2023 British Grand Prix Highlights
Buckle up as we take a look in the rear-view mirror at the highlights of the British Grand Prix
Dutch is Life
No matter how repetitive it might sound, Max Verstappen had yet another impressive weekend. While it may have looked like he wouldn’t be starting on pole for a few seconds, Max Verstappen crushed the dreams of British fans everywhere as he snatched back pole from Lando Norris on the last lap of Qualifying.
Verstappen even got some wheel-to-wheel action against both McLarens, especially Lando Norris, who beat him off the line and led the race for the first four laps. After Max regained the lead it was smooth sailing, even with a late Safety Car. While the gaps he created at the British Grand Prix weren’t as large as the 21-second leads at other races, it was still a dominant performance overall. And more importantly, with Max Verstappen’s win, Red Bull’s 11-year dry spell at the British Grand Prix finally came to an end! Max also became the 5th driver in F1 history to win 6 races in a row, joining the ranks of Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, and Nico Rosberg.
DNF…and Make it Double!
Ryan Reynolds may be feeling a bit nervous about his investment following Alpine’s performance at the British Grand Prix. The two Alpines were fairly anonymous through most of the free practices in the midfield, with the best result coming in FP3, where Gasly finished P4. Heading into qualifying, it was clear that Alpine didn’t seem to have much pace. Both Alpine drivers got through Q1, but Ocon was eliminated in Q2, qualifying P13 for Sunday. Gasly made it through to Q3 but only qualified P10.
Unfortunately, Sunday didn’t prove any better for Alpine. On lap 10, Esteban Ocon was forced to retire from the British Grand Prix for the second year in a row due to a hydraulic leak. Meanwhile, halfway through the race, Gasly had gained 2 positions and was up to P8. By lap 32, Gasly was up to P5 through the combination of overtakes and pit stops when he took perhaps the most ill-timed pit stop of the race, coming in the lap before the Safety Car came out, which dropped him back down to P11. After the Safety Car went back in, Pierre made a series of overtakes to get back into the points, including overtaking a struggling Carlos Sainz. Unfortunately, Gasly’s car gave up the ghost after contact with Lance Stroll a few laps earlier. Stroll was handed a 5-second penalty, and Pierre limped back to the pits to retire on lap 48 of 52.
A double DNF for Alpine. This saw Alpine’s 18-point lead over McLaren in the Constructor Standings turn into a 12-point deficit, as they dropped to P6 in the standings and McLaren rose to P5.
McLaren’s Chrome Improvement
After Lando Norris’ great performance in Austria with McLaren’s new upgrades, the team headed into the British Grand Prix cautiously optimistic and with both cars finally upgraded. The two McLarens didn’t make waves during the free practice sessions. Instead, it was qualifying where things really started to heat up. Both drivers easily made it out of Q1, despite the red flag. Q2 ended with Lando on the top of the timesheet and Oscar in P4. In Q3 DRS was enabled, and Piastri set a flying lap early in the session that shot him up to P3. On the last lap, Norris crossed the line to take provisional pole, but Max Verstappen managed to take the position back at the last second. Still, McLaren starting 2-3 at the British Grand Prix was fantastic!
Lando was aggressive right off the line and managed to get ahead of Verstappen and lead the British Grand Prix. Piastri also tried to get around Verstappen but fell back to maintain P3. Norris led his home GP for 4 laps before Max took back the lead. McLaren played it conservatively early in the race and issued team orders to maintain the current 2-3 on lap 8. Halfway through the race, McLaren was still running 2-3. On lap 29, Piastri pitted for hards—another conservative choice by McLaren. Unfortunately for Oscar, a poorly timed Safety Car on lap 33 allowed Lewis Hamilton to come out of the pits ahead of him, pushing him out of podium position. Norris also boxed under the Safety Car but was able to maintain P2. McLaren made the same conservative decision and put him on hards—which was especially worrying considering Hamilton in P3 was on softs; this made Lando’s life extremely difficult once the Safety Car went back in and the race was back underway. Lewis was immediately on the back of Norris and made several moves to overtake, but Lando continued to hold him off, even after DRS was enabled. Piastri did an equally good job holding off George Russell to defend P4. Both McLarens held their respective positions to the checkered flag with a healthy 3-4 second lead over the Mercedes behind them. This was McLaren’s best result of the season by far, and Lando Norris received his first home race podium. Oscar Piastri also had his highest finish in F1 so far—even if it could have been a podium if it wasn’t for that pesky Safety Car.
Williams Wows at Home Race!
What a way to celebrate the team’s 800th Grand Prix! Williams started the weekend strong. Alex Albon finished FP1 in P3—the fastest after the two Red Bulls. In FP2, Albon repeated the feat, and his teammate Logan Sargeant finished P5. The presence of Williams so high up on the timing sheets left pundits scratching their heads and some accusing the team of running with low levels of fuel to inflate their times in front of their home crowd. FP3 saw Albon finish even higher—P2! Everyone was left wondering if the team’s speed would carry over to Qualifying.
It wasn’t looking good for Williams initially, with both drivers in the bottom 5. Albon delivered a time good enough to get up to P12, but it was deleted, sending him down to P20. Then, with 3 minutes left, the Q1 was red-flagged. This meant that when the session restarted, it was a mad scramble to get one flying lap in, and boy did Williams deliver—Albon and Sargeant went 1-2 and made it through to Q2. Albon quickly set a time that slotted him behind Fernando Alonso in P2. Unfortunately, Sargeant had another lap time deleted and was eliminated, qualifying P14. Albon soared through to Q3 in P4 and ultimately qualified P8. This is the third race in a row that Alex has made it to Q3—this is the first time a Williams driver has done that since Felipe Massa in 2016/2017!
Onto the race! Alex lost 2 positions at the start and went down to P10. He held this position until lap 16, when Sergio Perez overtook him, pushing him out of the points. By lap 22, Alex was back in the points after Charles Leclerc pitted. Logan Sargeant was slowly making his way through the field; halfway through the race, he was running P13. Then, on lap 33, a Safety Car came out, prompting a flurry of pit stops. Alex gained a position coming out P9—Logan had unfortunately pitted before the Safety Car. The Safety Car went back in on lap 39, and the race was back underway! Sergio Perez overtook Carlos Sainz for P7, and Alex took the opportunity to overtake the Ferrari as well for P8. With three laps to go, Alex set his sights on Alonso ahead of him in P7 while simultaneously defending against Charles Leclerc. While he didn’t manage the overtake, he managed to keep the Ferrari behind him all the way to the checkered flag. Sargeant managed to work his way up to P11—just missing out on his maiden F1 points. Still, overall an excellent result for the British team!