Lewis Hamilton’s British GP win brought rival F1 team boss to tears

Alpine F1 boss Oliver Oakes has admitted he got a bit emotional after seeing Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the British Grand Prix last year.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton claimed a redemptive ninth win at Silverstone last season to return to the top step of an F1 podium for the first time in 945 days.

It ended a winless streak stretching back to the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - a week before Hamilton was controversially denied a record-breaking eighth world title in Abu Dhabi due to race director Michael Masi’s incorrect application of the Safety Car rules.

Hamilton fought back tears as he celebrated and later admitted he had doubted himself and wondered if he would ever win again in F1.

Watching the race as a fan prior to his appointment as Alpine’s team principal later that month, Oakes revealed he had “a tear in my eye” after Hamilton’s victory.

“As a fan, out there, I think it’s going to be exciting not only to see the rookies on the grid, [but] seeing Lewis in red,” Oakes told the James Allen on F1 podcast.

“I don’t think it’s sad to say but you can’t help but be emotional when he won at Silverstone as an Englishman.

“My home track in a way, my Hitech being based there. What he did, I had a bit of a, I’m not ashamed to say it, a tear in my eye because it was a massive win there.

“And then seeing him this year roll out in red, I think that’s great for F1. I think it’s going to be an amazing season to see all of those battles as well”.

Speaking about the emotions of the win, then Mercedes driver Hamilton said: “The adversity we have gone through as a team and I have personally experienced, the constant challenge, like we all have, to get out of bed every day and give it your best shot.

“So many times when you feel like your best shot is not good enough, and the disappointment sometimes you can feel.

“We live in a time when mental health is such a serious issue and I am not going to lie [and deny] that I have experienced that.

“There have definitely been moments between 2021 and here when I didn’t feel like I was good enough, or I thought it was never going to happen again. I have never cried coming from a win. It just came out of me. It is a really great feeling and I am really grateful for it.”