Photo: Jen Ross via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped.
Lewis Hamilton has won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for a record ninth time on Sunday, July 7, his first Formula 1 victory since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December 2021, 945 days ago.
Nobody has ever won the same Grand Prix nine times. The 39-year-old navigated rain showers and tricky tire calls, switching to softs on lap 38 as the track dried, then held off a late charge from Max Verstappen to win by 1.465 seconds. Lando Norris was third. It's the 104th win of his career, the FIA reports.
Hamilton was in tears on the radio and still emotional when he spoke afterwards:
It's so tough, but I think the important thing is just how you continue to get up and you've got to continue to dig deep even when you feel like you're at the bottom of the barrel. I mean, there's definitely been days between 2021 and here where I didn't feel like I was good enough or whether I was going to get back to where I am today.
Hamilton went vegan in 2017 and has spoken often about what it has done for him. “I think my health has just got better and better over the last couple of years as I’ve gone to the plant-based diet,” he said, as reported by VegNews. In 2017 he told Motorsport.com he felt "the best I have ever felt, physically and mentally" after changing his diet, according to The Drive. At 39, in his final season with Mercedes, he is still beating drivers more than a decade younger.
Five years ago Hamilton won a record sixth British Grand Prix, and that autumn took his sixth world title and opened a plant-based burger chain. He has since become the first driver to win 100 Grands Prix, and in February Ferrari announced he will join them in 2025.
No meat, no problem.