2023 British Grand Prix Weekend Recap

July 10, 2023

The British Grand Prix: what a weekend. It is always quite the event, but I don’t think I quite expected what this weekend brought. Here is you 2023 British Grand Prix Weekend Recap:

Free Practice: July 7-8, 2023

Friday’s practice sessions were dry with clear skies, but Saturday’s FP3 gave us a taste of the British rain. Max Verstappen went fastest in FP1 and FP2 with his teammate Sergio Perez close behind in P2 and P4. When the rain came about 25 minutes into FP3, both Red Bull cars hadn’t yet set their fastest laps and ended up out of position in the final classification. The newly upgraded Williams gave us a shock as Alex Albon went P3 in the first two sessions and P2 in the third. His teammate Logan Sargeant also had some promising results with P5 in FP2 and P7 in FP3. With Albon just a few tenths off of P1, Williams seems like it has the car for a good Qualifying. While Williams were celebrating their shockingly fast laps, Ferrari, Mercedes, and McLaren had to work through some issues during Practice. Charles Leclerc had to sit out of FP2 when technical problems were discovered in his Ferrari, Mercedes struggled to find speed in their car as they tried to test their upgrades, and Oscar Piastri’s McLaren suffered a hydraulic leak at the end of FP1. 

Qualifying: July 8, 2023

Q1:

• Following the downpour of FP3, the rain had stopped in time for Quali but the track was still damp and another rain shower was predicted for later in the session. 

• Sargeant, the Ferraris, and the Haas started Quali on intermediate tires but quickly realized their mistake and switched to soft compound tires.

• Just as the rain fell, Kevin Magnussen stopped his Haas on the side of the track after losing power. With just three minutes left, Q1 was Red Flagged. 

• Three minutes meant that there was only time for drivers to set one last flying lap. As the Red Flag was ending, all of the drivers were lined up in the pit lane to quickly get out on track.

• Eliminated: Perez (P16), Tsunoda (P17), Zhou (P18), De Vries (P19), Magnussen (P20)

• For the fifth race in a row, Perez has failed to reach Q3. Since Perez was the first car out after the Red Flag, he lost time driving on the damp track. 

Q2:

• Eliminated: Hulkenberg (P11), Stroll (P12), Ocon (P13), Sargeant (P14), Bottas (P15)

• Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon were racing each other for track position before their final flying laps and Ocon went off the track. The unnecessary fight cost both drivers Q3. 

• Sargeant didn’t have time to set his best lap after he had two lap times deleted for exceeding track limits.

• Valtteri Bottas did not participate in Q2 after losing power at the end of Q1.

Q3:

• Lando Norris initially took provisional pole with his final flying lap, Max Verstappen went just two-tenths faster and ended up with Pole position. Nevertheless, Norris qualified P2 and his teammate Oscar Piastri took P3 to make it a McLaren 2-3 starting grid! As a McLaren fan, I almost cried watching this unfold. 

• Although his pace was impeccable throughout Practice, Albon was only able to qualify P8. Considering that he is in a Williams, I would say this is still pretty good.

• The Ferraris qualified P4 and P5 with the Mercedes duo right behind them in P6 and P7. 

Race: July 9, 2023

Valtteri Bottas started from P20 after being disqualified for failing to provide an adequate fuel sample following the session. 

Most drivers started the race on mediums while Russell, Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, and Nyck De Vries opted for softs and Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas went for hards. 

The start saw both McLarens get an amazing jump off the line as Norris took the lead and Piastri put pressure on Verstappen from P3. Verstappen, knowing he’d eventually take the lead of the race, bided his time until DRS helped him overtake Norris on Lap 5. Although he had taken the lead, Verstappen wasn’t able to shake the McLarens since the two managed to stay in DRS range. By around Lap 7, the top three were at least three seconds ahead of Leclerc in P4. 

Lando Norris leading the British Grand Prix

On Lap 10, we had our first retirement of the race when an hydraulic leak ended Ocon’s race. 

Leclerc became the first of the front runners to pit when he stopped on Lap 19 for hard compound tires. His opponents were happy with their pace and chose not to immediately respond to Ferrari’s move. 

Ferrari then pitted Carlos Sainz for hards on Lap 27. In response, Russell pitted for mediums but suffered a slow stop and Perez – having made his way into the points after starting in P15 – got new soft tires. Unfortunately for Russell, his attempted overcut on Leclerc didn’t work out when the Brit rejoined the track just behind the Monegasque. 

A Safety Car was then brought out on Lap 34 when Magnussen retired on Wellington Straight due to terminal power unit failure. All drivers yet to pit took advantage of the cheaper pit stops a Safety Car provides and Verstappen, Hamilton, and Alonso pitted for softs while Norris was fitted with hard tires. Piastri pitted for hards just before the Safety Car and lost P3 to Hamilton. Struggling on hard tires, Leclerc also pitted under the Safety Car and took mediums. 

Some part of Magnussen's engine caught on fire

Four laps later, the Safety Car came in and Verstappen mastered yet another restart. Hamilton – in P3 on used soft tires – gave Norris – in P2 on fresh hard tires – a run for his money as the two tussled over P2. Norris pulled off some amazing defending and managed to pull away a few laps later. 

While Hamilton and Norris were fighting, Stroll and Gasly were as well. Gasly came on the radio calling for Stroll to give P11 back after the Aston Martin left the track and gained an advantage. The stewards took no action regarding this incident but Stroll then collided with Gasly and forced Alpine’s second retirement of the race after the car picked up suspension damage. Stroll ended up with a five second penalty for causing a collision. Personally, I think it is ridiculous that the penalty for ending someone’s race is the same as it is for exceeding track limits. But then again, we’re dealing with the FIA where consistency is not exactly key. 

With 10 laps to go, Carlos Sainz went from upset with Ferrari’s strategy to absolutely fuming. On hard tires that he couldn’t seem to get any heat into, the Spaniard became a sitting duck as Perez, Albon, and Leclerc overtook him in one lap. Sainz went from P7 to P10. 

Verstappen ultimately won his eighth race of the season, and got Red Bull’s 11th consecutive win, by 4 seconds. My hopes, prayers, and predictions of a McLaren podium finally came true as Lando Norris crossed the line in P2! Lewis Hamilton took P3 to make it two Brits on the British Grand Prix podium. Though, I think Piastri deserved P3 more than Hamilton did because the rookie qualified P3, held that position for most of the race, and finished in the top 4 in a newly upgraded car he just started driving. I guess we all know why Alpine and McLaren were fighting over him last season. 

The rest of the points places were occupied by Russell (P5), Perez (P6), Alonso (P7), Albon (P8), Leclerc (P9), and Sainz (P10). It’s quite comical that Ferrari was beaten by one Williams and sandwiched by the other of Sargeant in P11. Who would have thought we’d see Ferrari and Williams battling on track again.

I said it before the race and I will say it again, the British Grand Prix gives us the action and thrill of Formula 1. Yesterday’s race was pretty great, and I am not just saying that because Lando got a podium. It looks like the days of being a tortured McLaren fan are over and the days of Ferrari making bad strategy calls have returned! I guess you can’t have it both ways. Anyway, I will be relishing in this non-victory victory for the next two weeks. 

I’ll be back for the Hungarian Grand Prix!

- Divya

Where I got these

from:

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1214/great-britain/practice-1.html 

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fp1-verstappen-leads-perez-and-albon-as-british-gp-weekend-begins.6cpL2EEXTzHHAr6wg3BxGj.html 

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1214/great-britain/practice-2.html 

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fp2-verstappen-tops-second-practice-at-silverstone-from-sainz-and-albon-as.5iYHOcblcz41FGRcr2nLmo.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1214/great-britain/practice-3.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.fp3-leclerc-heads-albon-and-alonso-in-fp3-at-silverstone-as-rain-arrives.2Jccs07kTp0PvOw8SMUTak.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-beats-norris-to-pole-in-thrilling-wet-dry-qualifying-at.5GA7sVAs4M6oToPt7ftgpd.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1214/great-britain/qualifying.html

• https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.verstappen-heads-local-heroes-norris-and-hamilton-to-claim-british-grand.4xXlbiWyuXieSAswy1lHq0.html 

• https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1214/great-britain/race-result.html

Pictures:

• https://cdn.racingnews365.com/2023/_1125x633_crop_center-center_85_none/XPB_1222030_HiRes.jpg?v=1688932818 

• https://preview.redd.it/2023-british-grand-prix-qualifying-classification-v0-09soq3tkgrab1.jpg?auto=webp&s=d8056a50ae44c4308b88ac2edb3a123ccc46c159 

• https://media.formula1.com/image/upload/f_auto/q_auto/v1688915821/fom-website/2023/Britain/norris-verstappen-piastri-silverstone-2023.png 

• https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/07/09/16/Screen%20Shot%202023-07-09%20at%2016.01.42.png 

• https://static.standard.co.uk/2023/07/09/17/newFile-3.jpg 

• https://preview.redd.it/2023-british-grand-prix-race-classification-v0-otfp0d0royab1.jpg?auto=webp&s=f3e406434b783e7b26b36786c3864b6adaff9b17