Lewis Hamilton celebrates McLaren F1 success as drivers hail Silverstone 'ROCKET SHIP'

Lewis Hamilton in Silverstone. — Photo: © LAT Images

McLaren

Hamilton celebrates McLaren F1 success as drivers hail 'ROCKET SHIP'

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri put their cars second and third on the grid for Sunday and Hamilton was delighted for his old team

Chris Deeley

Saturday 8 July 2023 20:27 Updated: 21:46

Oscar Piastri has described his McLaren as a 'rocket ship' after qualifying third on the grid for Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Piastri's team-mate Lando Norris fared even better, putting his car on the front row alongside pole-sitter Max Verstappen after a dramatic qualifying session.

Former McLaren ace Lewis Hamilton also took time out from lamenting his own sub-par performance, qualifying behind his own team-mate in seventh at a race he's historically dominated.

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"The good thing is the crowd were great today," he said. "And [I'm] really happy for McLaren, to see them back up there is great."

McLaren's return to form seems wholly legitimate. Norris qualified fourth on the grid last weekend in Austria as the only McLaren driver to get the team's new upgrades for that race, and Piastri's performance now that he's got mechanical parity with his team-mate this weekend shows the strength of that package.

“Very very very happy. What a qualifying session," Piastri said. "We were almost out in Q1. The car was a rocket ship in Q2 and Q3, I feel like I put a pretty good lap together.

Norris: The upgrades are working well

"Massive result for the team as well, to consistently have both of us up here is a mega result. Now we’ve just got to try and stay there for tomorrow.

“I think yesterday, we had a bit of a rough day. I think we were a bit quicker than we looked, just struggling to get the car in the right window. I think we did a better job of that today.

"These conditions as well, we do really well in them all the time. Barcelona was a similar story, Monaco, Canada as well. We’ve had a fair few moments like that. To pull that off in Q3 like that was a mega result and obviously both of us now have got the new bits on our car and they're working very well."

Norris was clearly thrilled with his qualifying performance after the race, his voice emotional on team radio after his run.

“It makes up for everything," he said after the session. "All the hard work that we’ve been putting in. Especially here with the new livery, our home race for the team, for myself, we couldn’t have had a better result today apart from Max again, who ruins everything."