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hamilton after silverstone 2023

Hamilton happy after podium finish: 'Crowd is why we got back up here'

9 July 2023 at 16:56
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  • Kada Sarkozi
  • Editor

Lewis Hamilton does not owe his victory to himself or Mercedes, but to the British public. The former world champion stated this while on the grid to cheers from his fans. "I didn't do this, it was the crowd," he said.

The Grand Prix at Silverstone had hardly any excitement. Only in the closing stages, after the safety car, was there any tension between Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. Yet the latter had mostly compliments. "I didn't do it, the crowd did it. Silverstone put on an amazing show. I felt the energy, I felt the support which is the reason we got back up here."

Hamilton could not keep up with McLaren

Hamilton also congratulated Lando Norris and McLaren - and not Max Verstappen. "Big congratulations to Lando and McLaren. It was where I first started so to see them back up there looking so strong. That thing was rapid through the high-speed corners. Wow. I couldn't keep up but we had a good little battle on the restart. The start wasn't so great for us but the long run on the medium was really great. This is a good positive for us as a team to know we're not that far off, we just need to keep on using and we can catch those guys out front. Once Lando went through Turns 14 and 15 he was gone. We had a good little battle, just didn't have the grunt on the straights."

Hamilton was especially proud of what he had achieved. "I'm really happy. To start seventh and finish third is a mega, mega job."