Lewis Hamilton
The Safety Car came at a beneficial moment for us but ultimately, that was the plan starting on the Medium tyre. We wanted to go long, and we did; it came at the right time, and we made some gains. For us to get on the podium is huge. It’s been an up-and-down season and we’ve still got a lot of work to do with our car. We’ve got strengths with it, particularly our long run. George had a great stint on the Soft tyre and mine on the Medium was really good too. As soon as we can improve the rear end we will be on our way. We just need to hold on to the good bits and add a few others.
Finally, the support from the fans has been incredible and it gets better each and every year. I don’t know how that is possible as it’s the pinnacle! The energy that everyone brings is phenomenal. Once again, Silverstone put on an amazing show.
George Russell
We wanted to be aggressive today and we had the chance to split the strategies. The Soft tyre felt really strong in that first stint but unfortunately, it was very difficult to overtake Leclerc. There was some questionable defending at points but in the end, I managed to get past. Having stopped for the Medium tyre, it was unfortunate timing with the Safety Car. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes against you. Ultimately though, we only lost one position and without it, I still wouldn’t have ended up on the podium. It didn’t change a huge amount for my race, and we can take the positives that for the Team, it is good points in the Constructors’ Championship.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO
We’ve performed well today compared to in Qualifying. We’ve gained some points on our closest competitors in the Constructors’ Championship, so we can say it’s a solid day. P3 and P5 is OK, but no more than solid. I see the positives from this weekend though. Whilst podiums are good, it’s more important to see that the car has potential, and our eyes are on closing the gap to the very front.
We wanted to have an offset between the two cars today and the Soft tyre provided a good getaway from the line. It also looked quite resilient on Friday, and it proved even more so today. We were surprised to see how long it went. After the restart, Lewis’ tyres went off and the McLarens were able to hold us behind. Their resurgence is good to see. If you make the right decisions, you can clearly make a large step. It is good for the sport that if you do the right things then you can move forward. Today, they had a better car, and you could see particularly in the closing stages on the Hard tyre just how strong they were.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
It was great to get a car on the podium today. We needed the Safety Car to make that, but we were in the right position with one car to take advantage of it. Overall, it’s been a solid day for the team and drivers. We’ve managed to out-score both Ferrari and Aston Martin, which is good for the Constructors’ Championship. McLaren have shown that they are podium contenders; they were the second quickest team this weekend, which is impressive when you consider where they were earlier in the season.
We’ve got a good platform to build on. We know the areas that we need to improve, but the field is so tight. Where we are racing, a couple of tenths can be the difference between a podium and the back end of the points. We know we need to continuing improving and everyone in Brackley and Brixworth is working hard to do just that.
