Lando Norris wins thrilling British Grand Prix in the rain to cut Oscar Piastri’s F1 lead

SILVERSTONE England It was an image that inspired Lando Norris to chase his Formula dream The sight of Lewis Hamilton his tires kicking up a tail of spray as he sped through the rain toward mastery at the British Grand Prix in stayed with the -year-old Norris who was watching on TV On Sunday Norris got his own win in a thrilling wet British GP also involving Hamilton in front of the British crowd I got that picture of him going around and seeing all the fans standing up that picture of what the atmosphere at Silverstone is like and dreamed of that for a great number of plenty of years Norris disclosed In the modern day I got to live that feeling myself Amid spins crashes and argument Norris held on to win and cut the gap to his teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri Norris had stated it was the race he d give up all other victories for He started third on the grid overtook Max Verstappen for second lost the place again due to a slow pit stop then saw Verstappen spin out ahead of him He took the lead after Piastri had to serve a -second penalty for sharp braking behind the safety car earlier It was McLaren s first win at Silverstone since that Hamilton preeminence in Hamilton went on to win his first title that year On Sunday Hamilton finished fourth This is a dream winning at home It s beautiful Norris communicated the band over the radio Thanks for the memory I ll remember this more than anything He climbed out of the car and celebrated with both arms raised to take in the moment before hugs with his crew and his mother On the podium Norris closed his eyes with a smile as the British anthem played McLaren ignores Piastri s request to swap Piastri finished second behind Norris after the penalty He solicited for the lead back The Australian thought the penalty was unfair arguing it was for a legal move that he and others had done before to slow down the cars behind before speeding off at the restart Adding an element of argument to what s been an unusually friendly title rivalry Piastri even suggested that if McLaren thought the call was unfair the band could ask him and Norris to swap places to cancel the effect of the penalty The group declined to do so Piastri had been leading the pack before a restart from safety car conditions and slowed to back up the cars behind but did it sharply enough that Max Verstappen behind had to swerve to avoid him Once it became clear Piastri would have to serve the penalty at his next pit stop Norris made sure the Australian couldn t build a lead to cancel it out Norris just needed to stay with his teammate and hovered two seconds behind waiting to inherit the lead Piastri now leads Norris by eight points overall cut from It s the halfway point of the season with of races remaining History for H lkenberg In a race with plenty of crashes and spins Sauber s Nico H lkenberg was third from th on the grid for his first podium finish in his th race of an F career that began in His organization hadn t finished in the top three since Verstappen started on pole but ended up fifth after spinning from second behind Piastri at a safety-car restart briefly dropping to th The Dutch driver stayed third in the standings but it was another heavy blow to his title defense leaving him points off Piastri Smart strategy could win big like it did for Hulkenberg or liability everything George Russell petitioned the unit for slick tires on a slippery track and span off through the gravel a lap later finishing th Rookies off the road It was a rough day for the rookies Racing Bulls Isack Hadjar crashed into the wall after hitting the back of fellow rookie Kimi Antonelli saying he couldn t see the Mercedes driver in the rain Antonelli later retired and fellow rookies Gabriel Bortoleto Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto all failed to finish too Oliver Bearman made it to the end for Haas in th but crashed into teammate Esteban Ocon along the way Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams