F1 British GP Live Commentary and Updates – Race
Minute-by-minute updates for the 2024 Formula 1 British Grand Prix.
George Russell starts from pole position, having led an all-British 1-2-3 in qualifying at Silverstone.
Eight-time British Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton joins his Mercedes team-mate on the front row, with Lando Norris starting third for McLaren and he is joined by reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen – just seven days on from their clash at the Austrian GP.
Live Text
Leclerc is losing so much time compared to Sainz, the gap is up to 10 seconds now. Hulkenberg has gotten past Stroll for P8.
Hamilton and Russell run off-track together at the first corner, both caught out by the slippery conditions. Norris pounces to take second off Russell but Hamilton still leads.
Hamilton takes the lead with the aid of DRS into Stowe! The rain is really coming down now on lap 19.
Now Hamilton is sizing up Russell for a move for the lead! The rain is intensifying too!
Piastri takes Verstappen in an identical move to Norris at Stowe two laps later! The Australian is up to fourth.
Norris has already cleared Verstappen out of his DRS range having set a fastest lap of 1m30.946s, while Piastri is gaining on the Red Bull driver.
If the rain does intensify now, Ferrari could stand to gain as they can easily double stack.
Ferrari expects heavy rain right now. So, after 15 laps of very little, this race is about to come alive.
On lap 15 Norris lines up Verstappen, using DRS, to charge by the Red Bull into Stowe. The McLaren driver is up to third and the crowd goes wild!
The first drops of rain have been spotted on the Hamilton straight. Right on schedule.
The Silverstone crowd responds to Norris gaining on Verstappen with a cheer of encouragement. What will go down following their Austrian GP clash last week?
Leclerc finally gets through on Stroll, making the move down into Stowe. He has a 4.4-second gap to bridge to team-mate Sainz up ahead.
Norris has moved back into the DRS range of Verstappen, does he fancy restarting the fight for third?
Zhou's had enough of his soft tyres and switches to mediums. That could be a race wrecker.
Russell's lead is trimmed to 1.3s by Hamilton but both Mercedes are lapping three or four tenths of a second off their current best laps.
Perez watch... he's back on the attack, this time on the tail of Magnussen for P15. It's not incredible progress, but there's plenty of time to get into the points.
McLaren is certain the rain will be enough to need intermediate tyres, so the question is when and not if. Meanwhile, Red Bull tells Verstappen that the 10-minute rain shower is five minutes from arriving.
So, this is a tyre management race in order to not compromise your strategy if the rain forces a quick change of plan. The rain might never arrive, but it is too great a risk to take at this stage of the race.
Ferrari tells Leclerc "rain is expected in seven laps and will last for 10 minutes" - but will it be the heavy stuff or a light sprinkling?
The soft tyre gamble hasn't worked for Ocon and Zhou. They are now down in 17th and 18th as Perez surges past.
Russell remains the fastest driver on track at the moment, his lead up to 1.6s at the start of lap 9. Nobody out of the frontrunners is attacking so that leads me to believe a fair amount of tyre management is under way to avoid needing to make an early stop if this rain does arrive and forces an unscheduled additional stop.
Confirmation that Gasly's issue was a gearbox issue. Ouch.
Stroll made his way up to seventh on lap one and is now really hurting Leclerc's race.
The battle for position, which also has Hulkenberg tagged along, is three seconds away from Sainz's P6.
Russell creeps up his lead to 1.4s on Hamilton, while Verstappen is a further 1.5s back but has Norris in his DRS range. McLaren has warned its drivers about rain on lap 6 (so now) while Red Bull tells Verstappen rain is coming on lap 16.
Perez has made the first move of his recovery drive, making his way past Bottas for P18.
Russell has stepped up his pace at the front, posting a fastest lap of 1m31.298s, which puts him 1.2s ahead of Hamilton. Verstappen is in tow which is bringing along both McLarens too.
Hulkenberg is under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 3 on lap one.
Meanwhile, Sargeant reports bodywork falling off his team-mate's Williams. Albon had contact with Alonso on the opening tour.
All very well behaved on the opening laps, with Russell leading Hamilton who is tucked up in DRS range. They will aim to pull out of range of Verstappen as quickly as possible.
Zhou in 14th, Ocon in 16th and Perez at the back are the only ones not on medium tyres - the Sauber and Alpine on softs and Red Bull on hards.
Leclerc has made a strong start to get up to eighth as Hulkenberg falls to ninth. Albon has also fallen down the order - he sits 12th but continues despite reporting a puncture.
At the end of the first lap Russell leads by 0.8s from Hamilton and then comes Vertappen, Norris, Piastri and Sainz. DRS is enabled.
The British GP is go! Russell defends from Hamilton to keep the lead, but Verstappen goes around the outside of Norris at The Loop to take third!
Gasly dives into the pits at the end of the formation lap as he has an issue with his car! Nightmare!
Everyone, apart from Perez in the pitlane, gets away smoothly and Russell is already approaching Vale to lead the pack back to the starting grid. Here we go...
Russell leads away the F1 car train for the formation lap, time for the serious business.
A helicopter shot spots a heavy rain shower behind the final corner, which is where the weather comes from at Silverstone - and is also the wind direction today. Everyone expects that to arrive in an hour but what happens between now and then is anyone's guess.
Starting tyres: Zhou and Ocon are on the softs, Perez is on the hards starting from the pitlane and everyone else is on the mediums. Easy.
But that's enough about the ifs, buts and maybes. Time for certainty: the British GP is five minutes away. Settle in, this should be cracker!
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, congratulates pole man George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, on arrival in Parc Ferme
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
The official risk of rain in the race is 60% but it isn't clear what intensity the rain will be if it arrives. A light sprinkling and the slick tyres should be able to handle that, anything more and the intermediate rubber will be called into action.
Strategy snapshot: We've hesitant to commit to this given the weather forecast, but a one-stop race should be on the cards. Pirelli expects most to start on the softs - or perhaps a fresh medium - and then switch to mediums or hards to make the finish. But if any of the wet stuff arrives, you can forget about that:
By: Autosport Staff
