Overwhelmed with emotion, Lewis Hamilton couldn’t hold back his tears after clinching the British Grand Prix title for the ninth time. “I’ve waited so long for this,” confessed the veteran, who will be trading Mercedes for Ferrari next year. “I love you all. What an incredible team this is.”
After his victory lap, Hamilton took a moment longer to savor the win, sharing an intense, prolonged embrace with his father, Anthony. Bursting with emotion following his record-breaking ninth win at Silverstone, the tears just kept flowing. He had waited nearly two and a half years (since Saudi Arabia 2021) to once again ascend to the top step of the podium. Amidst a jubilant crowd, he did it for the 104th time at his home race, setting yet another record.
“I’m still crying,” admitted Hamilton (39) when interviewed post-race by former teammate Jenson Button. “Since that win in Saudi Arabia, I’ve woken up every day to fight, to train, and to win. This is my last British Grand Prix with Mercedes. I wanted so badly to win for them because I’m so grateful to the team and the fans here. Every lap, I saw the fans cheering. Truly, there’s no better feeling than winning at Silverstone,” said Hamilton, who, following George Russell’s victory last week in Austria, delivered Mercedes their second consecutive win. “I’ve waited so long for this.”
On the podium, Hamilton was joined by his race engineer Peter Bonnington, or ‘Bono’ to his racing friends. The duo has seen the glory days, the ‘decline,’ and now the (temporary?) exclamation point at Silverstone. “There were days when I didn’t know if I would still be good enough,” Hamilton confessed. “But I always had the support of the team, always being encouraged.”
Team boss Toto Wolff was also somewhat emotional, seeing his ‘old soldier’ still mastering the craft. “This is like a fairy tale,” Wolff believed. “We knew it would happen one day. This means a lot to me too, we never give up. It just couldn’t have been better,” judged Mercedes’ team boss, who saw Hamilton add another Grand Prix victory to his tally, seventeen years after his first Formula 1 win, in his 344th race.
