Sunday: Mercedes and Hamilton savor the victory and lament Rosberg’s retirement

Lewis Hamilton (n°44) – Victory

For a long time in second place after an aggressive start, the Brit finally won his home Grand Prix, where he was able to celebrate with the many spectators who came to cheer him: « Winning in front of your home crowd is just the best feeling. »

After a difficult qualifying session, where he only secured the 6th position, Hamilton took it upon himself to try to turn that into a victory: « I said before that I would never give up, but it was a tough qualifying and I really needed to dig deep within myself and come back positive this morning. »

Before Rosberg’s retirement, it was mainly the choice to switch to hard tires that paid off: Nico built a very large gap at the beginning of the race, but I kept pushing and was happy with my pace. After extending my first stint, we switched to hard tires and, honestly, I couldn’t believe the pace I had and that I was catching up to Nico. Obviously, he then had a problem and I saw him pull over.

He is not, however, happy about the fate of his teammate whom he would have liked to beat on the track: « It’s a shame for the team, and I never want to see my teammate retire – I always want to fight with him – but I’m sure we’ll have the opportunity again in the future. »

« It was a weekend of ups and downs, and coming out with the victory after a day like yesterday is fantastic, so thanks to everyone in the team for their hard work. I’m proud to have done this for them here, so close to our factories in Brackley and Brixworth, » he concluded.

Nico Rosberg – Retirement (gearbox)

On the German side, there is disappointment because he sees his lead in the standings, which took him three races to build, fall from 29 to 4 units: « What happened is unfortunate because I lost a lot of points in the championship. »

He explains what happened to him: « I had a small problem on the installation lap but the car felt great at the start. Around the 20th lap, the gearbox started to become a serious problem and from there, it got worse. I tried the safety settings, letting Lewis pass and continuing until the end of the race. But there was nothing to be done so we stopped the car. »

He remains fair-play and acknowledges his teammate’s victory: « All I can do is accept that these things happen and work with the team to find out what went wrong. It’s a shame for the race in a way because it could have been a big battle against Lewis, but congratulations to him for the win. »