Lewis Hamilton stuns F1 among best British wins after first Lando Norris triumph

George Russell, Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton,Great Britain — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Superstars

Rookie Hamilton stuns F1 among best British wins after first Norris triumph

The best of Britain and their first GP victories

Dan Ripley Global Editor

Professional F1 journalist and analyst

Wednesday 8 May 2024 12:57

Lando Norris is finally a Formula 1 grand prix winner, and not before time, after taking a fully deserved victory on merit in Miami on Sunday.

The reaction from the paddock said it all. Rival teams, drivers (and even a former United States president) were practically queuing up to congratulate the McLaren star in what is one of the most popular victories seen in recent years.

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It’s been coming since that heartbreaking late loss at the 2021 Russian Grand Prix where he valiantly was on course to fend off a charging Lewis Hamilton before rain came along and washed away his chances in the dying laps.

Since then, Norris has taken multiple second places, but now he becomes the lucky Brit who joins an exclusive club of 20 other compatriots to have won a race from the United Kingdom.

Some of their maiden grand prix wins have been more dramatic than others, but which has been the best? GPFans has taken a look at modern favourites below, but make sure you cast your vote at the bottom of the page with our poll to suggest yours.

George Russell (left) took his first win with Mercedes

George Russell - Brazil 2022

While Hamilton hasn’t won since 2021, Mercedes have – albeit only once – when George Russell took a stunning victory at the Brazilian GP (Sao Paulo GP if we are being technical about it, but please play along).

It proved to be a false dawn for the Silver Arrows especially as Russell led home a one-two finish from Hamilton, who at this point was understandably keen to maintain his record of winning in every single F1 season since his debut.

Russell though passed an acid test in holding off his team-mate, and while he hasn’t gone on to add to the tally since, this is a feather in his bow in terms of ability to perform under severe pressure in the toughest of tasks. However many races Russell goes on to win, this is likely to always be near the top of his best.

Lewis Hamilton (left) in 2007 at McLaren with Fernando Alonso

Lewis Hamilton - Canada 2007

While it took Norris well over 100 races (while helping to drag McLaren back to the front) a certain other star had it slightly easier with the Woking outfit 17 years ago.

Hamilton of course jumped straight into a race-winning McLaren for his rookie season in 2007 but even then, his early season was remarkable as he reeled off podium after podium launching an unexpected fight for the world championship.

After a third place and four second place finishes, race six finally brought victory in Montreal, as he easily saw off a challenge from BMW-Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Williams’ Alex Wurz to take an outright lead in the world championship. Over 100 wins have followed since – but none since 2021.

Jenson Button celebrates winning the 2006 Hungarian GP

Jenson Button - Hungary 2006

It took Hamilton just six races to reach the top step, but another British world champion was developing a reputation as F1’s ‘nearly man’ having not won after six seasons in the sport.

Button’s career had been a lot rockier at this point. A promising Williams rookie campaign in 2000 was followed by a Benetton downfall and a Renault axing before he became best of the rest outside of Ferrari in a 2004 career upturn.

Even by 2006 though, the main contenders for race wins were Renault and Ferrari as Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher contested a memorable title challenge.

But after an unexpected rainfall hit Budapest, Button started building his reputation of being the master on a damp/drying track as the 2009 world champion carved through the field from 14th on the grid to take a highly popular maiden victory.

ITV commentator James Allen rather summed it all up with a partisan shout of “Get in there!” as Button took the chequered flag for Honda.

Eddie Irvine opened up the 1999 F1 season with his first win

Eddie Irvine - Australia 1999

Eddie Irvine signed up to Ferrari in 1996 knowing full well his job was to be the sidekick for a Schumacher title charge. Still, there are worse jobs to do than drive a high-performance Ferrari every fortnight.

The 1999 season was an odd one though, and the tone was set straight away at the opening race in Australia when mechanical problems for McLaren and Schumacher opened the door for Irvine to bulldoze his way to the front and claim his first of four wins.

The other three also came during 1999 when, after Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone, Irvine became an unexpected title challenger, only to lose out at the final race to McLaren's Mika Hakkinen.

David Coulthard took his first race win in his first full season

David Coulthard - Portugal 1995

The Williams FW17 was arguably the best car in 1995, no surprise there given it was designed by a certain Adrian Newey – but despite its failure to bring home any championships (blame Schumacher’s brilliance at Benetton) it did offer some career highlights, especially for David Coulthard.

After a few stand-in drives as a replacement for the late Ayrton Senna a year before, Coulthard came into his own in 1995 at Williams after outpacing team-mate Damon Hill in many parts of the latter season including at Estoril, where he led home Schumacher with Hill a distant third.

While it wasn’t quite enough for him to stay at Williams, his overall season was enough to earn him a seat for McLaren in 1996, where he would stay until 2004.

Johnny Herbert's first win came at his home race at Silverstone

Johnny Herbert - Great Britain 1995

It wasn’t just Coulthard grabbing maiden wins for Britain in 1995, Herbert was at it too in the Benetton B195 – and it came in stunning style at his home race at Silverstone.

Granted, it arrived only after a rather desperate Hill lunge on Schumacher took them both out of the race, but from fifth on the grid Herbert stormed to the front and comfortably triumphed ahead of Ferrari’s Jean Alesi and Coulthard.

Herbert’s overall time at Benetton was one of the lowest of his career on a personal level amid a falling out with team principal Flavio Briatore, but he certainly enjoyed this particular afternoon (and who wouldn’t?!), as Alesi and Coulthard lifted him high up on the podium in a result that Herbert admits prevented him from being fired mid-season.

Damon Hill had two huge heartbreaks before his first F1 win

Damon Hill - Hungary 1993

This was third time lucky for Hill whose awful misfortune in the previous two races made even the often luckless Charles Leclerc's Ferrari seem like an invincible and very fast four-leaf clover on wheels.

In 1993, while leading his home race at Silverstone, Hill was set for a fairytale first GP win for Williams only for his Renault engine to dramatically fail just 17 laps from the end. At the next race in Germany, again Hill led but his Williams let him down in even more heartbreaking fashion after a tyre failure on the penultimate lap at Hockenheim.

Finally in Hungary though it all fell into the 1996 world champion's lap, having dominated in Budapest to win by over 70 seconds, with only Riccardo Patrese and Gerhard Berger finishing on the same lap as him as he became the first son of a world champion - Graham Hill - to win a race himself.

Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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Lewis Hamilton McLaren Formula 1 Lando Norris United States