F1 News
How Anthony Hamilton knew his son would win: 'Never going to give up'
Lewis Hamilton broke a series of records on Sunday, including the most wins at a single circuit. At Silverstone, he won the British Grand Prix for a ninth time. Speaking after the race, the Mercedes driver made it clear that this win was emotionally very different, as he compared it to his first at the circuit.
Hamilton first won his home race in 2008, when he was driving for McLaren. With Mercedes, he has won eight times now at home, with the previous being in 2021. This season though will be his last with Mercedes, as he moves to Ferrari in 2025. At the start of the season, Mercedes were lacking performance, but since the introduction of a range of upgrades in Montreal, the team has improved, and has achieved two wins, their first since 2022.
Although Hamilton is no stranger to winning at Silverstone, he admits this season's win was rather different. "I don't feel like I'm able to compare this one to any other," he said. "I had so many great moments and moments where I didn't think that I was going to be able to win, like the first Grand Prix win here in 2008. You know, I qualified terribly, well P4, but it felt like I wasn't in with a shot of winning a Grand Prix, and then it rained, and obviously I had that great feeling."
What makes this final home win with Mercedes so special for Hamilton?
The seven-time world champion has not won a race since 2021. Although Mercedes won the championship in that season, Hamilton's hopes of an eighth driver's title were snatched by Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen. On Sunday, at the British Grand Prix, Hamilton was able to hold off the Dutchman and convert his P2 start to a win, ending his win-less period. "I think being at your home Grand Prix, that's the longest stint that I've not had a win, 945 days. And the emotion that's accumulated over that time. So this one feels like it could be one of the most special ones for me, I think, if not the most special one," he revealed.
It was not just Hamilton though who found this to be a special win. His father Anthony Hamilton also praised his son, and the team for their final win together: "He was never going to give that up. You just had to watch the times. It was a tenth here, a tenth there. It didn't matter what was happening. Lewis was in full control. There's absolutely no way, with that current car and the tyres he had underneath him, that he was going to allow that win to slip the British public. And that's what drove him on," he told Sky Sports.