Hulkenberg claims maiden F1 podium, Norris wins home Grand Prix

This year's British Grand Prix was sensational for many drivers this past weekend from start to finish. Down on the grid before lights out, there were some talks about whether or not drivers would pit on the formation lap for dry tires as the track began to dry. As the formation lap went underway, multiple drivers said over their radios the track is too wet for slicks and the majority of the grid went to the grid on the intermediate tires.

However, multiple drivers decided to head to the pitlane at the last moment to go onto the slick tires with those drivers being, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar, and Gabriel Bortoletto. Unfortunately Franco Colapinto lost power in his Alpine and was unable to start the race, making him the first person out of the grand prix

The chaos didn't stop there, as the lights went out and the grand prix got underway, Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson make contact in turn 3 causing Lawson to spin and crash out of the race. Ocon also received damage but was able to continue. Lawson came onto the radio and said to his team he got hit in the rear by the haas, but what he didn't realize is Yuki Tsunoda was to the inside of Ocon and they were 3 wide into turn 3 and Lawson had no idea the Red Bull of Tsunoda was there. Due to Lawson crashing out, the virtual safety car was deployed in order for the marshall's to retrieve Lawson's car and get it off the track. During the VSC, Kimi Antonelli goes into the pits for the slick tires and the VSC ends on lap 4.

Although it wasn't much later as Gabriel Bortoletto would spin in turn 1 and causing another virtual safety car. Bortoletto lost the rear of the car and backed it into the wall due to low grip as the track was not yet fully dry. He was able to drive away but not for long. As he got back going, the right side of the rear wing fell off and onto the track and the rule is, you cannot drive around the track spreading debris so he pulled off track shortly after and retired from the race. As the 2nd VSC ended on lap 7, Max Verstappen would get passed by championship leader Oscar Piastri on lap 8.

On lap 10 we saw Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Antonelli pit for the intermediate tires as there was heavy rain reported to hit the track shortly after that. The stewards disabled DRS on lap 11 and that sent the message to the drivers to pit for a new set of intermediates. Also on lap 11, Max Verstappen has a big moment and goes wide losing 2nd place to Lando Norris. Shortly after, Norris' race engineer tells Lando to expect at least 10 minutes of heavy rain. It wasn't too much later the full safety car was deployed on lap 14 due to how heavy the rain was on track.

During the safety car period, Charles Leclerc goes off into the grass in sector 2, but is able to keep it going. He states to the team there was water from the rain that went into his visor causing him to not be able to see well. After a couple of laps went by, the safety car ended on lap 17 and the race resumed.

However, shortly after the saftey car ended, chaos struck yet again, this time involving the Racing Bulls of Isack Hadjar and the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.

Heading into Copse corner, Hadjar struck the back of Antonelli and spun into the barrier ending his race. Visibility was still very low and many questioned why they went back racing. Antonelli recieved damage to the right side of the rake on his diffuser. Due to this incident, the safety car came out once again. During the safety car period, Esteban Ocon decided to come into the pitlane for new intermediate tires and while that was going on, Oscar Piastri reported a few puddles of standing water in turn 2 as the conditions seemed to have gotten trickier as the race went on.

On lap 21 the stewards decided to call the safety car into the pitlane so the race can get underway once more. Race leader Oscar Piastri came to a halt on the hanger straight bunching the field up to create a gap to the safety car but in doing so, multiple drivers had to take avoiding action in order to not create another accident. Max Verstappen who was just behind Piastri, nearly ran into the back of him and further back in the field, Nico Hulkenberg nearly ran into the back of Lance Stroll and had to go into the grass to avoid running into the back of the Aston Martin. Just after that occurs, Max Verstappen spins just after Stowe and falls down to 10th place behind Carlos Sainz.

Furthermore, as the race got back underway, Oliver Bearman spins from contact with Yuki Tsunoda and falls down to 15th. Fast forward to lap 24, Lewis Hamilton goes wide just after Copse and loses 6th place to former teammate George Russell. In addition, Kimi Antonelli retires from the race due to the contact with Hadjar.

After all that occured, controversy unfolded at the halfway point in the grand prix. The FIA stewards decided that Oscar Piastri's actions under the safety car restart was enough to hand him a 10 second time penalty for the egregious decrease in speed that he did in order to give a gap to the safety car.

That wasn't the only penalty handed out as Yuki Tsunoda also recieved a 10 second time penalty for the contact that sent Oliver Bearman spinning. Shortly after, Hamilton was able to pass George Russell for the 6th position he had lost a couple laps prior and also makes his way past the Alpine of Pierre Gasly for the 5th position.

In addition, the track began to dry and the stewards enabled DRS on lap 34. With DRS enabled, this allowed the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg to go by Lance Stroll for the 3rd position and the next lap, Lewis Hamilton went by Lance Stroll as well moving up into 4th, with Stroll going from 3rd to 5th in the span of half a lap. Max Verstappen also moves his way up past Sainz for 9th and Charles Leclerc goes past Alex Albon for 11th.

Since the track began to get more and more dry, Aston Martin made the call to bring Fernando Alonso into the pitlane to make him the first to go onto dry tires and a lap later, George Russell did the same. While that was going on, Charles Leclerc with a risky move, goes up into the 8th position past his former teammate Carlos Sainz. Sainz had to take avoiding action in order not to receive damage from Leclerc's lunge into turn 3 and he came over the radio saying "that was completely reckless from Leclerc."

Fernando Alonso, who was the first to pit for dry tires, turned out to be 8 seconds slower a lap compared to those who were still on the intermediate tires. He wasn't the only one with issues as George Russell who was the other driver to follow Alonso's strategy spun in sector 2 due to the track still being too wet for the slick dry tires.

Verstappen who had spun earlier in the race, kept making his way back up the field, passing Pierre Gasly for 6th on lap 41. On lap 42, multiple drivers made the call to dive into the pitlane for the dry tires as it finally was dry enough for dry tires on the majority of the track. After Lewis Hamilton made his stop for dry tires, as he exited the pitlane, he went wide in turn 2 losing a handful of time to Nico Hulkenberg for the 3rd position.

On lap 44, Oscar Piastri serves his 10 second time penalty for the safety car infringement earlier in the race and hands the lead to McLaren teammate, Lando Norris who pitted a lap later than Piastri. Further back in the field, Alonso who was struggling when he first pitted for dry tires, was able to regain the lost time and pass Alex Albon for 8th.

Oscar Piastri, who had given up the lead after serving the 10 second penalty goes wide in sector 2 and loses time to Lando Norris. He then comes onto the radio and tells the team the penalty was unfair and suggested the team to swap the positions of himself and Norris and then race each other.

On lap 47, Charles Leclerc goes into the gravel in Copse and falls down to 14th and out of the points. After Piastri had requested for the team to swap himself and Norris, his race engineer tells Piastri they will not swap the positions and race to the end.

As the laps were winding down, Max Verstappen makes it past Lance Stroll for 5th after Stroll goes wide in turn 3. Heading to the checkered, it was Lando Norris picking up his first British Grand Prix victory and claims his 8th win of his career, his 4th of 2025 ahead of Championship leader Oscar Piastri and the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg who claims his maiden F1 podium in his 239th start, snapping the longest streak of most races without a Formula 1 podium.

The overtakes were not done yet as Alex Albon goes back by Fernando Alonso for 8th and Pierre Gasly going past Lance Stroll for 6th on the last lap. With Nico Hulkenberg earning his maiden podium, he becomes the oldest driver since 1973 to stand on a Formula one podium. This is also Sauber's first podium since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix with Kamui Kobayashi.

Heading into the halfway point of the season, Oscar Piastri continues to lead the championship over Lando Norris but only by 8 points. Max Verstappen who lost more points to the Mclaren duo, is now 69 points behind and the chance at a fifth consecutive title is slowly going away. With Sauber getting their first podium of the season, they now move up to 6th in the constructor standings, their highest since 2022 under the Alfa Romeo Sauber name.