Lewis Hamilton’s win at the British Grand Prix was an iconic moment for the seven-time F1 World Champion in front of his home crowd.
It was his first race win with Mercedes in 945 days and in 56 races, since his victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 2021.
It was potentially a final victory for the team that he achieved the majority of his title success with in F1, and led to emotional scenes for both him and his engineer Peter Bonnington.
Discussing the moment on the Fast and Curious F1 podcast, team representative and chief communications officer Bradley Lord said team principal Toto Wolff was so caught up in the moment that they forgot to do one important job.
Toto Wolff forgets to nominate podium representative
It was emotional scenes in the Mercedes garage when Hamilton crossed the finish line, largely because it was so long since his last win and there were doubts over whether they would achieve another before he leaves the team for Ferrari.
Lord explained that it is usually discussed between Wolff and himself who stands up on the podium, but they simply forgot to make any decision amid the glory.
“I’d probably got a little caught up in the moment. I was walking down the pit lane and I got a phone call from Toto. I was like, what the hell is Toto calling me?” said Lord.
“He’s like ‘We forgot to talk about the podium. Who should we send?’ Because we always have that conversation on the last lap. We were so engrossed in what was happening that we just completely blanked it. So yeah, it was then that you realized it was a bit more than just a race win.”
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes talks with race engineer Peter Bonnington on the grid during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungarori…
Why do F1 teams nominate representatives for the podium?
As is well known, when a Grand Prix is completed the top three drivers stand atop a podium to receive their trophies.
This is also done alongside a representative of the winning constructor, who is nominated by the team before the ceremony. The FIA rules state that this must be a working member of the team, so it cannot be a celebrity or someone who endorses them.
At the race in Silverstone, Mercedes nominated Bonnington for his teamwork over the years with Hamilton.
Teams usually rotate who collects the winning constructor trophy as a way to pay tribute to the effort it takes to win races behind the scenes.