British GP 2023
JULY 10, 2023
Race Analysis - Verstappen wins, Norris second
© McLaren
By Peter Habicht
Max Verstappen won his sixth race of the season ahead Mclaren's Lando Norris and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, whose performances and team strategy calls made the difference following a late safety car period.
Norris and teammate Piastri shot off the line with Norris overtaking Verstappen to lead the opening laps of the race with the roar of the crowd behind him. Once DRS was activated, Max retook the lead and managed the rest of his race from the front without a real challenge.
Hamilton was able to maximize a pit stop following a safety car brought out on lap 39 after fire brought Kevin Magnussen's Haas to a halt on the circuit, allowing him to jump several places as other cars pitted ahead of him. Teammate George Russell's Mercedes suffered from a long pit stop he took earlier having starting on the soft tires, costing him a shot at the podium and landing him in fifth.
Red Bull's Sergio Perez managed to turn a tough qualifying result in 15th yesterday around to finish sixth, and finished the day on a positive note to share he was ready to face what's needed in improve:
"I know [where the problem was] and it's on Saturday, there's a few things we need to correct but the positive thing is that the pace is there … on Sundays."
"I am still second in the championship and I ... fully believe I can turn around my season and get back to the level I should be… I have full support from the team…[and] everyone on the team knows what I am capable of… The most important thing is that mentally I am very strong and at a very strong point and have no doubts that I will overcome this."
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso finished seventh just beyond the comfortable reach of Williams' Alex Albon, who managed a late battle to finish ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The British and Thai driver bested the Ferrari duo sharing afterwards: "It's been a weekend of mystery. We knew [this weekend] would suit us a little bit more just with the full throttle time, the low downforce, but to be this competitive was a little bit of a surprise."
Teammate Logan Sargeant finished just outside the points in 11th ahead of Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas and Haas' Nico Hulkenberg, who pitted early for a new front wing and taking on a new strategy after making contact with Perez on lap seven.
Lance Stroll took 14th after receiving a 5 second penalty for causing contact with Alpine's Pierre Gasly, who had been holding the Canadian off for 11th but was forced to retire on lap 46, joining team mate Esteban Ocon, whose race ended earlier when his car suffered from a technical problem.
Guanyu Zhou was 15th in his Alfa Romeo, with Alpha Tauri pair Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries bringing up the back of the race finishers.
A double podium for Britain was more than the crowd could have hoped for, with McLaren CEO Zak Brown proudly sharing his thoughts on Piastri's near podium finish: "Looking at how he's driving [Piastri] has got a lot of podiums ahead of him…. Clearly we've made a big step forward."
Norris also shared "Very happy for the whole team, we deserved a P2 and a P3 today. Oscar deserved his first podium in Formula 1, he's driven very well all weekend."
Piastri summed his result as "Bittersweet…to be fighting in the top three I could only dream of that even last weekend… A nice problem to have to be disappointed with fourth but hopefully there's plenty more opportunities to come… I think last weekend I got lapped by Max halfway thought the race and this time I was almost overtaking him. That is one helluva turnaround."
Hamilton was equally impressed: " I think McLaren are a serious threat. I think we've dropped down… Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and then us I think [in terms of] outright speed… But our long run pace seems to be a little bit better than the other guys. So we've got some improvements to make. It's all very close, but we've got to take a serious leap if we want to be competing for wins."
The Hungarian GP is up next on July 23rd.