but no safety car.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leads into the first corner at the start of the race ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Photograph: Andrew Boyers/ReutersShare
Updated at 16.03 BST
No safety car for the start, surely? Cars coming in to change tyres before the race. Hard tyres for Russell. They will start in the pit lane.
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The formation lap will be behind the safety car. Rain is expected again at 15 laps in. Lots of talk about tyres. There’s always lots of talk about tyres.
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Andy Flintoff gets in touch: “With your entry at 14.46, I thought you were doing a thing, but it certainly would have been funny if the comedian Tony Hawks and the historian Tom Holland had been booked instead of the skateboarder and the actor.”
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My colleague Beau Dure emails in: “Wasn’t it strange that they depicted Pitt’s time in the McLaren as if it was his first time doing it, but then he said he logged about 6,000 miles in training and filming? I saw the film this week — solid B+, though I wish it had treated its female characters a bit better. Brad Pitt gets some female companionship, but Damson Idris gets the “hey, can you introduce me to THAT guy” treatment? Really?”
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Some news via Reuters.
The top three Formula One drivers in Sunday’s British Grand Prix will have to handle their trophies with care during the podium celebrations or risk ending up with a pile of LEGO toy bricks. “We wanted to create something very special because it’s the 75th anniversary,” LEGO’s chief product and marketing officer Julia Goldin told Reuters.
The blocks are stuck together with glue, and took seven builders 210 hours to create in Denmark. Goldin said breakages would not be the end of the world.
McLaren’s Lando Norris did just that in Hungary with a special porcelain trophy in 2023.
“If he smashes the trophy it will fall apart into thousands of beautiful bricks,” said Goldin. “And then we can rebuild it. Because that’s the whole point of LEGO bricks. “You can create amazing things and then you can rebuild them. I just want the drivers to be happy and whatever they do is fine.”
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Oh, and Vin Diesel was there, too, as the former Quentin Cook signs off with a version of the Stones’ Satisfaction.
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The pit walk
Tony Hawk – skateboarder not member of Morris Minor and The Majors – is here. He has his board with him. Tom Holland – actor not popular historian – is also there. “I am going to try and catch Lewis. I am always wary not to be a distraction,” he tells Martin Brundle. Damson Idris – of the Brad film – will be waving the chequered flag. “I’m so glad everyone has supported the movie.” It stops raining. Nigel Mansell – from the Isle of Mad – is there with Jackie Stewart. “Lewis has an outside chance,” says Nige. Sebastian Coe is cheering for “anyone who can master the circumstances. Clarkson’s here, Clarksoning along. “There’s 20 drivers, and 17 I like them.” Someone called Kaleb – a Clarkson acolyte? – is there with Jezza. Sam Ryder – the world’s most excitable man – gives Brundle a hug. Hannah Waddingham dishes out the hugs and the luvviedom to Brunds, too. She wants to see Hamilton and Verstappen “going at it in the wet”. The drivers rush to the track. Fernando Alonso gives the thumbs up. Ian Wright is “buzzing, bro”, and now Idris Elba is as hyped as Wrighty and Ryder – he’s “Team Lewis”. And here’s the National Anthem with clouds deep above the track…Becky Hill gives it the discursive, big flourish at the end on “k-i-n-g”. Let’s get racing!
Hawk with his board, takes all kind. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesShare
Updated at 14.49 BST
Fat Boy Slim is on the wheels of steel. Can he be overheard over the engines? Right here, right now, it’s still raining. “I love that it’s raining,” says Lewis Hamilton. “Good old English weather. I get nervous as this is the week you get nervous the most. The fans have been ride or die with me. Thanks to them I really get to enjoy it.”
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It’s raining in Northamptonshire. Good news for Max? Wet weather doesn’t usually stop him. A prep race was abandoned earlier in the day but the track dries quickly.
MetOffice: “expected to be a heavy rain shower passing over the track from the north-west to the south-east, with further rain in the area of Silverstone throughout the afternoon.”
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It rather goes without saying that the coverage today features the Brad Pitt F1 film you will have seen advertised just about everywhere. He’s showing Martin Brundle how he drives an F1 car, a McLaren. “What a rush!,” says our Brad, though he’s nowhere near as quick as Brunds.
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Updated at 14.21 BST
And a qualifying report.
In beating the charging McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Britain’s Lando Norris into second and third, Verstappen proved once more to be the difference, his touch and precision exquisite through the sweeping, high-speed blast of Silverstone, which demands inch-perfect commitment.
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A scene-setter for this weekend from Giles Richards.
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Drivers’ championship standings
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1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 216 points
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2. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 201 points
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3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 155 points
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4. George Russell (Mercedes) – 146 points
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5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 119 points
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6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 91 points
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7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 63 points
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8. Alex Albon (Williams) – 42 points
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9. Esteban Ocon (Haas) – 23 points
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10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) – 22 points
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Grid positions
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Preamble
Max Verstappen on pole and looking like he means business. This is truly shaping into a world championship to remember. The two McLarens are at close hand and Silverstone, where the championship has visited every season in its history, looks set for a classic. It won’t just be getting in and out of the car park that will be a closely fought battle. Two more plucky Brits in George Russell and Lewis Hamilton complete the top five. It’s been a week of rumours of Verstappen jumping ship, and much else besides but the talking will be done on the grand old track.
We go at 3pm. Join me.
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