British GP 2025: Norris wins at home as Piastri pays a penalty

Lando Norris won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 6 July, his first victory at his home race, finishing 6.812 seconds ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. Piastri had led a wet, stop-start race from lap 8, but a 10-second penalty for his braking before a safety car restart handed the win to the driver who started third. Nico Hülkenberg took third for Sauber from 19th on the grid.

How Norris won the British Grand Prix

Max Verstappen took pole by 0.103 seconds from Piastri, with Norris a further 0.015s back. The race began on intermediates after a formation lap behind the safety car. George Russell and Charles Leclerc pitted for slicks at the end of it and started from the pit lane, a gamble the returning rain would punish.

Verstappen kept the lead off the line, but his low-downforce Red Bull had little grip on intermediates, and Piastri went down the inside at Stowe on lap 8. Two virtual safety cars had already come and gone: Liam Lawson was out after contact with Esteban Ocon on the opening lap, and Gabriel Bortoleto crashed his Sauber at Farm.

A heavy shower brought out the full safety car on lap 14. At the restart Isack Hadjar, blinded by spray, hit the back of Kimi Antonelli at Copse. Hadjar was out on the spot, Antonelli a few laps later with a wrecked diffuser. The restart after that second safety car decided the race. Piastri slowed sharply on the Hangar Straight, from about 218 km/h to 52 km/h according to the FIA, and Verstappen had to take avoiding action before spinning at Stowe and falling to tenth.

The stewards gave Piastri 10 seconds for erratic braking behind the safety car. He served it at his final stop on lap 44, switching to mediums as the track dried. Norris pitted a lap later and came out in front. Piastri asked the pit wall to swap the cars back. McLaren said no.

The teammate duels at Silverstone

McLaren. Piastri beat Norris by 0.015s on Saturday, Norris won on Sunday. That leaves their head-to-head at 6–6 in qualifying and 6–6 in races in our count, which is about as level as a duel gets after twelve rounds.

Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton out-qualified Leclerc by 0.026s for fifth and finished fourth, ten places ahead of him. Leclerc's early switch to slicks backfired, and he was off the road more than once afterwards. Leclerc still leads Hamilton vs Leclerc 9–2 in races on F1 Duels, while qualifying is closer at 8–4. Fourth also ended Hamilton's run of British GP podiums dating back to 2014.

Aston Martin. Lance Stroll started 17th, had a spell on softs and was third at half distance. Hülkenberg, Hamilton and Verstappen then came past, and Pierre Gasly took sixth from him on the final lap. Seventh still beat Fernando Alonso, ninth after an early switch to slicks. It is Stroll's first race win over Alonso this season in their duel, which Alonso leads 7–1, and 11–0 in qualifying.

Sauber. Hülkenberg stopped for fresh intermediates just before the downpour and was fifth when the safety car came out. He passed Stroll at Stowe for third and kept Hamilton behind to the flag: a first podium at his 239th start, and Sauber's first since the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix. Bortoleto had out-qualified him, but his crash takes their race out of our count.

What it means for the title

Norris's fourth win of the season, and his second in a row, cut Piastri's championship lead from 15 points to eight. The two McLarens finished more than 27 seconds clear of Hülkenberg. Verstappen recovered to fifth, and Russell scraped tenth after a spin on a drying track. Every verdict from the weekend is on the British GP duels page.