Fresh from an entertaining weekend in the Styrian mountains, the paddock hopped northwest to the iconic Silverstone Circuit for round 10 of the 2023 season.
Whilst one Red Bull at least still looks untouchable out front, the chasing pack still continue to scrap behind to take important points heading into the summer break. Find out who starred as well as the drivers and teams who faltered in the latest report cards.
Top of the class:
McLaren
Lando Norris – Qualifying: 2nd | Race: 2nd
Oscar Piastri – Qualifying: 3rd | Race: 4th
Confidence was high for McLaren with the upgrades coming in force for both cars at their home race. Lando had the benefit of having been able to trial them in Austria, where he was comfortably able to challenge the Mercedes in front to take home P5 (later P4) from Spielberg.
Whilst the Styrian track has been by far his best venue in his F1 career, Lando hasn’t had as much luck at Silverstone, but this finally changed over the weekend.
Norris was blistering in qualifying, going purple in Q2 and was on provisional pole until Max Verstappen snatched it at the death. A P2 start is his best qualifying performance of the season yet, and he was roared on by the home crowd when lights went out as he stormed past Verstappen into the lead.
He was able to lead for 5 laps, which is quite a respectable stint, before Max swooped back past at Brooklands. After that, Lando settled in P2 despite a late safety car and a perceived strategy error from the team by choosing the hard tyres. His staunch defence of his position after the restart earned high praise from Lewis Hamilton, who would ultimately have to settle for P3.
The other side of the garage also had plenty to cheer about, as Oscar Piastri took his best result in his rookie season. The Australian driver was just a tenth off Lando in qualifying to start P3, and actually made the better start, but couldn’t quite squeeze past the front row starters.
Piastri was on course to become the first rookie since Lance Stroll in 2017 to take a podium, but the late safety car dashed those dreams as Lewis was able to jump the #81 with a free pitstop.
Although Piastri couldn’t retake his spot on the podium, P4 rounded out an outstanding weekend for the Woking-based team. The haul of 30 points more than doubles McLaren’s haul from the previous 9 rounds and gives the team a great foundation for more points and podiums for the rest of the season.
Alexander Albon – Qualifying: 8th | Race: 8th
An excellent weekend for the Thai driver at a track where he has previously performed well at in junior formulas.
Albon was in the top 3 across all Free Practice sessions, there were no expectations he’d be able to repeat that in qualifying, but to put his Williams ahead of the Alpines and Aston Martins was a phenomenal job.
Sunday’s race was also really strong for Alexander, keeping pace in 11th for much of the race before the Safety Car promoted Albon into 9th. A lovely move down the inside of Sainz at Abbey saw Albon take home P8 and another 4 points, which sees Williams overtake Haas in the Constructor’s standings. An extra bonus was that Albon managed to keep up with Perez in the Red Bull for the final couple of laps too.
Honourable mention:
This week’s nod goes to Logan Sargeant who had his best performance of the season so far. It may not have yielded his maiden points finish, but the American made it out of Q1 and backed up the team’s free practice pace with a strong run to P12 at the flag. As he was able to keep tabs with Lance Stroll, he could benefit from the Canadian’s penalty to take home P11.
It’s certainly not a bad venue to take your best result and the Grove teams progress up the grid should give Logan confidence that he can nick himself some points sooner rather than later.
The struggle bus:
Sergio Perez – Qualifying: 16th (started 15th) | Race: 6th
Another weekend, another qualifying disasterclass for the Mexican, and whilst he has recovered to decent points hauls in the last couple of races, these results are ultimately not satisfactory for the fans.
There’s no sugar coating that Saturday has been a significant weakness of Sergio’s this season. Silverstone was no different as he slipped to a fifth successive non-Q3 appearance. Changing conditions certainly played a part, but Checo was struggling all Q1, so to see him tumble from fastest to 16th on the final runs wasn’t the biggest of surprises.
Sunday was a better day with nine positions recovered and 8 points gained. Yet, it’s hard to feel particularly excited by these drives when the car is clearly capable of much more, as proven by the other side of the garage.
Perhaps we’re placing too many expectations on the Mexican and faint hopes that at least the teammate of Max Verstappen can mount a challenge if the other 9 teams can’t, especially when considering how the Dutchman seems to have a particular knack for putting teammates to shame with his driving. Checo’s seat looks largely safe for now despite the ruthless streak Red Bull have had in the past, but when the likes of Lando Norris, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg have a better qualifying average in far inferior machines, you can’t help but be surprised that the pressure is certainly mounting when the overall results aren’t matching his and the car’s capabilities.
Ferrari
Charles Leclerc – Qualifying: 4th | Race: 9th
Carlos Sainz – Qualifying: 5th | Race: 10th
The Scuderia arrived at the track with a bit more confidence after a positive outing last weekend. Charles was a strong 2nd and once again came closest in qualifying to Max, whilst Carlos should have rounded out the podium had he not disregarded track limits.
Silverstone is also a track that Ferrari have done well at in recent years. Charles came within two laps of winning in 2021 and Carlos won from pole in an entertaining race 12 months ago, however things couldn’t have been much different this time around.
P4 and P5 was the very maximum Leclerc and Sainz could muster on Saturday, and yet more Ferrari strategy fumbling saw Charles have to pit twice as the hard tyres simply were not working on the car, this despite Mercedes’ George Russell getting an excellent first stint on the surprisingly durable soft tyres. It should also be mentioned that Carlos Sainz actually forgot what their plan B was, perhaps because Ferrari made a plan for each letter of the alphabet? Or perhaps the Spaniard was just too busy with wrestling his Ferrari.
As a result of the second stop, Charles fell down to 10th at the Safety Car restart. He would only progress 1 place on his new mediums at the expense of Sainz, who slipped from 7th to 10th in the space of three corners on lap 43/44.
Another unsatisfactory weekend for the Scuderia, who will be scratching their heads after the slump in the space of a double-header.
Alpine
Pierre Gasly – Qualifying: 10th | Race: DNF
Esteban Ocon – Qualifying: 13th | Race: DNF
Alpine is undoubtedly sore from a double DNF on Sunday. To make matters worse, the upgrades and 30 points scored by McLaren sees the Anglo/French team lose grip of P5 in the Constructor’s Championship.
Esteban Ocon’s Sunday lasted just 9 laps before a hydraulic issue ended his race, whilst Gasly tangled with Lance Stroll at Vale on lap 49 and retired with broken suspension.
The 2023 British Grand Prix was definitely one to forget and it will be back to the drawing board before Budapest. The team have two capable drivers, but the car development just hasn’t matched that of Aston Martin and McLaren in recent races.
Dishonourable mention:
This week’s dishonourable mention goes to Alfa Romeo for failing to sufficiently fuel Valterri Bottas’ car during qualifying. It’s rare, but not unheard of, for cars to not have enough fuel for the required sample. I can’t recall it ever happening in Q1.
F1 enters a week break before the final races this side of the summer break. Will McLaren’s upgrades hold up and can Sergio finally break his run of dismal Saturday’s? Tune into the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday 22nd July for round 11.