My sports moment of the year: When an emotional Lewis Hamilton broke win duck at Silverstone
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F1’s most famous star had not won for 945 days before a thrilling British Grand Prix victory. By July 2024, Lewis Hamilton had learnt not to even remotely entertain the prospect of getting his hopes up. Two-and-a-half years, 31 months and 945 days speak to that: the time since his last victory in Formula One, back in December 2021 in Saudi Arabia.
![[Hamilton lifts the British flag at Silverstone]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/12/06/8012e36964c115993d9a75347e0edd37Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzMyNjk4NTA0-2.76781879.jpg)
But if the man himself wouldn’t prophesise with a smidge of optimism, then his supporters and the British media would. After qualifying second for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone – behind Mercedes teammate George Russell and ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in an all-British top-three – a long-awaited win was on the horizon.
![[Hamilton embraces his mother, Carmen, after the race]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/07/07/19/GettyImages-2161022666.jpg)
And there was a crucial variable at play on Sunday: the rain. When I asked Hamilton, at the post-qualifying press conference, whether he could draw inspiration from his scintillating first Silverstone victory in 2008 in wet weather, the Briton was keen to keep his feet on the ground after a torrid few years for a team he would be leaving at the end of the season.
“All experiences definitely help, and when it rains those are the conditions I am most comfortable in,” he acknowledged. “But these two are driving well. So I don’t think it will make a difference.”. Spoiler alert: it did make a difference. After a smooth, incident-free get away for the leaders on an overcast afternoon in Northamptonshire, the raindrops started to fall in lap 20. McLaren’s superior pace – which would take them to the constructors’ title by Abu Dhabi in December – allowed both their drivers, in Norris and Oscar Piastri, to take the lead.
