Hamilton's engineer hails 'baby steps' as victory drought ends

Peter Bonnington has described the long process he and Lewis Hamilton have been on as they ended a near 1,000 day win drought in the British Grand Prix. 

For the first time since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, 945 days ago, Hamilton won a grand prix, emerging on top from a dry-wet-dry Silverstone race on his farewell appearance at the track for Mercedes, taking a record-breaking ninth win in the race.

An emotional Hamilton was joined on the podium by long-time engineer Bonnington as the pair celebrated their 83rd grand prix win together.

"It's been a long, long time, and he and I have been working hard trying to get back there," Bonnington told Sky Sports F1. 

"It's been baby steps, but it's taken a lot of them.

"The feedback he was giving me of where we were on the initial stint balance, it wasn't great, we knew where we needed to correct the car, and I think we put the car in a real good position for that final stint to allow him to push.

"We knew the front tyre was going to be weak, so you've just got to make sure you've got enough front end in there to protect it."

Being told to 'shut up'

The final stint after the switch back from intermediates was a chase between Hamilton and Lando Norris on softs and Max Verstappen on hards - with the softs wearing out. 

But Hamilton held on to defeat Verstappen for the win, with Bonnington describing the moment he was told to 'shut up' by Hamilton. 

"He does a great job when it comes down to the wire, he's the one that's going to manage the tyres and get you to the end," he added.

"I wouldn't say there was zero doubt, but I knew that once he had the bit between his teeth, as soon as I get told to shut up, then I know that the game's on."