2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix highlights

 

Introduction

 

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overcame an early attack from McLaren rival Lando Norris to triumph in an action-packed 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, marking his first-ever victory at this event and extending his current winning run to six races.

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Mario Isola, Motorsport Director, Pirelli:

First of all, well done to the amazing crowd at Silverstone: 480,000 is an impressive record, a sign of the incredible popularity Formula 1 is experiencing right now.

From a tyre point of view, this weekend delivered interesting answers. The introduction of the new construction went according to plan, and the initial analysis of the data is in line with our expectations. The feeling that all three compounds could be used in the race was confirmed this afternoon. Certainly, the considerably cooler temperatures, when compared to Friday, allowed for the Soft to be pushed harder for longer. But apart from that, the fact that all three compounds were valid choices meant the teams could choose the tyre combination that best suited their cars. Finally, a word about degradation, which was lower than expected for all three compounds, even though this track is one of the toughest on tyres. It meant the teams were able to extend their stints without any significant drop-off in performance.

How the race was won from the tyre point of view:

Another win for Max Verstappen, the reigning world champion now clearly the dominant force, along with his Red Bull Racing car, in 2023. This was Max’s second win at the Silverstone circuit, following on from the Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix held here in 2020. He was never really troubled, even if he was surprised at the speed of Lando Norris’ start in the McLaren from the spot alongside him on the grid. Once back in front, the Dutchman had a trouble-free time of it, even after the restart on lap 39, as the race had been neutralised while Kevin Magnussen’s Haas was removed from the side of the track. Much to the delight of most of the 480,000-strong crowd – a record for this track, Verstappen was joined on the podium by two British drivers, the aforementioned Norris and Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes driver has been the main beneficiary of the appearance of the Safety Car.

Red Bull’s win puts the team equal with McLaren for the most consecutive race wins (11.) The last time a driver for the Austro-British team did not win a race dates back to George Russell’s victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix last year.

One-stop was the most common strategy, but the Soft proved far more popular than our earlier predictions. The only cars not to run the C3 were the two Ferraris and two McLarens.

The most used compound during the Grand Prix was the C2, which ran 485 laps, 50% of the total completed. The C3 was second (337 laps, 34.74%), followed by the C1 (148, 15.26%).

Russell’s 28 laps were the longest stint on the Soft, while for the Medium, Verstappen, Hamilton, Norris and Alonso did 33 and Bottas ran 32 on the Hard.

The fastest laps for each compound were all set on tyres that had done ten or more laps. For the C1, the best time (1.30.543) was set by Norris on lap 43 with a set of tyres that were 10 laps old. Russell was quickest with the C2 (1.31.124) on lap 13 of his second stint, while the fastest race lap fell to Verstappen in 1.30.275 on C3 on lap 11 of his second stint. It should also be noted that after pit stops for Russell and Verstappen, the race was neutralised for five laps.

What’s next?

The next Formula 1 round is the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest from 21 to 23 July. The softest compounds in the range (C3, C4 and C5) will be used at the Hungaroring, and the event will trial the Alternative Tyre Allocation, a format which means that only Hard tyres can be used in Q1, Medium in Q2 and Soft in Q3. The use of ATA reduces the number of sets of dry weather tyres available for each car to 11, two fewer than on a traditional race weekend. The test will then be repeated at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix Race Results

Pos	No	Driver	Country	Team	Time	Points	Overall
1.	1	Max Verstappen	Netherlands	Red Bull Racing	1:25:16.938	26	255
2.	4	Lando Norris	Great Britain	Mclaren Racing	+3.798s	18	42
3.	44	Lewis Hamilton	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+6.783s	15	121
4.	81	Oscar Piastri	Australia	McLaren Racing	+7.776s	12	17
5.	63	George Russell	Great Britain	Mercedes-AMG Petronas	+11.206s	10	82
6.	11	Sergio Perez	Mexico	Red Bull Racing	+12.882s	8	156
7.	14	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Aston Martin F1 Team	+17.193s	6	137
8.	45	Alexander Albon	Thailand	Williams Racing	+17.878s	4	11
9.	16	Charles Leclerc	Monaco	Scuderia Ferrari	+18.689s	2	74
10.	55	Carlos Sainz	Spain	Scuderia Ferrari	+19.448s	1	83
11.	2	Logan Sargeant	USA	Williams Racing	+23.632s	0	0
12.	77	Valtteri Bottas	Finland	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+25.830s	0	5
13.	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany	Haas F1 Team	+26.663s	0	9
14.	18	Lance Stroll	Canada	Aston Martin F1 Team	+27.483s	0	44
15.	24	Zhou Guanyu	China	Alfa Romeo F1 Team	+29.820s	0	4
16.	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Japan	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+31.225s	0	2
17.	21	Nyck De Vries	Netherlands	Scuderia AlphaTauri	+33.128s	0	0
9.	10	Pierre Gasly	France	Alpine F1 Team	DNF	0	16
12.	31	Esteban Ocon	France	Alpine F1 Team	DNF	0	31
19.	20	Kevin Magnussen	Denmark	Haas F1 Team	DNF	0	2

2023 Constructor Standings

Pos	Picture	Team	Points
1.		Red Bull Racing	860
2.		Mercedes-AMG F1 Team	409
3.		Scuderia Ferrari	406
4.		McLaren Racing	302
5.		Aston Martin F1 Team	280
6.		Alpine F1 Team	120
7.		Williams Racing	28
8.		Scuderia AlphaTauri	25
8.		Alfa Romeo Racing	16
10.		Haas F1 Team	12

Here are the team-by-team highlights:

Red Bull Racing

 

Max Verstappen held on at the 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix to claim his eighth victory of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship season and sixth in a row, with Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Pérez slicing through the field to bank a respectable sixth spot after starting 15th.

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Verstappen made a slow start and was overtaken by Silverstone home hero Lando Norris. However, the Dutchman managed to take the lead soon after with a DRS move on the Briton and then held on to triumph, with Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton completing the podium.

Mexican Pérez made the best of a poor qualifying session on Saturday by powering through the field on Sunday’s race day to end up in sixth place, with the Scuderia AlphaTauri duo of Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries finishing in 16th and 17th, respectively.

With the added fastest lap point, Verstappen now stretches his 2023 drivers’ lead to 99 points over Pérez, with Oracle Red Bull Racing extending their constructors’ title lead over Mercedes to 208 points heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring on July 23.

Max Verstappen, Driver, Red Bull Racing

I’m very happy that we’ve won here again. 11 wins in a row for the Team is pretty incredible; the whole Team can be proud of that. It definitely wasn’t straightforward today, though, we had a bad start which made it more exciting for the fans, but we definitely need to look into that and improve on it. Lando and Oscar were super quick at the start, so it took a few laps to pass them and to start to pull a gap. The competitors behind us were pushing hard and closing the gap, so we needed to try and find a little bit more. Overall though, a very nice Team win, and hopefully, we can carry the form to Budapest!

Sergio Pérez, Driver, Red Bull Racing:

I gave it my all today but was expecting a bit more. We had a bad start, and then I got stuck with Esteban Ocon, had to go wide and ended up losing a few positions at the start. From there on, I made progress slowly and recovered a few places, but it took me longer to come through the field than I would have liked. We also pitted a few laps before the safety car, which was unfortunate. Tomorrow, I am going to be working with the Team in the simulator. We have some ideas on what we can improve on, and I am confident that this will help us work through it. I have full support from the team, I’m mentally very strong, and I know that I will overcome these issues and turn around my season. The pace is there, and I can still get back to where I should be. I am looking forward to Hungary and getting back on good form.

CHRISTIAN HORNER – CEO and Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

The first British GP win for the Team since 2012, Max’s second win at Silverstone and our 11th win in a row make this a very special victory, but not without its challenges. We had expected it to be a medium-hard race, but with the performance of George on the softs, we started to consider our strategy. Then with the safety car in the final quarter, we felt that the soft tyre would give Max the best opportunity to break the DRS effect, and he very quickly put two seconds between himself and the pack. From there, it was a case of managing the rest of the race, and once again, Max more than rose to the occasion. Equally, Checo found fine form today. Some of his moves in the race exemplify exactly how skilful he is as a driver, particularly on Carlos into Stowe, and his pace in the last stint meant he was right there. It’s frustrating for him that he has had to fight back after qualifying in recent races, but he is finding his form and will find it further in Budapest.

Red Bull Racing Honda best pictures:

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

 

Lewis Hamilton finished third, and George Russell fifth in the 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix. Lining up P6 and P7, respectively, the Team opted to split strategies, with George starting on the Soft tyre and Lewis on the Medium compound. On the opening lap, George gained one place off the line whilst Lewis dropped a couple of positions but fought back to P8 at the end of the first tour.

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Lewis moved up to P7, passing Alonso on lap seven with tyre life better than expected and enabling both drivers to push on past the halfway point of the race without stopping. On lap 28, George boxed for the Medium tyre, whilst a Safety Car period on lap 33 enabled Lewis to stop for the Soft tyre and maintain the positions he had gained; he re-joined in P3 with George in P5. With a tyre offset to the McLarens of Norris and Piastri ahead of them at the restart, it looked like the Team may be able to improve on those positions. However, despite some valiant efforts, Lewis was unable to get ahead of Norris, and George couldn’t put pressure on Piastri.

Lewis Hamilton

The Safety Car came at a beneficial moment for us, but ultimately, that was the plan starting on the Medium tyre. We wanted to go long, and we did; it came at the right time, and we made some gains. For us to get on the podium is huge. It’s been an up-and-down season, and we’ve still got a lot of work to do with our car. We’ve got strengths with it, particularly in the long run. George had a great stint on the Soft tyre, and mine on the Medium was really good too. As soon as we can improve the rear end, we will be on our way. We need to hold on to the good bits and add a few others.

Finally, the support from the fans has been incredible, and it gets better each and every year. I don’t know how that is possible, as it’s the pinnacle! The energy that everyone brings is phenomenal. Once again, Silverstone put on an amazing show.

George Russell

We wanted to be aggressive today and had the chance to split the strategies. The Soft tyre felt really strong in that first stint, but unfortunately, it was very difficult to overtake Leclerc. There was some questionable defending at points, but in the end, I managed to get past it. Having stopped for the Medium tyre, it was unfortunate timing with the Safety Car. Sometimes it goes for you, sometimes against you. Ultimately though, we only lost one position, and without it, I still wouldn’t have ended up on the podium. It didn’t change a huge amount for my race, and we can take the positives that for the Team, it is good points in the Constructors’ Championship.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO

We’ve performed well today compared to in Qualifying. We’ve gained some points on our closest competitors in the Constructors’ Championship, so we can say it’s a solid day. P3 and P5 are OK, but no more than solid. I see the positives from this weekend, though. Whilst podiums are good, it’s more important to see that the car has potential, and our eyes are on closing the gap to the very front.

We wanted to have an offset between the two cars today, and the Soft tyre provided a good getaway from the line. It also looked quite resilient on Friday, and it proved even more so today. We were surprised to see how long it went. After the restart, Lewis’ tyres went off, and the McLarens were able to hold us behind. Their resurgence is good to see. If you make the right decisions, you can clearly make a large step. It is good for the sport that if you do the right things, then you can move forward. Today, they had a better car, and you could see, particularly in the closing stages on the Hard tyre, just how strong they were.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

It was great to get a car on the podium today. We needed the Safety Car to make that, but we were in the right position with one car to take advantage of it. Overall, it’s been a solid day for the team and drivers. We’ve managed to out-score both Ferrari and Aston Martin, which is good for the Constructors’ Championship. McLaren has shown that they are podium contenders; they were the second-quickest team this weekend, which is impressive when you consider where they were earlier in the season.

We’ve got a good platform to build on. We know the areas that we need to improve, but the field is so tight. Where we are racing, a couple of tenths can be the difference between a podium and the back end of the points. We know we need to continue improving, and everyone in Brackley and Brixworth is working hard to do just that.

Mercedes-AMG F1 Team best pictures:

Aston Martin Formula One Team

 

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team leaves the 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix third in the Constructors’ Championship after Fernando secures points in our home race.

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A challenging day for the team at Silverstone Circuit that yields six points as Fernando battles to P7 from P9 on the grid. Lance, meanwhile, finishes out of the points after a late penalty.

The clouds hung thick and low over our home circuit, but the rain didn’t materialise during a Grand Prix that saw a late Virtual Safety Car-turned-Safety Car, which provided an opportune time for both of our drivers to pit.

Fernando began the race on Used Medium tyres and made his way up into the top five, having forgone the chance to pit before the Safety Car was deployed. He then took the chance to switch to Used Soft tyres and ended the race seventh by the chequered flag.

Lance also began the race on Used Medium tyres and took the chance to pit for Used Soft tyres when the Virtual Safety Car emerged. However, he fell out of points contention late on and was given a five-second penalty for his role in a collision towards the closing stages of the race.

Read what Fernando, Lance, and Team Principal Mike Krack said after our 10th-consecutive points-scoring race of 2023.

Fernando Alonso

We maximised the race today and took seventh place in a difficult weekend for the team. I think we managed our strategy well and made the right calls during the race. We need to analyse the weekend as a whole, but we aren’t worried about this result.

We’ve been performing better than expected so far in 2023, and it’s a long season. Only two races ago, we were fighting for the win, and there will be more ups and downs during this season.

It was great to be racing here at Silverstone and seeing the level of support there is for Aston Martin. Let’s see if we can return to a better level of performance in Hungary.

Lance Stroll

It just wasn’t our day today. As we expected, the characteristics of this circuit didn’t quite suit the AMR23, and we struggled for pace out there.

On a couple of occasions, I was forced wide by Pierre [Gasly], and we made contact the second time; we’ll check this evening whether that caused any damage to the car.

It’s been a tough weekend, but our focus now shifts to Hungary – a circuit that should suit our car – where we’ll be pushing hard for a better result.

Mike Krack, Team Principal:

To come away from our home race at Silverstone with six points is a reasonable return from a weekend where we lacked the pace to compete at the front. Fernando’s race was pretty straightforward, and we optimised the timing of his switch to the Soft tyres under the Safety Car.

Today was a case of damage limitation, and Fernando had to defend hard in the closing stages to secure seventh place. Lance raced hard today. He was pushing hard to get into the top 10 in the final stages, but the contact with Pierre [Gasly] ultimately dropped him down the final order.

Today’s result has consolidated our third place in the Championship, and we increased our advantage over Ferrari. We will work hard as a team to return to a more competitive weekend in Budapest in a couple of weeks.

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia Ferrari

 

Silverstone was expected to be a severe test of the SF-23’s abilities, and the 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix delivered proof of that, given that a ninth-place finish for Charles Leclerc, with Carlos Sainz tenth, did not match the car’s potential as demonstrated on track.

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The race. Right from the opening laps, it was clear the SF-23 struggled to deliver a strong race pace, with Charles and Carlos, separated by George Russell in the Mercedes, unable to stay in touch with Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the front. The team called Charles in slightly earlier than planned, precisely to defend from Russell, but the Monegasque’s lack of pace on the Hard tyres meant he was unable to stay ahead. Carlos extended his first stint to lap 26, and the two Ferraris looked to be set to finish in around fifth and seventh places. Further complicating plans was the Safety Car triggered by Kevin Magnussen on lap 33, which allowed those yet to pit to do so in half the time. Leclerc also came in at this point for a second stop taking on his second set of new Mediums. At this point, Carlos was seventh and Charles tenth. Leclerc was aggressive at the restart, making the most of his fresh rubber, while Carlos did his utmost to fend off Sergio Perez, who was on new Softs. On lap 43, Sainz had to give his best, and as a result of being overtaken, he didn’t have a good line through the last corner, so that Alex Albon and Leclerc also passed him. In the closing laps, the British-Thai Williams driver managed to get in Fernando Alonso’s slipstream, therefore able to use DRS and capable of keeping Charles at bay. There were no more changes in the DRS train, so Leclerc finished ninth ahead of his team-mate.

Another back-to-back before the holidays. The World Championship resumes in a fortnight with the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, 23 July, followed one week later by the Belgian GP, prior to the summer break.

Carlos Sainz #55

It was a difficult race. We were not as quick as expected, and as a consequence, we were unable to fight with the cars ahead. I managed to extend the stint with the Medium tyres, and with the Hard, I was fast. Unfortunately, the Safety Car came out at the worst possible time.

I did my best at the restart but battling on old Hards against other cars with fresher tyres is very difficult here. I feel that better results have been slipping away from us lately, but we’ll keep working and pushing relentlessly, starting from the next race in Hungary.

Charles Leclerc #16

We lacked pace today, and it was a tough race. We stopped early and lost some positions as I struggled to get a good rhythm on the Hards. Then we stopped again for a new set of Mediums, and I made up a couple of positions at the restart but then got stuck in a DRS train behind Alex (Albon).
We have some things to review, but our main focus will be to work on our race trim.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal

Our plan was to do a one-stop race, running Medium, then Hard. We pitted both drivers before the Safety Car, which definitely put us in a bad situation. However, we cannot just blame this episode to explain our finishing positions.

The start of the issue with us was on Friday when Charles wasn’t able to run in FP2, and so we only had a long run on the Soft from which we had concerns about degradation. That’s why we decided to go with Medium-Hard, which proved to be too conservative a choice as the degradation was lower than expected. That is an important lesson for us.

We could have done a much better job here in Silverstone with the package that we have now. The next race will be in Hungary, on a very different kind of track with hotter temperatures and being able to adapt the car package to the various tracks coming up will be a crucial element. We are continuing to develop the car and will have new parts soon, but it’s so tight between P2 and P10 that the smallest mishap makes a big difference.

Scuderia Ferrari best pictures:

McLaren Racing

 

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella after the 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix.

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Lando Norris

First of all, I want to say a big thanks to the whole team: they’ve done an amazing job, and none of this would be possible without the hard work that they’ve been putting in. It was an amazing fight with Lewis to hold him off, and I brought 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 to be on the podium at my home race.

“The whole in-lap, I was just trying to wave to everyone. A big thanks to all the British fans out here supporting all of me and the whole team. We should have had P2 and 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. Great result at Silverstone. We’ll keep pushing forward from here as a team.

Oscar Piastri

P4, what a result! Of course, it was slightly frustrating with the Safety Car, I thought we were on for a podium for a very, very long time in that race, so it hurts a little bit – but I’m very, very happy that the hurt is for a podium. Given where we started this year, I’m very, very happy. Awesome result for the whole team. It was amazing to be running back at the front again, and I can’t wait for more.

Andrea Stella

This is a great team result at the British Grand Prix. It comes at the end of a very strong weekend for the MCL60, in which we’ve been able to compete at the top on both single-lap pace during qualifying and now across race stints also. We’ve struggled in the past with the latter, but today it allowed us to capitalise on an excellent performance yesterday. It’s a real shame for Oscar, he should have been on the podium, but the timing of the Safety Car meant that we lost a position, and he finished fourth – but that takes nothing away from the strong weekend he’s had and the incredible race he drove. I’m delighted for Lando. He got to enjoy a beautiful moment in front of his home crowd after an excellent performance.

“My final thoughts are for everyone who made this happen. The men and women at McLaren have worked very hard to turn the situation around this year and get us into this position, and our fans have supported us even when we’ve been struggling. This result is for all of them. I hope we can have more days like this in the future.

McLaren Racing best pictures:

Alpine F1 Team

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team endured a weekend of frustration at the 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix, with both Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, unfortunately, retiring from the 52-lap race at Silverstone.

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Esteban retired on lap nine after suffering a hydraulic leak on his A523, while Pierre was forced to pit with broken suspension after Lance Stroll’s careless move into Turn 16 six laps from the end of the race while fighting for the points.

The team looks forward to returning to Enstone and Viry before turning its attention to the Hungary-Belgium doubleheader.

Esteban Ocon:

It’s not been our weekend, and that is summed up by our race today. We had a decent start to the race, but it was over early for us with a hydraulic leak in the car. In the end, as a team, we did not score any points, which was extremely disappointing. We need to regroup and react, especially given the leap some of our competitors have made over the last couple of races. Overall, we probably did not maximise the potential of the car this weekend, so there are definitely many things to review to see how we can come back stronger. Budapest is next, one of my favourite tracks with some great memories, so we hope to bounce back and have a strong result.

Pierre Gasly:

It really seems we’re on the wrong side of some things at the moment, especially luck. I had a strong race, closely behind Fernando [Alonso], and we really should have been in the fight with him at the end of the race. Unfortunately, the timing of the Safety Car, just after my pit stop, meant we fell back outside of the points. And then, while fighting to climb back into the top ten, our race was over through an incident beyond my control when Lance [Stroll] hit me and damaged my suspension. As a team, we have a lot of things to work on to keep taking the fight to our rivals. We will stick together as a team, regroup, and go to Budapest with some confidence for a better result.

Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal

It’s always a bitter feeling when you leave a Grand Prix without scoring points, especially our home race for Enstone at Silverstone. Esteban retired with a hydraulic leak – a frustrating issue which we must resolve. It meant Esteban was not able to show his hand in the race, which made it even more disappointing, given how the race played out. Pierre was extremely unfortunate. He made a great start from tenth and was well in the fight for a good result. The Safety Car was ill-timed for him, seconds after his pit stop, which meant a handful of cars were able to benefit from a free stop to jump Pierre. He made another good getaway at the Safety Car restart to climb his way towards the points but was twice unfortunate with Stroll’s double infringement, the second of which led to Stroll hitting Pierre, causing suspension damage and bringing an early end to our race. It’s certainly not been our weekend, but we must remain confident in our ability to bounce back in Budapest.

Alpine F1 Team best pictures:

Williams Racing

 

It was a great weekend! When you think about the speed of the car, P8 this week is the worst position from all of our sessions this weekend. We expected the race to be a bit more difficult with Fernando [Alonso] and Checo [Perez] behind us. I struggled a little at the start as I didn’t have much grip. Once I was in the rhythm of the race, we were ok. We actually felt quite good with the car. The Safety Car came out at a perfect time. The Ferraris were on the hard compounds, and I was able to get past Carlos [Sainz]. It was a tricky race. I had a better pace than Fernando, which was a bit of a surprise, but then Charles [Leclerc] was coming quite quickly at the end. It was a race of one eye forward and one eye back which became a bit of a dog fight. I wouldn’t have wanted that race to last one more lap. It’s quite clear that in tracks where there’s a bit lower downforce and a lot of full-throttle time, that’s all us. It’s also important that the track remains quite cool today. The track temp was dropping at the end of the race, which made us a bit more competitive. We’re now P7 in the Constructors’ Championship, tied with Haas, so we’re in a very good place. The points aren’t always available, so we need to make sure that in the few races where we can score points, we capitalise on them.

Logan Sargeant

I’m pleased with the last two weekends. The progression has been good, and I feel like I’m getting more comfortable. I’m starting to drive the car the way it actually needs to be driven. It’s all coming to me. The team has been great in supporting me, pushing me and trying to help me out as much as they can. We had a great car today. It was the best race I’ve felt all season in terms of car performance as well as pace. A bit unlucky when the Safety Car came out one lap after I pitted. That hurt a little bit. It’s still a good day, and to have Alex score points for the team is amazing and shows we have a car that can fight.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance

The car worked well today, and both drivers were excellent. Alex showed great skill in attack and defence whilst also managing his tyres very well. Logan, too, showed good race craft and was able to build on his race in Austria to deliver another impressive performance. It is frustrating for him to finish 11th, but his first Formula 1 Championship point is getting ever closer. The start of the race was tricky, with the showers passing to the west of the circuit leading to a few drops of rain and gusty wind. Driving was difficult during this period, and tyre degradation appeared high. However, once the weather calmed down, we were able to show a good pace and measure the true tyre degradation. The Pirelli’s held up very well such that a 1-stop race using Soft and Medium tyres was possible. The Safety Car further improved the competitiveness of this strategy and helped the drivers who chose to avoid the Hard tyre for their final stint. This allowed Alex to complete a brilliant pass on [Carlos] Sainz to take an excellent 8th place. Some characteristic defensive driving on the final lap ensured that he held the place against an attacking [Charles] Leclerc. The team has worked very hard to deliver an effective upgrade package to the car. The first parts of that package arrived in Canada, and the new front wing debuted this weekend on Alex’s car. The points that we have scored over recent events are a testament to that effort and expertise.

Williams F1 Team best pictures:

Haas F1 Team

 

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team driver Nico Hulkenberg finished 13th at the British Grand Prix while teammate Kevin Magnussen was forced into retirement as Round 11 of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship played out on Sunday at the Silverstone Circuit.

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Hulkenberg took the start from 11th on the grid on Pirelli P Zero White hard tires and remained among the midfield contingent during the early stages before picking up front wing damage. Hulkenberg came in for a new front wing and to change onto Yellow medium tires, re-emerging at the rear of the train. The German came in for another pit stop on lap 34, under the virtual safety car, to take on a set of soft rubber. Hulkenberg used the fresh tires to move into the 13th position, which he preserved through to the checkered flag.

Magnussen started from 19th place on medium tires and ran a long first stint aboard the VF-23, holding position in a tightly-contested midfield fight. Unfortunately, Magnussen’s race came to a premature end on lap 32 when his car suffered a terminal power unit failure along the Wellington Straight.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team sits in eighth position in the Constructors’ Championship on 11 points.

Kevin Magnussen

There was an issue yesterday in qualifying, and then today, I didn’t finish with another engine issue – so not the best weekend for us. It’s a shame, of course, but it’s not like we were in a point-scoring position. I think tire degradation-wise it was better than we expected. We have some work to do to find some more pace, but we need to get our heads down, work hard, and keep pushing.

Nico Hulkenberg

The race was badly impacted early on when Checo (Perez) came through on the exit of Turn 4, and we made contact. A big piece of the front wing fell off one lap later, and that forced us to pit early. We had to change the front wing, and that cost a lot of time, and we were just behind. The safety car got us back onto the train of cars, but then in traffic, we didn’t have enough pace to come through.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal:

It’s been a very disappointing weekend. We didn’t have the pace, and we’ve now had our third engine failure in three races as well – that doesn’t help us. We have to regroup and see how we move forward from here because we need to get out of this hole. Everybody will be working on it, obviously, but today was not a good day.

Haas F1 Team best pictures:

Alfa Romeo Racing Stake

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake executed a recovery race at the British Grand Prix, as both drivers climbed up the field, gaining ten positions overall and eventually finishing 12th and 15th, respectively. Starting from the back of the grid, Valtteri Bottas charged through the field in a flawless performance that saw him gaining eight positions on the track, eventually ending just a couple of positions away from the top ten. Teammate Zhou Guanyu endured an unluckier Sunday, having his race compromised by a tear-off stuck in his brake duct, which forced him to carry out an additional pit stop.

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Coming home from a doubleheader between Austria and Great Britain, the team will now head back to Hinwil, where the focus will be on regrouping and working on extracting that extra performance from the upgrades brought to Silverstone in order to get back in the battle for points in the final two races before the summer break.

Valtteri Bottas (car number 77):

I think, taking into consideration where we were starting from, we maximised everything we had today. The Virtual Safety Car and the Safety Car both came out in a favourable moment for us, allowing us to pit and save some time. Of course, it is never easy when starting P20, but we gave it all and got the best out of our package. The upgrades we brought here this weekend allowed us to make a slight step forward, but of course, there is still some work to do: other teams brought new parts as well, and their improvement has been evident. Over the few weeks before Budapest, all of our focus will go into unlocking their full potential in order to come back in competitive form for the final two races before the summer break.

Zhou Guanyu (car number 24):

Overall, I think this weekend just hasn’t been our lucky one. The Safety Car came out when I had already pitted, and that forced me to change again to avoid having to stay at the back on hard tyres. On top of that, unfortunately, I got a tear-off stuck in my brake duct once again, and that pretty much compromised my race as we had to pass through the pits for the third time and get it removed. As per the upgrades we brought this weekend, I reckon there’s more work to be done: other teams brought important packages through, and that allowed them to make a good leap forward. I think the potential for us is there, but we definitely will need to work on the new aero package to properly obtain that extra performance we need to get back in the mix for points.

Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative:

Today, we must pay tribute to our team and drivers for the job done in a race that wasn’t set to be easy for us: overall, we have recovered ten positions, eight with Valtteri and two with Zhou, as proof that if we carry out a perfect race, we can get into the fight for points. Yesterday was not our day, and of course, starting from the back is never easy, but today we showed an improvement in the race pace compared to previous events, which gives us confidence for the next two races before the summer break. There, our target will be to further optimise our new package in order to be competitive from Friday onwards and recover positions in the Constructors’ Championship. Valtteri did a solid race today, executing a flawless performance: starting from the back of the grid on hard tyres, which also required some management in the first laps. Zhou’s race has been more unfortunate: we had to pit him an extra time to remove a tear-off from his brake duct, which made him lose a position and eventually kept him from further progressing through the field. We come back from Silverstone aware that a step has been made in terms of performance through the upgrades we have brought, although the final positions haven’t reflected it. What we have learned from this weekend is that each and every one of us needs to execute every race to the very best and that there is no room for mistakes. Moving forward, this will be our focus in order to consistently remain in the fight for points.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team best pictures:

Scuderia AlphaTauri

 

It was a difficult day for Scuderia AlphaTauri, whose drivers Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda both finished outside of the points at the 2023 Formula 1 British Grand Prix.

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Nyck de Vries

It was a decent race. We did a very competitive first stint on the soft compound, being able to extend it longer than we anticipated while remaining competitive. It’s unfortunate that we missed out on the Virtual Safety Car opportunity after that. The first laps on the hard compound were good too, but the last stint was very difficult. The tyres this week have been sensitive temperature-wise because of the track, so we need to look into our data. As a whole, we’re not where we want to be, and we’re not competitive enough, but I’m taking the positives, and I think the majority of the race was good.

Yuki Tsunoda

It was a difficult race today. The strategy was ok, but I didn’t have the pace throughout. We did improve in the high-speed, but today the struggle was more towards the low-speed. There are still a number of things we need to improve on and fix for the future, but as for myself, I’m happy with my performance; I did all I could do. The team and I are working in the same direction, so I’m looking forward to the future, and we’ll push together to develop our package. We’ll keep fighting strong.

Jody Egginton (Technical Director)

It was a very difficult race today, with neither car having enough pace to move forwards beyond fighting with the Haas and Alfa Romeo cars. The race strategy was ok, with our cars split across the hard and medium compound for the second stint, then – like the majority of runners – moving to the soft under the Safety Car period. However, at no point were we able to take advantage. The aero update we have introduced here appears to be broadly in line with expectations, but it has not been enough to move us forward in Silverstone. The further planned aero update for Hungary will be an important step to start addressing this to get back on track towards achieving our objectives.

Scuderia AlphaTauri Team best pictures: