2023 British Grand Prix

## Lap Leaders

The **2023 British Grand Prix** (officially known as the **Formula 1 Aramco British Grand Prix 2023**) was the tenth race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship, held at Silverstone Circuit on the weekend of July 7 to July 9, 2023.

## Background

### Championship standings before the race

Going into the weekend, Max Verstappen leads the World Drivers' Championship with 229 points, 81 points from his teammate Sergio Pérez, second, and 98 from Fernando Alonso in third. Red Bull Racing, with 377 points, lead the Constructors' Championship from Mercedes by 199 points and Aston Martin by 202 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C1, C2, and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.

## Qualifying

### Qualifying Report

Qualification was held under cloudy skies, with a small patch of rain during the closing moments of Q1.

On his first outlap, Lewis Hamilton had a spin at Stowe corner, sending him into the gravel and bringing out a brief yellow flag; he was able to recover. Track limit violations, a topic of contention after the Austrian Grand Prix, returned as Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon exceeded them. Albon, who positioned his Williams on the top three on all three practice sessions, seemed to be on course for an early elimination as he had his lap times deleted once again while Logan Sargeant took a trip through the grass; after the session was red-flagged, giving Albon a second chance, he would squeeze through to Q2 after setting a time for seventh. Meanwhile, Nyck de Vries was released onto the path of Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen's teammate Sergio Pérez continued a streak of poor qualifying performances which started in the Monaco Grand Prix, only setting a time for 14th when Kevin Magnussen's Haas granted a red flag with three minutes left on the session when it ended its run in the middle of the track, which was being soaked with rain. The session would be resumed after the Haas was cleared. Valtteri Bottas was also out of the session after the Alfa Romeo lost power despite making Q2. He was unable to run the rest of the qualification and was subsequently disqualified during post-qualification scrutineering due to insufficient fuel sample; he was allowed to start the race under stewards' discretion, though he was sent to last place.

During the red flag period, Verstappen understeered and hit the pit wall on the way back in, breaking his front wing, which was replaced before the second session began. An investigation for Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu was carried out after the session. Magnussen joined Pérez, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou, and De Vries all out of the session; Lando Norris topped the session ahead of Charles Leclerc, George Russell, Hamilton and Verstappen. Carlos Sainz Jr. was unhappy with his Ferrari strategists, who told him to let Leclerc through as the second session began. Sainz overtook Leclerc at Club.

The second session saw the rain dissipate as Stroll and Sargeant's laps were deleted due to more track limits violations. Norris topped the session momentarily before Fernando Alonso, Albon, Leclerc and Sainz set faster times. Pierre Gasly, Piastri, Hamilton and Norris all set the fastest lap, only for it to be stolen by Verstappen. Bottas joined Lance Stroll, Ocon, Nico Hülkenberg, and Sargeant all out of the session, which was topped by Verstappen, Piastri and Norris behind Albon and Sainz.
With no threat of rain over the last ten minutes of the session, DRS was enabled for the final session. Verstappen took the fastest time, which he kept for pole, ahead of Hamilton and Piastri as everyone went into the pit lane to change to new soft tyres. The drivers' second Q3 lap saw Verstappen keep his pole position as Piastri and Norris locked out the front-row start; before Verstappen got the fastest lap of the session, Norris was briefly on course to secure his second pole position at his home race after the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. His teammate Piastri achieved his highest qualification result of third place, the highest for a rookie in recent years. This is McLaren's first front-row start at Silverstone since 2008.

## Race

### Race Report

Lando Norris got a better start off the line against polesitter Max Verstappen; he proceeded to lead the race for four laps before a DRS-assisted Verstappen overtook him by lap four. Verstappen would take the fastest lap and lead the rest of the race straight to the chequered flag.

As the first lap began, numerous cars tussled about by the rear of the field. Lewis Hamilton ran wide. He eventually passed Pierre Gasly and would begin to chase Fernando Alonso, only to be held up behind him; he eventually passed him with a DRS move. Meanwhile, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon had a wheel-to-wheel before Ocon retired on lap 12 due to a hydraulics leak, and Alexander Albon was in tenth. Sergio Pérez dropped a position but would eventually recover to the points in sixth place.

Rain was reported during the race, but ultimately was not heavy enough to warrant the usage of wet tyres. Drivers began to change to differing types of dry tyres, with Yuki Tsunoda being the first to do so with a change onto the softs. Charles Leclerc would follow up with hards. At this point, Verstappen had extended his lead; meanwhile, Norris, who turned his attention to the drivers behind him, felt satisfied with his pace while his teammate Oscar Piastri, reacting to Pérez's stop, changed his tyres and rejoined ahead of Leclerc and George Russell, who would have a tussle before the sudden arrival of a virtual safety car.

The Ferrari power unit in Kevin Magnussen's Haas had caught on fire, facilitating a retirement and the full safety car to clear it out of the track. The virtual safety car allowed Albon and Leclerc to change their tyres, though Verstappen, Norris, Hamilton and Alonso were unable to benefit; they would after the full safety car was deployed. Hamilton jumped Piastri and Russell in the pit lane and came out in third place. However, the Ferrari drivers of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Leclerc were unlucky with the two losing positions during the stop. Meanwhile, Zhou Guanyu reported brake issues.

On the safety car restart, Verstappen kept the lead until the end as numerous battles were occuring behind him. Hamilton was behind Norris and was on track to take second place from the McLaren driver, but Norris defended well, the two going wheel-to-wheel. Albon and Leclerc also had a battle through the final laps. Stroll made contact with Gasly's rear-right suspension, which forced him into retirement. Stroll was given a five-second penalty for the incident.

Verstappen's victory was his first British Grand Prix victory and his second at Silverstone after his win at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020. Norris' second place was his and McLaren's first podium since the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Norris attained the driver of the day award.

## Notes

1. ↑ Valtteri Bottas qualified 15th, but he was disqualified as 1,0 litre sample of fuel could not be provided from his car. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.
2. ↑ As qualifying was held on a wet track, the 107% rule was not in force.
3. ↑ Includes one point for fastest lap.
4. ↑ Lance Stroll finished 11th, but he received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly.
5. ↑ Pierre Gasly was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.