Lewis Hamilton has praised former team McLaren for its stellar second-place finish at the British Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver labelled the MCL60, which was heavily upgraded at the Austrian GP for Lando Norris, a "rocket ship" on his cool-down lap after failing to overtake his fellow Briton following a late-race Safety Car. Norris was fitted with Hard tyres for the final sprint to the chequered flag, leaving him exposed to the Soft-clad Silver Arrow behind. Hamilton attacked into Brooklands and Luffield on numerous occasions but was unable to make the move stick before his softer rubber finally began to cry enough. "A big congratulations to Lando and McLaren," said Hamilton, who rose from seventh on the grid to complete the podium. "It was my family, it is where I first started. So to see them back up there, looking so strong... that thing was rapid through high-speed corners. Wow, I couldn't keep up. "We had a good little battle on the restart. "Once he went through Turns 13, 14 and 15, he was gone. We had good performance in low-speed, we had a good little battle but I just didn't have the grunt on the straights. "But to start seventh and come third is a mega job. A big thank you to my team - great pit stops and great work all weekend."
Crowd energy
Hamilton's recovery job got off to a shaky start having been forced off-track at Village on the opening lap, falling behind Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin and Alpine's Pierre Gasly to ninth. But the timing of the Safety Car, deployed to recover Kevin Magnussen's stricken Haas, allowed a free pit stop to be made, jumping Hamilton ahead of the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri. The result sent the Silverstone crowd into raptures as two Britons stood alongside race winner Max Verstappen on the podium, with Hamilton suggesting the support was what drove him to the top three. "Once again, Silverstone put on an amazing show, we have got the greatest crowd here, so a big thank you to everyone for supporting," added the seven-time World Champion. "I felt the energy, the support, which is the reason we got back up there. "The start wasn't great for me but the long run on the Medium was really great, so I think this is a good positive for us as a team to know that we're not that far away. "We have got to keep on pushing and we can catch those guys up front."
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