Lando Norris stands tall at Silverstone

Another home-grown hero wins the British GP but as Mark Hughes reports, Oscar Piastri had a fighting response at a soggy Spa

- By Mark Hughes

The 2025 British Grand Prix would be the last race in which Red Bull Racing was led by Christian Horner, his departure from the team announced three days later.

The following Belgian Grand Prix thereby became the first post-Horner race in the team’s two-decade history. The McLaren steamroller continued regardless.

Although Max Verstappen danced his skinny-winged Red Bull to pole position at Silverstone, a race day much rainier than forecast left him a bit-part player, albeit with an early cameo which was influential in deciding the result - but not in his favour. The lead roles were taken by the two McLaren drivers, with Lando Norris winning his home grand prix for the first time, from disillusioned team-mate Oscar Piastri, the recipient of a penalty which cost him the race and which he felt was unjustified, see panel opposite.

Before the first of two consecutive safety cars, Verstappen had led away from Piastri and Norris on a wet but drying track. But the skinny wing meant he was giving his intermediate tyres a tough time and by the eighth lap was understeering through the slow corners and oversteering on the exits of the fast ones. Piastri surged into the lead on the eighth lap and was followed through three laps later by Norris, as Verstappen had a major moment through Chapel.

As the rain returned, so everyone pitted for new inters. Norris was delayed by a sticking wheel nut, allowing Verstappen back into second. Piastri at this point simply disappeared up the road, 13sec ahead within five laps, as Norris struggled to find a way back ahead of the Red Bull now that it was on fresh tyres once more. Without any external complicating factors, Piastri looked well on his way to a dominant victory. But those external complications arrived courtesy of that historical randomiser, the Silverstone rain.