The Briton took his best-ever result at his home race, taking an early lead before finishing as runner-up to Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
He pitted during the safety car caused by Kevin Magnussen's Haas stopping on track and was given the hard Pirelli tyres, with Verstappen and third-place runner Hamilton on the softs.
It meant Norris had to work harder to fire up his tyres, with the two Britons thrillingly going wheel-to-wheel over the first two laps back to racing speed between Brooklands and Copse.
But he was able to break DRS to Hamilton and finished second, his first podium since the Emilia Romagna GP last year.
Asked how the race was, Norris said: "Yeah, pretty insane. I just want to say a big thanks to the whole team. They've done an amazing job.
"None of this would be possible without the hard work that they've been putting in, so pretty amazing. Pretty insane to put up with the fight.
"They put me on hard tyres. I don't know why - they're still beginners in some things - but yeah, it was an amazing fight with Lewis to hold him off.
"I made a few too many mistakes, maybe, but I did what I could. I bought the fight to Max for as long as possible.
"It's a long, lonely race when you're just in the middle. But it's amazing."
Discussing his tyre strategy, Norris said he felt the softs "made a bit more sense" but that it was "all good" given his second-place finish.
He also said he felt team-mate Oscar Piastri deserved to finish third after the amazing job he did all weekend.
Norris added: "Yeah, I think they just wanted to give me a bit more of a test, I guess. That is what Zak said anyway, probably Zak called the shots on that one.
"Yeah, I mean, I wanted the softs. I feel like it made a bit more sense, especially with the safety car coming out, but I don't care. I am P2 so all good.
"Pretty amazing. I mean, the whole in lap I was just trying to wave to everyone, so a big thanks to all the British fans out here supporting all of us, also for McLaren.
"Honestly, we should have had a P2/P3. Oscar did an amazing job all weekend and he should have been P3 today without the safety car.
"So a shame, he deserved it. But yeah, the fans were amazing. So big thanks to all of them."
