From spectacularly mastering the rain to crossing the line on three wheels – Ranking Hamilton’s nine Silverstone race wins

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in front of his home fans at the British Grand Prix was not only a spectacle to watch, but also came with some eye-catching statistics. The win – his first in 945 days – marked a historic ninth for the Briton at the Silverstone venue.

From his first back in dramatic weather conditions during his debut championship-winning season of 2008, followed by four on the bounce as his dominant period with Mercedes began, through to a particularly memorable finish on three wheels, Hamilton has experienced it all in his pursuit of victory at the iconic circuit.

READ MORE: How 945 days of blood, sweat and tears paid off in Hamilton’s statement Silverstone victory

But where does his latest – and highly emotional – win rank amongst the other eight? We’ve taken a trip down memory lane to see which each one stands…

9. 2019 – Seizing a chance at the pit stops

Having had a consecutive streak of British Grand Prix victories interrupted by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in 2018, Hamilton did not initially look to be on course to restart the pattern one year on. Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas had taken pole position and, despite an exciting early tussle between the team mates, the Finn held onto the lead.

However, just three laps after Bottas was the first to make a pit stop – meaning that he emerged on track behind Hamilton and Vettel – a spin for Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi brought out the Safety Car and Hamilton seized his opportunity to pit, thus allowing him to remain as the race leader. And while there was drama unfolding behind, Hamilton kept his cool and surged to his sixth home win.

8. 2017 – A straightforward Grand Slam

A slew of records were taken by Hamilton in 2017 during a weekend that featured perhaps one of his most straightforward victories at Silverstone. Despite arriving into the event 20 points behind Vettel in the drivers’ standings, Hamilton immediately put himself back into the fight by taking pole position.

The Briton stretched out a gap from the off and repeated this feat when the event was restarted after an early Safety Car phase triggered by a crash for Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat. From there Hamilton enjoyed an unchallenged drive to the flag, resulting in him closing the gap to Vettel to just one point as well as recording a Grand Slam of pole position, fastest lap and race victory.

READ MORE: ‘It’s taken a lot of baby steps’ – Hamilton’s race engineer Bonnington explains the hard work behind ‘emotional’ Silverstone win

7. 2021 – Controversy marks flashpoint in Verstappen rivalry

Prior to his recent win at Silverstone, Hamilton’s last triumph in front of his home crowd was a somewhat controversial one. Back in 2021, championship rival Max Verstappen had been victorious in F1’s first-ever Sprint on Saturday, with the rules at the time meaning that he would subsequently start from pole position for Sunday’s race.

The first lap of the Grand Prix saw Hamilton and Verstappen engage in a fierce battle before colliding at Copse, which sent Verstappen crashing out of the race and prompted the red flags to be thrown.

Hamilton was able to continue and, while a 10-second penalty for causing the collision dropped him down to fourth, he recovered to overtake Lando Norris and Bottas, before stealing the lead from Charles Leclerc just two laps from the end on a day perhaps best remembered as being a key flashpoint in the tense title fight between Hamilton and Verstappen.

6. 2016 – A master of changing conditions

A common theme across several of Hamilton’s British Grand Prix triumphs is the weather – namely rain, which had fallen heavily prior to the 2016 event getting underway. The Mercedes driver started from pole ahead of team mate Nico Rosberg, as their intra-team rivalry – which had resulted in an infamous collision between the pair earlier in the campaign at Barcelona – rumbled on.

Hamilton controlled the pack when the race began under the Safety Car and, as the track evolved throughout the wet-dry encounter, maintained composure as chaos unfolded behind.

READ MORE: Hamilton ‘very, very grateful’ for long-awaited 104th F1 win as he explains why it feels ‘different’ to all his others

Even the likes of Fernando Alonso struggled to keep their cars on the circuit, but Hamilton – despite a brief moment at Turn 1 – showed his skill at handling tricky conditions. The win marked a hat-trick of wins at Silverstone for the Briton, making him the first to achieve this since Jim Clark in the 1960s.

5. 2014 – Bouncing back in style

Along with the showers, another frequent feature of some of Hamilton’s most notable Silverstone victories is the feeling of fighting back from adversity. While 2014 could never be described as a challenging season for Mercedes – with it marking the beginning of their period of dominance as the turbo-hybrid era arrived – Hamilton had slipped behind Rosberg in the weekends prior to his home race and was in desperate need of a strong result.

In an eventful rain-affected qualifying hour, Hamilton had secured provisional pole but aborted his final effort, having believed that he could not improve further. It quickly became clear that this had not been the right call, as Rosberg benefitted from a drying track to clinch pole. Hamilton, meanwhile, dropped down to P6.

Come Sunday, after the race was restarted following a first-lap crash for Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, Hamilton made gains to run in fourth early on and eventually had chased down Rosberg in a battle for the lead. The former snatched P1 from his team mate on Lap 29 on the Wellington Straight and, with Rosberg subsequently retiring due to a gearbox issue, Hamilton was able to seal a much-needed win – and his first at Silverstone since 2008 (more on which later) – to get his championship campaign back on track.

4. 2015 – Making the right calls

One year on from that 2014 triumph, Hamilton’s chances at his home event looked more assured, with the British driver arriving into the weekend as the championship leader from Rosberg. He also further boosted his prospects for race day by taking pole position ahead of his fellow Mercedes driver.

However, it was a poor getaway for the Silver Arrows pair, allowing the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Bottas to storm ahead into the lead. While Massa remained as the race leader for the first 20 laps, Hamilton made the most of a smooth first pit stop to jump both the Brazilian and Bottas to move into P1.

READ MORE: ‘You couldn’t have scripted it better’ – Wolff describes Hamilton’s record home win as ‘a little fairytale’ ahead of Mercedes exit

It was not over there, though, with the weather again proving to be a significant factor. Rain arrived at Silverstone in the second half of the Grand Prix, and Hamilton executed a perfectly timed visit to the pits to bolt on the intermediate tyres.

With Rosberg and the Williams duo pitting one lap later, Hamilton bolstered his lead further and crossed the line 10 seconds ahead of his team mate to claim his third win at the track.

3. 2020 – Crossing the line on three wheels

The final laps of the 2020 British Grand Prix mark perhaps one of the most memorable endings to a race in recent history. During a shortened season owing to the Covid pandemic, F1 visited Silverstone for the fourth race of a campaign that had already looked promising for Hamilton, with the reigning world champion having won the two previous rounds in Styria and Hungary.

It looked to be much the same picture when Hamilton and Bottas locked out a Mercedes front row in qualifying before running in a one-two formation for the majority of the Grand Prix. But, just as the fans were likely starting to ready themselves for the victory celebrations, drama struck with just two laps to go.

Bottas’ left front tyre delaminated, resulting in him dropping down the order and likely causing concern on the Mercedes pit wall for Hamilton. Those concerns soon became a reality as Hamilton then suffered the same fate on the final lap, just as the Red Bull of Verstappen was chasing him down on fresh tyres. Incredibly, thanks in part to Verstappen’s late pit stop, Hamilton retained enough of a gap to limp across the line essentially on three wheels, taking one of his most dramatic Silverstone wins in the process.

2. 2024 – An emotional return to winning ways

With all of the successes on this list – which in fact highlight only a fraction of Hamilton’s staggering 104 wins in Formula 1 – it is perhaps still a surprising statistic that the 39-year-old went without any victories in 2022 and 2023. Prior to that, he had last stepped on the top step of the podium in the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, before two challenging seasons for Mercedes amid the introduction of new ground effect regulations.

Indeed, the Silver Arrows had only claimed one race win as a team in that time thanks to George Russell’s 2022 success in Brazil. But signs of promise emerged as the 2024 campaign progressed, with Russell being in a prime position to take a surprise victory in Austria off the back of a late-race collision between leaders Verstappen and Norris. Hamilton, meanwhile, had to watch on after finishing in P4.

READ MORE: ‘I can’t stop crying!’ – Hamilton admits there were days he ‘didn’t feel good enough’ after emotional return to winning ways

Fast forward one week to Silverstone and Mercedes were continuing to look strong. While Russell claimed pole position ahead of Hamilton, the latter showed his experience in a thrilling wet-dry race. After a well-timed switch to the intermediate tyres, Hamilton remained on the tail of race leader Norris, before again getting his visit to the pits spot-on when the time came for slick tyres, having pitted one lap ahead of Norris for the soft compound.

With Norris having a slightly slow stop, the McLaren driver emerged back on track behind Hamilton, who did a superb job of managing the soft tyres to the end of the race. While Verstappen looked to be on the chase after overtaking Norris for P2, Hamilton took the victory by nearly one and a half seconds, marking his first win in 945 days. The seven-time world champion could not hide his emotions over the radio as he soaked up the crowd’s applause on a day marking his last British Grand Prix as a Mercedes driver ahead of his impending switch to Ferrari.

1. 2008 – Spectacular performance in the rain for a first home win

Hamilton has long reflected on his debut victory at Silverstone back in 2008 as one of his greatest wins and for good reason. Amid treacherous conditions, the British driver – still only in his second season in the sport – was utterly dominant en route to sealing one of his most memorable triumphs.

The young driver arrived into the weekend with something to prove to a certain extent, having made a notable error in Canada by crashing into the back of Raikkonen’s Ferrari in the pit lane. And initially it appeared as if McLaren team mate Heikki Kovalainen had the upper hand at Silverstone, with the Finn taking pole position while Hamilton had to settle for P4 on the grid.

READ MORE: SILVERSTONE 2008: ‘He was determined to be the best that day’ – Hamilton’s mesmerising first home win remembered by team mate Kovalainen

However, seemingly boosted by the support of his home crowd, Hamilton looked determined to win come Sunday. With standing water on the track following earlier rainfall, the Briton immediately swept past Raikkonen and the Red Bull of Mark Webber at the launch, but Kovalainen had the line and held onto the lead.

It took just a few laps, though, for Hamilton to make his move by diving up the inside of Kovalainen at Stowe. Then, when conditions became increasingly challenging as heavy rain hit midway through the race, the former pitted for intermediate tyres and from there enjoyed a dominant drive to a stunning victory on a day where many cars found themselves sliding off the track left right and centre. Hamilton’s winning margin was a staggering 68.577s from second-placed Nick Heidfeld – little wonder that it is considered one of his greatest drives.