Motorsport weekend wrap: Hamilton claims long-awaited win; Lindbald secures rare F3 double-victory

F3’s Arvid Lindblad completed a clean sweep of the weekend despite wet weather playing spoilsport at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone. Conditions were similar at NASCAR’s Chicago street circuit but Alex Bowman stuck it out to take his first win of the season. MotoGP saw a new championship leader in Francesco Bagnaia after the German race.

NASCAR: Bowman takes first win of season in Chicago’s wet-weather race

Alex Bowman claimed his first win of the season in dramatic fashion as he defended from a fast-approaching Tyler Reddick until the last lap of the wet-weather race. In what was supposed to be a 75-lap race in the streets of Chicago, rain delays caused it to end based on the cut-off time.

Cautions were plenty because of cars sliding around and colliding with the barriers and with each other. While some cars opted to put on slick tyres in hopes of the track clearing up, Bowman was among the handful of cars which remained on wet weather tyres, as compared to Reddick who switched to slicks. 

Once the last caution was cleared by Lap 54 for a restart, only four minutes remained on the clock with the Hendrick Motorsports driver making the most of it and taking the chequered flag by nearly three seconds to secure him a playoff spot.

IndyCar: O’Ward wins in a close-finish Ohio race ahead of Palou

Pato O’Ward edged championship leader Alex Palou in a hard-fought battle to win the Mid-Ohio race, the first of the new hybrid era. The Arrow Mclaren driver crossed the finish line with a gap of 0.499s to Palou, moving up to second place in the points table.

It was the second victory of the season for O’Ward, who was trailing Palou for a significant number of laps. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who started from pole, lost the lead after a slow pit stop. However, he eventually caught up and caught up to the rear wing of O’Ward before benefitting from the slow pit stop for the championship leader. 

Both remained within 0.5s of each other towards the last few laps at the 2.258-mile natural terrain road course. O’Ward managed to keep Palou behind to secure his second win of the season and the sixth of his career.

MotoGP: Bagnaia takes championship lead after German Grand Prix win

MotoGP saw a new championship leader in Francesco Bagnaia after first-placed Jorge Martin crashed out, handing the Ducati driver the win at the German Grand Prix. Bagnaia has been playing catch-up the last few races and finally jumped past Martin in the standings.

After winning Saturday’s sprint, Martin seemed to be the favourite heading into Sunday’s race. After starting from pole, he held a comfortable lead ahead of the pack but made a mistake with just two laps to the finish, handing the position over to the defending champion Bagnaia.

It took Bagnaia only a few turns to jump from fifth to third, before making the crucial move to second and eventually benefitting from Martin’s crash. Marc Marquez finished second after coming through from 13th on the grid with his brother and Gresini teammate Alex Marquez completing the podium. 

F3: Lindblad does the double at Silverstone despite weather challenges

Nothing could come in the way of Arvid Lindblad and his incredible driving as he completed a clean sweep of the weekend at Silverstone, winning the feature and sprint races. He topped the podium in the sprint at Silverstone, a race which was delayed by nearly nine hours due to extreme wet conditions.

The Prema Racing driver dominated the feature race which was riddled with wet and dry conditions throughout. Though he crossed the line behind Callum Voisin, a 10-second penalty for the latter meant Lindblad moved to the top of a podium, and became the first F3 driver to win both events in a race weekend and the first three-time winner this year.

F2: Maiden win for Antonelli, Hadjar becomes championship leader

Andrea Kimi Antonelli scored his maiden F2 win in treacherous conditions at the Silverstone sprint. The race which started behind the safety car, had a virtual safety car by Lap 3 and a red flag due to heavy rain did not hinder Antonelli’s lead as the Prema driver finished ahead of the pack by a solid margin.

Pole-sitter Isack Hadjar had a tough battle after losing places but powered through to take the feature race victory. He dropped to third after a wheelspin at the start cost him but made up places to strengthen his title hope. The Campos Racing driver claimed his third win in 2024 and the lead of the Drivers’ Championship with it.

F1: Hamilton prevails at British Grand Prix for record-breaking ninth win

Lewis Hamilton hung on to claim victory at the British Grand Prix achieving a record-breaking ninth victory at Silverstone. The Mercedes driver ended a run of 56 races without a win (since the 2021 Saudi Grand Prix) at his home race, causing the seven-time world champion to break down in tears. 

It wasn’t a straightforward victory for the driver who started in second behind his teammate George Russell who had to retire his car mid-race. He fended from championship leader Max Verstappen who was catching up quickly towards the closing stage of a rain-interrupted race for a record-extending 104th victory, becoming the sixth different winner this season.