$50mn worth rival boss praises Lewis Hamilton for winning the F1 British GP: "We take our cap off to him"

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was full of praise for Lewis Hamilton after the latter won the British GP last Sunday ahead of his rival and three-time world champion Max Verstappen. The British driver displayed his excellent skills in the changing conditions and also remained calm throughout to win for a record-extending ninth time at the Silverstone track.

Starting the race from P2, Hamilton was firmly behind his teammate and pole-sitter George Russell in the opening phase of the race but overtook him when it started to rain. However, he was then overtaken by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

However, he was able to recover from P3 after the final round of pitstops following McLaren's strategic errors with both Norris and Piastri, which handed the race lead to the Mercedes driver. The 39-year-old hung on with his fading soft tires against Verstappen, who was rapidly closing the gap.

As per Pitdebrief, the $50m-worth (celebritynetworth.com) Horner mentioned that he 'took his cap off' to Lewis Hamilton after the masterclass last weekend and said:

“I think, first of all, we have to congratulate Lewis on winning this race. I thought he drove a very good race today. He was a deserving winner. For any driver to win a race nine times is an outstanding achievement.”

“And to have won it here in the UK, which obviously is very special for him as a British driver, he should be very proud of that. So, you know, we take our cap off to him today. He did a very, very good job.”

Lewis Hamilton previews his chances of winning in Hungary

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton stated that he was looking forward to racing in Budapest for the Hungarian GP in a couple of weeks as he loved the country and the track.

In his post-race press conference, the seven-time world champion said:

"You know, I love Hungary. So, yeah, I definitely am really looking forward to that, to go in there, but just also the trajectory we're on and the fact, you know, the car is starting to really, really come alive and feel great. And there's, you know, now I can start to compete with these two here is a great, great feeling."

The Hungaroring is one of Lewis Hamilton's favorite hunting grounds in F1, as he has won a record eight times at the track and even performed well during the off-years such as 2022 and 2023 when he was in relatively less competitive machinery compared to this season.

Mercedes also became the only team besides Red Bull to win consecutive races in 2024 as George Russell took home the win in Austria a week before Silverstone, taking advantage of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris colliding while the two were fighting for the lead in the final laps of the race.