Max Verstappen cruised to victory in the British Grand Prix for his sixth win in a row and a record-equalling 11th consecutive triumph for Red Bull.
McLaren’s Lando Norris fought off an attack from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes after a late safety car to finish second to give the 160,000 fans a double home podium to cheer.
Verstappen’s eighth win in 10 races this year brought Red Bull level with the record McLaren established in their historic 1988 season with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.
Oscar Piastri made it a great day for McLaren with fourth ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes.
Verstappen was untouchable out front, once he had repassed Norris for the lead on lap five after the McLaren jumped ahead when the world champion suffered too much wheelspin at the start.
But the race came alive after the safety car, called when Kevin Magnussen’s Haas caught fire down the Wellington straight.
Divergent tyre choices introduced jeopardy and intrigue for everyone else over the final 14 laps.
Norris and Piastri had looked on course for a double podium for McLaren, who introduced a major upgrade for Norris to great effect at the last race in Austria and gave it to Piastri at Silverstone as well.
But the safety car changed everything and gave Hamilton a chance not only to jump ahead of Piastri but also to threaten Norris briefly.
The fans arrived at Silverstone in huge numbers from Friday through to Sunday
The seven-time champion, who started seventh, drove steadily in the opening laps, biding his time once he had re-passed Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, which overtook him on the first lap.
He moved up as the pit stops started to happen ahead of him, with first Charles Leclerc pitting his Ferrari out of fourth place, followed by the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, the Mercedes of George Russell and Piastri.
Hamilton was on course to finish fifth behind Piastri and Russell, but stopping under the safety car allowed him to jump both and line up behind Norris at the restart.
Norris expressed over the radio his fears that he would struggle to hold Hamilton back, with the Mercedes on soft tyres and the McLaren on hard, but the 23-year-old weathered an early storm after the restart with aplomb and then edged away to consolidate his second place.
Piastri, also fitted with hard tyres at his pit stop, was equally impressive, and as Hamilton dropped away from Norris, the Mercedes came under pressure from the Australian rookie, who crossed the line less than a second behind.
Russell was the only man in the top 10 to choose soft tyres for the start rather than mediums, and jumped up a place at the start to threaten Leclerc for fourth place.
But he lost out by stopping before the safety car and came home fifth as Sergio Perez recovered from yet another poor qualifying session to finish sixth from 15th on the grid.
Ferrari’s day crumbled after a promising start. Leclerc had no pace in the first part of the race, made an early stop for hards and then came in again under the safety car for mediums.
But he again struggled and lost eighth place to the impressive Williams of Alex Albon, who chose soft tyres at the safety car, in the closing laps.
Sainz, who was left on hard tyres when he did not stop under the safety car, lost three places in a few corners as Perez, Leclerc and Albon all passed him after the restart, trailed in a disappointing 10th.
