Verstappen wins in Silverstone, Norris and Hamilton complete the podium

Max Verstappen has won his eighth race in 2023, doing it quite comfortably so. The Dutchman did lose the lead to Lando Norris following his poor start, but got the lead back by Lap 5 after an ambitious move in the Brooklands corner. The Red Bull driver was not caught out by the Safety Car, nor by the restart, and won his first British Grand Prix ever. Furthermore, Verstappen also got the fastest lap of the race.

Lando Norris capped off a great weekend for McLaren finishing second behind Verstappen. Norris briefly got the lead, and after the Safety Car restart, he could defend Lewis Hamilton's attacks, who claimed the last spot on the podium. Oscar Piastri also had a great weekend, but missed out on the podium because of the Safety Car. Norris could return to the podium for the first time since the 2022 Emilia Romagna GP.

George Russell had an eventful race and finished in P5, Sergio Perez could gain nine positions on Sunday and finished in P6. Russell and Perez were followed by Fernando Alonso and Alexander Albon, and the two Ferraris - who once again had issues with the tyre degradation - rounded off the points in Silverstone. Albon's teammate, Logan Sargeant was close to getting his first points in Formula 1, but just missed out on a singular point in the championship by finishing in P11.

Along with Kevin Magnussen, the two Alpines did not finish the race. Esteban Ocon retired in the pit lane, and Pierre Gasly got hit by Lance Stroll and broke his suspension.

The Start

The race started in dry conditions, with only George Russell opting for the soft tyres in the Top 10, everyone else including Perez decided to start on mediums. Norris got better off the line than Verstappen, and during Lap 1, Oscar Piastri could also attack the Dutch driver. Russell could overtake Carlos Sainz at the start, and Hamilton lost out on two positions after he ran wide in Turn 3.

It took Verstappen five laps to regain the lead with a dive into Brooklands thanks to Red Bull’s ability to use their DRS effectively. On Lap 7, Hamilton also pulled off a similar move on Fernando Alonso.

Both Norris and Piastri could keep up with Verstappen in the opening phase of the race, while Russell struggled to overtake Leclerc after besting Sainz off the line on soft tyres. Moreover, on Lap 10, Esteban Ocon had to retire his car in the pit lane.

Strategies and the Safety Car

It was surprisingly Charles Leclerc, who was the first to pit at the front on Lap 18, and got a new set of hard. Mercedes on the other hand, did not react immediately with Russell, who started on the softs. Sainz also struggled on the mediums, and pit on Lap 26, and fitted a new set of hards as well.

Mercedes a couple of laps later gave Russell mediums, Oscar Piastri got new hard tyres, and Sergio Perez received a set of softs. Thanks to Russell’s tyre advantage, the Briton could finally overtake his Monegasque rival on Lap 31 into Luffield. 

On Lap 33, Kevin Magnussen’s Haas stopped on track, first triggering a VSC, then a lap later, the FIA decided to send out the Safety Car, which lead to a plethora of pit stops. In the same lap, Leclerc got a set of mediums, while Alexander Albon was put on the softs.

On Lap 34, Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso all got the soft tyres, while McLaren decided to give Norris the hard tyres. Thanks to the Safety Car, after their stops, Hamilton got up to P3, while Alonso also gained a couple of positions and reentered the track in P6.