July 6, 2023
It is time to go to the U.K. for the British Grand Prix. Supporting their home teams and drivers – Lando Norris, George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton – the British crowd is always a hoot! Here is everything 2023 British Grand Prix:
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 7/7, 7:30-8:30 PM
Practice 2: Friday 7/7, 11:00-12:00 AM
Practice 3: Saturday 7/8, 6:30-7:30 PM
Qualifying: Saturday 7/8, 10:00-11:00 AM
Race: Sunday 7/9, 10:00 AM
The 52 lap British Grand Prix will be hosted at the Silverstone Circuit. Originally used as an airfield in World War II, the track was the location of the first ever F1 race in 1950 and has since been a staple on the F1 calendar. Silverstone has plenty of overtaking opportunities with its short start-finish straight, 18 corners – including the iconic left-right-left sequence of Maggots, Becketts, and Chapel – and 2 DRS zones. Most teams will opt for a low-drag set-up to allow them to navigate the high-speed circuit, but they will also be worrying about tire life. The nature of Silverstone puts high energy loads on the tires, and with the unusually high tire degradation of this season’s car, Pirelli has constructed a new tire compound just for the British Grand Prix. Teams will have the option of running this harder, more durable tire during the weekend.
After Austria, I think it is safe to say the order has been mixed up a little. While Red Bull and Max Verstappen continued to dominate the rest of the field, the newly upgraded Ferrari proved to be “best of the rest” as Charles Leclerc took P2. It had previously seemed as though Mercedes was winning the fight for second in the Constructors Championship, but the team struggled to find pace Austria and only ended up P7 and P8. Mercedes is bringing an upgrades package this weekend with hopes of reclaiming their spot at the front and possibly getting a race win at their home Grand Prix. A British based team with two British drivers winning the British Grand Prix would be quite the story.
Another story in Austria was Sergio Perez’s comeback. The Mexican driver finally found his way out of whatever slump he was in and clinched P2 in the Sprint and P3 in the Race. These podiums are bound to have renewed Perez’s confidence in his abilities and we should probably start seeing him race Verstappen for wins soon.
McLaren have been preparing for a comeback of their own for quite a while, and it looks like we are finally getting it. Austria saw Lando Norris test some of the new McLaren upgrades and boy did they work. Norris ended up in P4 and successfully fought off the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. This weekend, Oscar Piastri will be given the upgrades and Norris will be given a few new parts to test. I am hoping and praying Austria’s results mean that the days of my McLaren heart getting shattered are over.
While we are on the topic of McLaren, they have a special Chrome livery for the British Grand Prix. After years of Lando Norris hounding team boss Zak Brown to bring back the McLaren chrome livery from the 2000s, Brown has finally granted Lando’s wish. This weekend’s special one-off look will honor the team’s partnership with Google Chrome and kick off McLaren’s 60th anniversary celebrations. I think it is quite impressive that Lando Norris has continued fighting for this livery for almost six years.
Back to racing: Williams, another team that calls the British Grand Prix its home race, will be celebrating its 800th Grand Prix this weekend. The past few races have seen a major improvement in the team’s performance and the goal now is to score points. Logan Sargeant being a rookie shouldn’t worry the team too much this weekend because he has won Silverstone in F2, F3, and British F4; I think it is safe to say he knows what he’s doing here.
In other news, F1 has released the race calendar for the 2024 season and it is honestly better than the 2023 calendar. Although Spa is still in the wrong place and takes place just before summer break instead of after, the calendar is more regionalized and travel friendly. This means that Qatar has been moved to be just before Abu Dhabi, Japan was moved to April, and Azerbaijan is now in September. It is a strange thing to not completely hate what F1 and the FIA have said, but I guess that’s where we are with this calendar.
The British Grand Prix usually gives us some action, like Zhou Guanyu’s crash last year, so we should get a good race this weekend. With a majority of the teams and four of the twenty drivers celebrating their home race, the weekend will definitely have something interesting happening.
I will be back after the race.
Happy Race Weekend!
- Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula-1/2023/british-grand-prix/guide-to-britain/
https://www.ferrari.com/en-US/formula1/articles/british-grand-prix-2023-preview
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/formula-1/2023/british-grand-prix/lando-chrome-livery-interview/
https://www.haasf1team.com/news/british-grand-prix-preview-3
https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2023/Great_Britain/Circuit.html