Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain celebrates after winning the British Formula One Grand Prix race at the Silverstone racetrack, Silverstone, England, Sunday. (Luca Bruno/AP Photo)

Associated Press

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Pato O’Ward bounced back on multiple levels with an IndyCar victory Sunday he was confident of achieving with a new hybrid engine he found to his liking.

The combination helped him reduce a big time deficit to Alex Palou and ultimately pounce on the slimmest window of opportunity.

O’Ward seized the lead with 24 laps remaining as Palou stalled in the pits and held on to win the Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the IndyCar series’ official debut of its hybrid engine.

The victory provided huge redemption for O’Ward, who was leading the final lap of the Indianapolis 500 in May before Josef Newgarden overtook him on the final half-mile for the victory. It was O’Ward’s second win this season but the first on-track after he was awarded the victory in the season-opening race at St. Peterburg, Florida, when Newgarden was disqualified for manipulating the push-to-pass system on his Chevy.

That made the win even more rewarding, especially after the heartbreaking loss at Indy.

“We really pushed today,” said O’Ward, whose initial pit stop for softer, red-sidewall alternate tires helped him gain speed before switching back to primary rubber on the next. “I was pushing so long and watching him pull out kind of trying to run away with it in the first stint, I said ‘no way, no way.’”

“As soon as we got the reds on, that was my chance to close the gap and ultimately beat him. … We earned it. No one gave it to us. This feels really good.”

O’Ward started second in a Chevy to Palou’s Honda and spent most of the race whacking a time gap of more than five seconds at times to the dominant Palou, who edged his counterpart by 0.0024 seconds for the pole and had sought his second consecutive win at Mid-Ohio. His chance came when Palou pitted for tires and fuel on Lap 56 of 80 but stalled, a hiccup that allowed O’Ward to slip by as Palou re-entered the repaved road course.

“Just tried to engage first gear too early,” said Palou, who was coming off a Laguna Seca win from the pole two weeks ago. “My mechanics were super good on tires and a few — like you cannot engage first gear when the fueler is in, so yeah, I just tried and it got denied and then when I could have put it (in gear), it was like half a second or one second. Totally my fault.”

Palou stalked O’Ward from there but couldn’t get within range to pass. Green-flag conditions also helped, even after Romain Grosjean’s Chevy spun behind them and stalled with three laps left. Grosjean refired the new hybrid unit and continued, preventing a disruption and likely finish under caution with the previous engine.

O’Ward wobbled slightly near the end but took the victory by 0.4993 seconds, giving the driver his first on-track win since July 2022 at Iowa and Arrow McLaren a big triumph in a season dominated by Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing. It was IndyCar’s closest finish this season on a road or street course.

Scott McLaughlin was third in a Penske Chevy, followed by Colton Herta and Marcus Ericsson in Andretti Global Honda and Alexander Rossi, O’Ward’s teammate.

Palou extended his IndyCar points lead to 48 over Will Power, while O’Ward surged to third, 70 back.

Six-time race winner Scott Dixon started 21 laps down because his Honda failed to start and fell 71 points back to fourth after entering the weekend 32 behind Palou in third. Dixon already had a lot of ground to make up on Sunday after qualifying 14th.

While the finish was obviously important for O’Ward and Palou, attention was focused on the first competition with the hybrid unit powering the Hondas and Chevys.

The long-awaited hybrid unit in the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine produces electricity through braking or throttle position change. Power is stored in capacitors that produce quick boosts and when drivers deploy a system similar to the push-to-pass button. The combination can add up to 120 horsepower and more than 800 total.

IndyCar expressed encouragement and excitement about the hybrid engine in a statement after the race that cited the collaboration between Chevy and Honda. The statement added that the series looked forward to “the continued evolution of the hybrid power unit as teams and drivers fine-tune the system” and how horsepower assist works on an oval next weekend at Iowa Speedway.

At Mid-Ohio, O’Ward and Palou stood above everybody else in claiming the front row before O’Ward made it pay off.

IndyCar’s next race is July 14 at Newton, Iowa.

Hamilton wins British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton had been counting the days since his last Formula 1 win and the number was creeping toward 1,000.

After a brilliant victory in front of his home fans at the British Grand Prix on Sunday — his 104th win in F1 — a relieved Hamilton can finally stop counting.

“That’s the longest stint without a win, 945 days. This could be one of the most special for me, if not the most special,” Hamilton said. “There have definitely been moments when I thought it’s never going to happen again.”

There have been so many wins to celebrate dating back to his first in Canada in 2007, but this was his first anywhere since the penultimate race of the 2021 season in Saudi Arabia. That’s more than 50 races ago.

That year he lost his F1 crown to Max Verstappen, who will be hard to stop getting a fourth straight F1 title.

But Sunday belonged to the 39-year-old Hamilton in his last British GP with Mercedes, before joining Ferrari next year.

“Leaving on a high,” Hamilton said. “This is my last race here with this team so I wanted to win this so much for them because I love them and I appreciate them so much.”

As much as the fans appreciate him.

“My fans around the world have been so supportive,” Hamilton said. “I was coming round and there’s just no greater feeling than to finish at the front here.”

Silverstone held a collective breath in the closing laps as Hamilton held off Verstappen’s late charge and became the first F1 driver to win on any track nine times.

“For me, personally, it’s the best track in the world,” said Hamilton, who added another F1 record to go with his 104 wins and 104 pole positions. He also co-owns a record seven F1 titles with Michael Schumacher.

So how was he planning to celebrate?

“With a curry,” he said. “I love Indian food.”

The close finish saw him edge out Verstappen by 1.5 seconds, with Lando Norris finishing third for McLaren ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

A tearful-sounding Hamilton thanked his team over radio and was still emotional several minutes later as he struggled to compose himself.

“I’m still crying,” Hamilton said as he addressed the crowd.

There were high hopes for a home win at Silverstone, with Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell on pole position ahead of Hamilton and with Norris going from third and Verstappen fourth.

Russell’s hopes of a second straight F1 win ended on Lap 34 of 52 with a water system issue on his car.

Verstappen overtook Norris with four laps left but could not catch Hamilton, to the delight of most of the 164,000 fans.

Moments after crossing the line, Hamilton jumped into the arms of mechanics and then shared a long hug with his father, Anthony Hamilton. Then it was time to absorb the applause from the home fans. Carrying a British flag he jumped over a crash barrier and then held it aloft.

“I can see you lap by lap, there’s just no greater feeling,” he told the cheering crowd.

The start saw Russell and Hamilton get away cleanly while Verstappen overtook Norris.

Rain started falling some 25 minutes into the race and made the 5.9-kilometer (3.7-mile) track more greasy.

After Hamilton took the lead from Russell on the damp track, Norris took advantage of Russell’s error to move into second.

Verstappen, Norris and both Mercedes cars pitted for new tires shortly after the halfway point of the race. But McLaren kept Piastri out a little longer, costing him a chance of victory.

After the tire-change shakeup, Norris was just over three seconds ahead of Hamilton while Verstappen was drifting back.

The next tire changes, with a little more than 10 laps remaining, proved crucial.

Verstappen, Hamilton and Norris made quick changes but McLaren took too long on Norris’ rears — 4.5 seconds — and he came out 2.4 seconds behind race leader Hamilton, with Verstappen now making up ground fast.

“Pretty disappointed,” Norris said. “Frustrating a few times this season when we’ve thrown away something which should have been ours.”

Verstappen couldn’t get close enough, though, and Hamilton’s win made it six different winners so far this season — compared to just three in 22 races last year.

“There’s many of us in the fight,” Norris said. “I expect there will be good battles.”

But even though Verstappen is not winning as much, he is still extending his gap because Norris is finishing behind him.

He is 84 points ahead of Norris in the standings, 255-171, with Charles Leclerc in third place with 150. Despite collecting 25 points for his win, Hamilton is eighth with 110.

Carlos Sainz Jr. finished Sunday’s race in fifth for Ferrari ahead of Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, with Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Alex Albon (Williams) and Yuki Tsunoda (RB) rounding out the top 10.

Sergio Perez apologized to Red Bull after qualifying in a dismal 19th, and started from the pit lane as his team made multiple part changes. He finished 17th, while Leclerc started 11th and placed 14th.