Lewis Hamilton reviews his wins at the British GP and talks through his 2021 collision with Max Verstappen; watch the British GP live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase; qualifying on Saturday at 3pm and lights out for the race on Sunday at 3pm
Saturday 8 July 2023 10:58, UK
Lewis Hamilton has described winning the British Grand Prix as "the best thing ever" as he reviewed his eight F1 wins at Silverstone with Sky Sports F1.
In a special feature - which will air during build-up to Saturday's qualifying session from 2.15pm on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase - Hamilton recounted his feelings during his wins in 2008, 2014-2017 and 2019-2021.
Hamilton is the most successful driver in British GP history with the seven-time world champion having 12 podium finishes with his eight wins and he has not finished outside the top three since finishing fourth in 2013.
"Winning the British Grand Prix is the best thing ever," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
"When you do get your first win you never think down the line you're going to have eight British Grand Prix wins.
"Those are figures and numbers and statistics you could only ever dream of."
Hamilton's first British GP win came in 2008 as he produced a driving masterclass in the wet to win by over a minute and lapped everyone bar his fellow podium finishers Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello.
"I remember just feeling nervous. It was raining, that means mistakes can happen and it's the worst thing when it happens at your home Grand Prix particularly," Hamilton said of that race.
"I remember my brother Nicholas coming into my room and he was like 'Don't worry about this bro, you've got this, this is your weather'.
"I just felt so at one with the circuit, I knew exactly where the grip is, where to put my car where not to put my car.
"The conditions were so tough because people were just aquaplaning off particularly going into Abbey and I just remember every time I'd make it through and not go off, I would see the fans sitting in the rain stand up and I knew that they were with me right on the edge of their seat like I was on the edge of my seat.
"That was for me, at least to that point, the greatest race that I had ever done."
Hamilton would have to wait another six years before standing on the top step at the British GP again and had felt out of contention after only qualifying sixth on the Saturday.
But having been distraught at that performance, he charged back through on race day to claim victory while title rival Nico Rosberg retired with a gearbox failure.
"2014 had been a while since I'd had a competitive car to win the British GP," Hamilton recalled.
"Nico ended up getting pole and I ended up sixth. I was really, really distraught after that. There's the dark side that is like 'give up, you ain't got it, you ain't nothing' and then there's the good side of 'yes you've got this, you can do this'
"When you have a bad day, it's often the negative side you start listening to that, and it drags you down more and more, and that's what I was experiencing that day.
"But I just brushed it off, came back the next day, and drove my heart out, and we go that win.
"That was so important for me, and I think for the British fans. It had been a bit of a wait."
Hamilton's most recent win in 2021 came after an opening lap collision with title rival Max Verstappen at Copse corner.
Twenty-four hours earlier, in F1's inaugural Sprint, Verstappen had passed Hamilton at the start and gone on to claim pole position for Sunday's race with the Briton unable to chase down his title rival.
Hamilton said the events of the Sprint meant he knew he had to get ahead in the opening stages if he was to have a chance of an eighth win at Silverstone. The Briton would overcome a 10-second penalty for the Verstappen incident to claim victory after passing Charles Leclerc in the closing laps.
"I lost out to Max on the start with a bit of wheel spin in the Sprint race and ended up not being able to get close enough," said Hamilton.
"I knew though that the next day I had to be ahead, I had to get ahead somehow. I think I got a better start but he still held on to it on the outside through Turn One.
"We were dicing through (Turns) Three, Four all the way down in to Five where I think he ran me a little bit wide. I came back on him, got the exit of Seven…
"We collided, that's what happens in races sometimes, it's what motorsport sometimes entails.
"I had a 10-second penalty so I was like 'head down, focus, try to recover that' which I did, which I thought was quite a feat."
Verstappen required hospital checks following the accident with his impact with the barriers measuring 51 times the force of gravity.
Hamilton was criticised by Verstappen and Red Bull boss Christian Horner for celebrating his win while the Dutchman remained under medical observation.
Hamilton said of those celebrations: "You're not thinking about what happened earlier on in the race, all you're thinking of is being in the moment and sharing that with the fans.
"It wasn't in spite of the guy who was competing who crashed, it was just spur of the moment sheer excitement - we won the Grand Prix after colliding, after losing the position the day before. That's that."
Watch the full feature as Lewis Hamilton recalls his eight British GP wins during Saturday's qualifying build-up from 2.15pm, live on Sky Sports F1 and Sky Showcase.
Saturday July 8
9:15am: F3 Sprint
11:15am: British GP Practice Three (session starts 11:30am)
1:10pm: F2 Sprint
2:15pm: British GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: BRITISH GP QUALIFYING
5pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 9
8:10am: F3 Feature Race
9:50am: F2 Feature Race
11:50am: Porsche Supercup
1:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday - British GP build-up
3pm: The BRITISH GRAND PRIX
5pm: Chequered Flag: British GP reaction
6pm: Ted's Notebook
