Mark Webber applauds ‘magnificent’ driver who passed three race-winners at Silverstone

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Lewis Hamilton may have triumphed eventually, but there were points where five different drivers looked like they could have won the British Grand Prix. It was arguably the most enthralling race of the season so far.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell started on pole and appeared the initial favourite. He saw off his competitors at the start and managed the gap until the rain came down and he fell back.

That was when the McLarens came alive. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who had already cleared Max Verstappen, stormed past the two Mercedes and into a one-two.

However, strategic errors cost both of them. Piastri changed onto the intermediates a lap too late, while Norris was outfoxed by his rivals on the crossover back to the slicks.

It was Verstappen who then had the initiative in the final stint. Red Bull fitted hard tyres onto his car, which allowed him to push while the two drivers in front of him nursed their degrading softs.

He passed Norris and set about catching Hamilton but wasn’t able to put the 39-year-old under serious pressure. The gap at the chequered flag was just under 1.5 seconds.

Mark Webber raves about Oscar Piastri after British Grand Prix

Writing on his Instagram story on Monday, Mark Webber called attention to Piastri’s display. The former Red Bull driver, a nine-time Grand Prix winner, manages his fellow Australian.

After passing Verstappen, the 23-year-old executed moves on two more race-winners within the space of a single lap. He got ahead of Russell on the Wellington Straight, and then bravely powered past Hamilton on the run towards Stowe, dipping a wheel on the grass as he did so.

In the end, Piastri was undone by McLaren’s reluctance to stack their cars in the pits. They feared he would lose more time waiting for Norris to be serviced, but this proved to be ill-judged.

The sophomore driver had formidable pace in the final stint on medium tyres. He finished within five seconds of Norris, having come out of the pits 15 behind.

“Magnificent performance again,” Webber wrote in a story that was accompanied by Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’. “Those that know, know.”

The Lando Norris comments that will ‘get in Piastri’s head’

Piastri finished ninth in the standings last year on 97 points, but he’s already surpassed that tally in 2024. With 124 under his belt, he’s now overtaken the Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

He’s within 26 of the two Ferraris ahead of him, but just under 50 behind Norris (171). His teammate has beaten him in nine out of 12 races so far, and 10 qualifying sessions.

Since Jolyon Palmer suggested that Piastri was producing some ‘underwhelming’ performances, he’s finished runner-up in Austria and fourth at Silverstone. They were both races he could have won had things panned out a little differently.

But Marc Priestley says talk about Norris being a challenger to Verstappen will ‘get in Piastri’s head’. He must ensure he doesn’t come to be viewed as a number two driver at Woking, or he may end up thinking of himself in such terms.