Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton pulled off an against-the-odds podium in today's British Grand Prix to delight the legions of home fans at Silverstone, but had to admit to being impressed by the pace of his McLaren rivals.
The seven-time world champion started the race from seventh place after a disappointing time in qualifying on Saturday. Things went further awry when he was forced wide and off track in turn 3 at the start.
Although he was quickly able to recover one position with a simple pass on Alpine's Pierre Gasly, it wasn't until lap 7 that he was finally able to find his way past Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin.
After that it seemed that Hamilton's afternoon would involve staring at the back of Carlos Sainz' Ferrari as he continued to lap in seventh. However his decision to go long on his first stint on medium tyres proved a masterstroke.
With Kevin Magnussen triggering first a Virtual Safety Car and then a full Safety Car on lap 33, the timing was perfect for his visit to pit lane and a switch to the soft tyres for the final 18 laps.
When the dust settled he found himself in third place behind race leader Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris in second place. Even better, the McLaren was on the hard tyres while Hamilton took the restart on the new softs.
It should have been a foregone conclusion, but Norris somehow held on to second place for dear life, and Hamilton narrowly failed to find a way to pass the MCL60, with both the car and the driver hugely impressing him.
“That McLaren is a rocket ship,” Hamilton pronounced over the Mercedes team radio. “That speed is insane.” In the end, Hamilton expended his tyres in his early push and ended up having to settle for third place.
“That thing was rapid through the high-speed corners," Hamilton told the media in parc ferme after the finish. "I was just, 'wow'! I couldn't keep up, but we had a good little battle on the restart.
“Once he goes through turn 15, he is gone. We had good performance in the low speed but just didn't have the grunt on the straights." Given that Mclaren use a customer Mercedes engine, it's a superiority that is a surprise to everyone.
“I just want to say a big congratulations to Lando and to McLaren,” Hamilton added, pointing out that it was the team he made his F1 debut with. “It was my family, it was where I first started.
"[It's great] to see them back up there looking so strong," he added.
And Hamilton was delighted to be on the podium of his home race for the 14th time in his career, an event that had meant so much to him over the years and where the fans absolutely adore and idolise him.
"I'm really happy to know that starting seventh and coming third is a mega mega job," he said. “I think this is a good positive for us as a team to know that we're not that far away ... We have just got to keep on pushing and we can catch those guys up front.”
Today's result means that Hamilton is in fourth place in the drivers championship, 16 points behind Fernando Alonso and 38 points ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. With his team mate George Russell finishing in fifth place, Mercedes has pulled out a 22 point gap over Aston Martin in the constructors standings. Red Bull have already reaches a tally of 411 points at the top of the table.
Russell was similarly impressed by what McLaren had done this weekend. “The McLarens were super-impressive, they drove a great race,” he said. “I feel bad for Oscar, because he was driving really, really well. I’ve been super-impressed by what he’s been achieving this year and he was the deserving podium finisher."
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