Nico Hulkenberg makes touching gesture to daughter after British Grand Prix podium

Nico Hulkenberg has revealed that he will let his daughter play with the Lego trophy he received for his first-ever F1 podium at the British Grand Prix. The veteran German held off Lewis Hamilton in a spectacular drive to end a 238-race wait for a trip to the rostrum.

There was an interesting wrinkle to the podium ceremony, too. After the drivers drove lifesize Lego cars at the Miami Grand Prix, the Danish toy company contributed to the trophies handed out to the drivers at the British GP. This was brought up by Oscar Piastri in the post-race press conference. The Australian was livid with a second-place finish after a 10-second time penalty for a safety car infringement handed the lead, and the eventual race victory, to team-mate Lando Norris.

"I also have a question for Nico," Piastri said in the press conference room. "How does it feel to wait 15 years for a podium in F1, and it's made out of Lego that you can pull apart?"

Hulkenberg gave a chuckle before providing a sweet response. "I love Lego! It's good.. my daughter can play with it too. You've always got to see the bright side, but a little bit of silver or gold would be nice too. I won't complain!"

The gravity of Hulkenberg's podium was clear to see in the reaction of his rivals. Piastri praised it as the moment of the day in his first post-race interview, while Max Verstappen celebrated the news from within his cockpit in a more aggressive fashion than some of his wins in seasons gone by.

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Team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto also got in on the fun. The Brazilian rookie, who was taken out of contention by an early spin on slick tyres, hopped on the radio to congratulate his Sauber colleague, and was first on the scene to congratulate him when he pulled into Parc Ferme.

"It feels good," he told Jenson Button after the race. "It's been a long time coming, hasn't it? But I always knew we have it in us, I have it in me, somewhere. What a race. Coming from virtually last, doing it all over again from last weekend.

"It's pretty surreal, to be honest. I'm not sure how it all happened, but obviously crazy, mixed conditions. It was a survival fight for a lot of the race. I think we just were really on it with the right calls, the right tyres in the right moment, made no mistakes - quite incredible."