Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd at the 2026 F1 British GP. However, despite achieving his 16th podium at his home race, the Brit was left frustrated.
Hamilton’s difficulties started early on in the race. A false start meant that he received a 5-second time penalty, which he served during his first pit stop. Despite this, he managed to make his way back to P2. When Verstappen triggered a Safety Car near the end of the race, Hamilton pitted for a fresh set of tyres.
However, ex-teammate George Russell stayed out, which caused Hamilton to lose track position. there wasn’t enough time in the race for a restart, so Hamilton had to finish the 2026 British GP in P3.
Praise for Charles Leclerc
Lewis Hamilton admitted his own race fell apart from the very start of the 2026 British GP. However, he had nothing but praise for teammate Charles Leclerc, who secured the victory for Ferrari.
While Leclerc converted Ferrari’s pace into a commanding win, Hamilton endured a difficult afternoon that included a jump start, an ill-fated set-up decision and a five-second penalty.
“Yeah not that great. Charles did a mega job today and fully deserves the win. From my side, pretty bad from the get-go. I jumped the start, which I have done very few times in the 380-odd races that I’ve done”
When asked about the jump-start, Hamilton insisted that it was purely accidental.
“My hand just moved, but just moved just like that and then I don’t really know where it went. I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t even tell my hand to do it, but anyways it happens.”
Set up gamble left Hamilton fighting understeer
Hamilton explained that changes he made to his Ferrari before the British GP ultimately worked against him. After feeling the car oversteer during qualifying, he reduced the front wing, only to spend much of the opening stint battling severe understeer.
“Balance-wise, I noticed Charles went up on his balance, I think, compared to qualifying, added more wing. And I felt the car was really oversteering with the diff settings that we had. And so I took out wing, and then I had the biggest biggest understeer at the beginning of the race.
“So he just pulled away from me. I just couldn’t even turn the car, so until halfway kind of through that first stint I managed to start turning the car a little bit better with some changes. But by then the gap was already huge, and then the five seconds at the stop and then it’s just one thing after the other.”
The team also took a gamble when pitting under the Safety Car. Hamilton revealed that he wouldn’t have agreed to the stop if he had known he would lose position.
“The team asked me to stop. I assumed in stopping that we would be holding position. If they told me you’re stopping and you’re losing position, I wouldn’t have done.”
Missing the yellow flag
During the race, Hamilton was noted for a yellow flag infringement. This has since been resolved, and the Brit received no penalty. When asked about this, Hamilton stated that his focus on the race meant he didn’t see the flag.
“I literally just got past Max, so I come through Turn 9, and I was literally just staring in the mirror because I was thinking he’s going to come in a bit like George coming back past me, and that’s where I was looking.
“I didn’t see the flag, so that’s why later on if you hear the radio, that’s why later on I asked if there was the other flag because I didn’t see one. Yeah, that was it.”
Ferrari exceeded expectations at Silverstone
Despite his own disappointment, Hamilton believes Ferrari can leave Silverstone encouraged after producing competitive pace throughout the weekend.
“I mean it’s amazing. It’s amazing to see the pace that we’ve had this weekend at this sort of circuit. We definitely didn’t anticipate it and so just phenomenal to be strong all weekend as a team and to come away with really good points is really, really special and a big huge thanks to the team.”
Hamilton also spoke on the teams progress since the start of the season.
“I’m massively impressed. I think we came into the season knowing that we needed to level up in our processes and just how we executed on race weekends and that’s something that we were pushing for last year.
“The team’s really… every single individual brings so much to the table and is bringing the best to the table. The guys in the garage work so hard for the pit stops, we’ve got great pit stops and everyone back in the factory works so hard to bring this consistency and that’s really what I think ultimately is going to make the difference this year.”
