F1 Q&A after Silverstone: How close will drivers' championship be?

Lewis Hamilton won a race-long fight with Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at a gripping, wet-dry British Grand Prix to claim his first victory since December 2021.

His success broke the record of the most race victories at a single track, claiming nine wins at Silverstone.

There is a week-long break before the drivers race again at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

BBC Sport F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your questions after the race at Silverstone.

What gave Mercedes such an edge over the British Grand Prix weekend? – Mark

Mercedes had their most competitive weekend since 2021, locking out the front row and Lewis Hamilton winning the race.

They have now won two races in a row, after George Russell inherited the victory in Austria the week before Silverstone following the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. And they have taken two pole positions in the last four races, after Russell’s in Canada.

While it could feel as if Hamilton’s Silverstone win came out of the blue - and it was his first since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - in fact, it was the culmination of a process Mercedes have been going through for some time.

This has seen a series of upgrades introduced on to the car - starting with new bodywork at the Miami Grand Prix, followed by a new floor at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix then a new front wing, introduced over the Monaco and Canadian races.

But the bigger question is, after two years of struggle in which they seemed to lack answers as to how to make the car competitive, how have they got to this point where they now seem to understand the rules introduced in 2022 and make consistent progress?

On Sunday, team principal Toto Wolff said: "Five races ago, we weren’t contenders for the podium and it looked like we were in the third year of non-performance, and then it clicked.

"Suddenly, everything that didn’t make sense, made sense and the results of the development direction is back in the old days - we are finding performance and we are putting it on the car."

He was asked how and why, and he credited technical director James Allison, saying: "There was a moment where, led by James, suddenly the data made sense and the gap. The way we made it, the way we balanced the car, and how we could bring it in a better sweet spot.

"That was the main thing. It wasn’t a miracle front wing; it was more the balance we achieved."

Why, considering they introduced no major changes between Austria and Silverstone, were they more competitive last weekend than at the Red Bull Ring? That will be down to track characteristics.

A rival team boss, asked whether he was surprised by Mercedes’ performance, said, "no, it was already clear they were very competitive in high-speed corners. And Silverstone is full of them".

So this result does not necessarily mean Mercedes will keep winning, but it does seem to prove they are back as regular front-runners. And they have further upgrades for the next two races in Hungary and Belgium.

Do you think Hamilton is already regretting his move to Ferrari with the Ferrari decrease and Mercedes' increase in competitiveness? – Dave

Hamilton was asked forms of this question twice over the weekend at Silverstone.

The first was in the pre-event news conference, when the question was whether he would still have made the decision to join Ferrari in 2025 had Mercedes been performing at this level at the end of last year. His answer was: "Yes."

After winning the race, he was asked whether the win was bittersweet because he was leaving Mercedes behind next year.

He said: “No. When we started the season and we had a car where we weren't going anywhere near Red Bull, for example, anywhere near looking like we would ever get a win through the year, that for me felt like it would be kind of bittersweet at the end of the season, where you've not had something like today.

"We’ve really all come together, everyone's done such a great job to get the car into a place where we're feeling much more comfortable and really changes from the foundation from last year.

"So [I’m] not leaving on a low, but leaving on a high, which has been our goal.

"There's still a long, long way to go, but by no means is the car the quickest car on the grid right now. We are super close, and I think hopefully with a couple of upgrades, with the next upgrade perhaps, we will be in an even stronger position to really, really be fighting at the front row more consistently."

With all the different winners so far this year, how close will the drivers’ championship be? – Sammy Smith

This year’s F1 championship is definitely in a very different place after 12 races than it was after five.

After the Chinese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull looked set for a repeat of 2023, when they had the most dominant season in F1 history.

Since Miami, Red Bull have been facing a consistent challenge from McLaren, it appears as if Mercedes are about to make it a three, and there have been six different winners in 12 races so far this year.

That suggests the second half of the season, which starts in Hungary on 19 July, will be extremely competitive and that each individual race could have a number of potential winners.

However, through this period of increased competition, Verstappen has extended his championship lead substantially.

After China, he led Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 34 points and Lando Norris by 52 points.

Norris has since moved up into second in the championship but he is now 84 points behind Verstappen, and Leclerc - who has had a very difficult four races with Ferrari since his win in Monaco - is 105 adrift.

McLaren could arguably have won in Canada, Spain, Austria and Silverstone. But they won none of them, because Norris and his team are making too many small mistakes, whereas Red Bull and Verstappen continue to operate with intimidating consistency.

There is a reason why pretty much everyone in F1 right now thinks Verstappen is the best driver in the world.

He could easily have won none of the races since China. Instead, he has won half of them. And when he does not win, he continues to score big points.

If - and it is a big if - McLaren and Mercedes can start to beat Verstappen consistently with both cars, they can start to take some big points off Verstappen.

But even if they did that at every race - which on current form looks unlikely - overcoming the sort of gaps Norris and Leclerc have to Verstappen would be extremely difficult.

That is why Verstappen remains an overwhelming favourite to win the title, even if he may not start any of the remaining races with that status.

Bear in mind, too, that while Red Bull’s new floor did not appear to work that effectively in Silverstone, it was only its first race. And they are believed to have more upgrades to come in Hungary.

Red Bull are going through a sticky patch - by their recent standards - but they remain a formidable force.