Why Hamilton's Silverstone mastery marked one of his most magical F1 wins

If you had done the same good thing 103 times before, do you think the 104th would move you very much?

Would it feel just as special, if not more so, than the very first time? Would it hit your heart so hard that you lose all composure in an instant? Would your limbs turn to jelly as everything starts to settle in the aftermath? Would you blubber like a little boy before your family, friends, and colleagues?

Probably not. But then again, you’re not Lewis Hamilton, and you haven’t just won your 104th Formula 1 race.

READ MORE: F1 British Grand Prix Results: Hamilton beats Verstappen in HISTORIC Silverstone race

In Sunday’s British Grand Prix the seven-time world champion, without a win in two-and-a-half years, delivered one of the very best performances of his career to take the checkered flag in front of his adoring home crowd to remind the world that he continues to operate at the very top of his game.

"Thank you so much guys, it means a lot to get this one," he said through an audible flood of tears on team radio afterwards.

This was his ninth victory on home soil, a record for any driver at a single circuit in the 74-year history of F1, and it was delivered with the trademark mixture of stellar decision making, superb opportunism, and sheer rip-roaring speed that has defined the career of the sport’s most successful ever racer.

Having started second behind Mercedes team-mate George Russell, Hamilton mastered the tumultuous conditions – swirling ceaselessly from dry to wet and back again with seemingly no period of consistency for the drivers to properly adjust – to palm off the challenges of Russell, the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and arch-rival Max Verstappen.

The Mercedes was the fastest car in qualifying on Saturday, but the McLaren seemed to have the edge for most of Sunday, Norris and Piastri straightforwardly passing both Russell and Hamilton as the track became increasingly damp thanks to their machines’ better balance through the corners.

But when it came to the final switch, the point at which each driver needed to make the call over when to ditch the intermediates and move back to slick tyres, Hamilton not only chose the right time but the correct rubber to make his dream of a return to the top step come true.

While Norris stayed out one lap too long and dropped behind, Verstappen went for hard tyres in comparison with Hamilton’s softs, and was closing in during the final few laps. Had the race been a few laps longer, the Dutchman would no doubt have made the overtake and snatched the win.

READ MORE: Hamilton moved to TEARS after breaking winless streak - Top three verdict

But that decision to go for used softs over fresh hards ultimately won Hamilton the race.

They gave him the pace on the out-lap to punish Norris’ folly in staying out longer, while also allowing him to maintain a gap to Verstappen in third that the triple world champion didn’t have enough time to overcome by the time he had dispatched Norris and Hamilton’s softs were losing grip.

Throughout the race, Hamilton expertly kept himself in the DRS range of cars in front to maximise his tyre life, raced at an aggressive pace at the right points to first close in on adversaries and then to extended his advantage over them, and punished his rivals’ errors ruthlessly.

The sheer intelligence of this drive from Hamilton renders it one of the most impressive he has ever delivered.

Couple the quality of the performance with the length of time since he last crossed the finish line in first place, and you understand why Hamilton was so emotionally overwhelmed afterwards.

In his post-race interview with former McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, he said: "I can't stop crying. Since 2021 I've given up every day trying to fight, to train, to work as hard as I can with this amazing team. I wanted to win this so much for them because I love them so much. I'm forever grateful for them. "The important thing is continuing to dig deep even when you feel at the bottom of the barrel. There were definitely days I didn't feel good enough or like I would get back here.

Later, he added: “It is surreal. My heart is racing. I’ve had so many amazing times here before, but when I crossed that line something released in me that I’ve been holding on to for a long time.

“This is the most emotional end to a race I’ve ever had. There were so many thoughts and doubts in my mind along the way [since 2021] - at times not wanting to continue. To succeed is the honestly the greatest feeling I can remember having.”

For the most successful man this championship has ever known to rank so highly a one-off win in a season in which he is nowhere near a title challenge demonstrates the pure magic of elite sport – it can drench its most-storied superheroes in waves of stunned ecstasy when even they least expect it.

Sometimes you do something so often enough that the magic wears off. And sometimes you do it a 104th time and it makes you feel more alive than you ever did before.

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