Team Ratings | McLaren steals the show at British Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing - 7.5

At Silverstone, Red Bull Racing managed to equal McLaren's record of 11 consecutive wins, but Max Verstappen's victory certainly did not come easily. Of course, up until the safety car - which caused the field to move back together - Verstappen had a lead of around 10 seconds. Still, it all did not look as extremely dominant as in, say, Austria. Moreover, Red Bull should have gone for hard tyres afterwards during Verstappen's pit stop, Helmut Marko and the Dutchman himself admitted. The advantage of the Red Bull in Verstappen's hands is that on difficult days, the bottom line is still higher than the performance level of the competition. And yes, Sergio Perez. As long as he keeps muddling along, a perfect score from Red Bull is not in the cards anyway.

Mercedes - 7

'The points will be distributed on Sunday'. Mercedes managed to make this cliché a reality like no other at Silverstone. In front of their own crowd, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell realised early on in the weekend that the single-lap speed was lacking, but that the car was a podium contender on Sunday. Of course, Hamilton was lucky that the safety car that entered the track at the perfect time for him. After the race resumed, the former champion was able to briefly trouble Lando Norris, but his Mercedes (partly due to the rapidly wearing softs) was unable to pass the customer team. On the other hand, Hamilton's third place was not in danger either. Mercedes also managed to put Aston Martin further behind in the constructors' championship.

Aston Martin - 6

Where has Aston Martin's form gone? Indeed, team boss Mike Krack had warned early in the season that the English did not take a run at the podium for granted, but one car in spot 7 and the other outside the points is not what belongs to Aston Martin's new status. Compared to last year, there is nevertheless progression, including at the British Grand Prix. A year ago, on a day when the speed was not there, Aston Martin had not taken a single point. At least the team has outgrown that phase. As Krack said: 'damage control'.

Ferrari - 4.5

Sometimes you wonder how on earth Ferrari manages to do it every time: after qualifying, the starting position with fourth and fifth was not bad at all. But on Sunday evening, when the team packed all its things for the trip back to Maranello, as many as three points were credited. A ninth and tenth place are underwhelming, there is no other word for it. That there are visible and audible cracks in the relationship between the Italian team and Carlos Sainz fuels the suspicion that there will be quite a bit of fuss on the surface in the coming period. No, a year after the same Sainz took his first and only win at the Silverstone circuit, it was this time an edition of the British GP that has exposed a lot of problems at Ferrari.

McLaren - 9

Teams and the media talk about it so often: updates. 'If we have updates, then we can make a move,' you'll hear. The reality is that updates rarely result in extreme advances. In the case of McLaren, however, they do seem to have. After Lando Norris already showed in Austria that the improvements are, Oscar Piastri also got the new package at Silverstone. With the updates, McLaren is suddenly a very serious contender for the podium. Okay, beating Red Bull Racing did not succeed in England. Nobody expected that. But when you catapult yourself from the rear to the front of the grid, you deserve a big compliment as a team. It was down to sheer bad luck that Piastri missed out on the podium, but that does not detract from the Woking-based team's near-perfect weekend.

Alpine - 5

Esteban Ocon's podium finish in Monaco should have been the turnaround, in reality it was a very brief revival. Alpine seems to have lost its way, and meanwhile saw McLaren pass. For a team whose target is spot four, sixth place in the constructors' title standings is an unmitigated disaster. That Pierre Gasly crashed out at Silverstone after a collision caused by Lance Stroll was pure bad luck. But the Frenchman might otherwise have taken one, at most two points. For a team with ambition, far too few. Not to mention Esteban Ocon. He had to park his Alpine in the pits early on with a technical problem. So a weekend to forget very quickly for Alpine.

Haas - 4

Lots of smoke, even fire. At the pit wall, meanwhile, Guenther Steiner shook his head gloomily. The Haas team boss watched idly as yet another power unit bought from Ferrari gave up the ghost. Not that Kevin Magnussen - whose car it was that stalled - would have finished in the points at all. Throughout the weekend, Haas lacked speed. That qualifying king Nico Hulkenberg was nevertheless allowed to start from spot 11 was mainly due to the rainy conditions from which he took full advantage. As soon as the lights turned green on a dry Silverstone Sunday, the German also drove a hopeless race.

Williams - 8

For years, Williams was the bruiser of the Formula 1 field, but under the leadership of team boss James Vowles, the team is making huge strides in a short time. George Russell was praised to the skies during his time with the iconic team. But what Alex Albon is currently doing at Williams transcends what the current Mercedes driver managed at the time. Albon was very comfortable in every session and even finished the race ahead of two Ferraris and less than a second behind Fernando Alonso. That Williams is putting an increasingly better car on the grid was proved by Logan Sargeant. The American also drove a hell of a race and narrowly missed his first points (11th).

Alfa Romeo - 5

Oops! Alfa Romeo had given Valtteri Bottas too little fuel for his final run in Q1, and that meant disqualification. A silly mistake, although it probably won't have mattered much in terms of the result on Sunday. Alfa Romeo also lacked all speed in Britain, making it another anonymous race for the duo Bottas and Zhou. Halfway through the year, the Swiss' season already seems to have gone out like a night flame.

AlphaTauri - 4

For the umpteenth time, the question lingers: How can Red Bull Racing build the far best car in the field, while AlphaTauri - also part of the Red Bull group - has the absolute worst? The Italians' story is starting to get sadder and sadder. While Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries both made it to the finish line, they did so hopelessly in last places. The updates brought for the British GP seemed to have made the car even worse than it already was. Nyck de Vries would then be under pressure, only the Dutchman will not get a real chance to make something of his races either. When he then wants to try to pass teammate Tsunoda, the Dutchman is told over the board radio that this is especially not the intention. Well.