| 2023 British Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 10 of 22 in the2023 Formula One World Championship
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 Layout of the Silverstone Circuit | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 9 July 2023 (2023-07-09) | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 AramcoBritish Grand Prix 2023 | ||||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, United Kingdom | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.891 km (3.660 miles) | ||||
| Distance | 52 laps, 306.198 km (190.263 miles) | ||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy | ||||
| Attendance | 480,000[1] | ||||
| Pole position | |||||
| Driver | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Time | 1:26.720 | ||||
| Fastest lap | |||||
| Driver |  Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | |||
| Time | 1:30.275 on lap 42 | ||||
| Podium | |||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | ||||
| Third | Mercedes | ||||
Lap leaders | |||||
The2023 British Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Aramco British Grand Prix 2023) was aFormula One motor race that was held on 9 July 2023 at theSilverstone Circuit inNorthamptonshire, England. It was the tenth round of the2023 Formula One World Championship.
The race, which saw a record 480,000 people attend throughout the weekend, was won by polesitterMax Verstappen ahead of the McLaren ofLando Norris and Mercedes'sLewis Hamilton, it was Verstappen's first win as the British Grand Prix and his second win in Silverstone after the2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, andRed Bull's first win in the British Grand Prix since2012. This race also marked the last Grand Prix start to date of Dutch driverNyck de Vries who was replaced atScuderia AlphaTauri byDaniel Ricciardo from the next race at theHungarian Grand Prix onwards.
The event was held across the weekend of 7–9 July. It was the tenth round of the2023 Formula One World Championship and the 74th running of theBritish Grand Prix.[2]
Coming into the weekend,Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship by 81 points from teammateSergio Pérez, withFernando Alonso third, a further 17 points behind.Red Bull Racing led the Constructors' Championship, leadingMercedes by 199 points andAston Martin by 202 points.[3]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.[4]
This Grand Prix was the last forNyck de Vries, who was removed from his AlphaTauri seat two days after the race.[5] De Vries was replaced byDaniel Ricciardo, who was the third driver for AlphaTauri's sister team Red Bull Racing,[6] from theHungarian Grand Prix onward.[7]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought the C1, C2 and C3 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[8]
The Grand Prix was used as a filming location forF1. Pitt's run around Silverstone in aFormula 2 car would be inserted into racing scenes filmed from the race.[9][10]
Threefree practice sessions were held for the event. Two one-hour sessions on 7 July and a one-hour practice session on 8 July, two hours before qualifying.[11] The first session ended withMax Verstappen fastest ahead ofRed Bull Racing teammateSergio Pérez andWilliams driverAlexander Albon.[12] The second session ended with Verstappen fastest ahead ofFerrari'sCarlos Sainz Jr. and Albon.[13] The third session ended withCharles Leclerc fastest, driving for Ferrari, ahead of Albon andAston Martin driverFernando Alonso.[14]
Qualifying was held on 8 July 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC+1).[11]
Qualifying was held under cloudy skies, with a small patch of rain during the closing moments the first segment of qualifying, Q1.[15]
On his first qualifying lap,Lewis Hamilton spun at Stowe corner, sending him into the gravel and bringing out a brief yellow flag; he was able to recover back onto track. Following his spin, Hamilton looked at risk to face another Q1 elimination, but improved his time significantly.Max Verstappen andAlexander Albon both had lap times deleted for track limits violations.[15] After the Haas ofKevin Magnussen broke down between the Stowe and Vale corners, a red-flag was shown with three-minutes to go in Q1 to allows it recovery. Albon was in the elimination zone as he had his lap times deleted again whileLogan Sargeant ended up in the grass; following the restart, Albon would set a time for Q2 going seventh fastest.[15] Meanwhile,Nyck de Vries was released onto the path ofOscar Piastri with no investigation being made. When pulling out of the garage to resume qualifying after the red flag, Verstappen understeered and hit the pit wall, breaking his front wing, which had to be replaced.[16]
When the session resumed,Sergio Pérez set the first time and topped the session, though other drivers improved with faster times, resulting in him being eliminated in Q1. This continued a streak of poor qualifying performances in which he failed to make Q3 (the third segment) on five consecutive occasions, with his teammate Verstappen securing pole in those races. The Alfa Romeo ofValtteri Bottas broke down at the end of Q1; despite setting a time for Q2, he was unable to run in the rest of qualifying. Magnussen joined Pérez,Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou, and De Vries in being eliminated, withLando Norris topping the session ahead ofCharles Leclerc,George Russell, Hamilton, and Verstappen.[15]
The second session (Q2) was delayed to allow the recovery of Bottas's car and saw the rain dissipate. As the session began,Lance Stroll and Sargeant's laps were deleted due to more track limits violations. Norris topped the session momentarily beforeFernando Alonso, Albon, Leclerc and Sainz set faster times.Pierre Gasly, Piastri, Hamilton and Norris all set the fastest lap, with Verstappen securing fastest lap by session's end ahead of Piastri, Norris, Albon and Sainz. Bottas, who could not run any laps, joined Stroll, Ocon,Nico Hülkenberg, and Sargeant all out of qualifying in Q2.[15]
With no threat of rain over the last ten minutes of qualifying,DRS was enabled. Verstappen took provisional pole after the initial laps, ahead of Hamilton and Piastri, before everyone pitted for new tyres. The drivers' second laps in Q3 saw Verstappen maintain his pole position with Norris and Piastri taking second and third respectively in McLaren's highest qualifying result of the season.[17][18] Norris and Piastri were astonished by their respective performances during the session; Piastri said that it was a "massive step in the right direction" for the team.[19]
Bottas 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.[20]
Notes
The race was held on 9 July 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC+1).[11]
Lando Norris got a better start off the line against polesitterMax Verstappen; he proceeded to lead the race for four laps before aDRS-assisted Verstappen overtook him by lap four. Verstappen would take the fastest lap and lead the rest of the race.[24]
As the first lap began, numerous cars tussled at the rear of the field.Lewis Hamilton passedPierre Gasly and would begin to chaseFernando Alonso, only to be held up behind him; he eventually passed him with a DRS move.Lance Stroll andEsteban Ocon fought for position before Ocon retired on lap 12 due to a hydraulics leak,Alexander Albon was in tenth.[24]
Rain was reported during the race, but was not heavy enough to warrant the usage of wet weather tyres. Drivers began to change to differing types of dry tyres, withYuki Tsunoda being the first to do so with a change onto the softs.Charles Leclerc changed onto hard compound tyres. At this point, Verstappen had extended his lead; meanwhile, Norris, who turned his attention to the drivers behind him, felt satisfied with his pace. His teammateOscar Piastri, reacting to Pérez's stop, changed his tyres and rejoined ahead of Leclerc andGeorge Russell.[24]
The Ferrari power unit inKevin Magnussen's Haas caught fire on lap 32, forcing his retirement. Thevirtual safety car was initially deployed, this was later upgraded to a fullsafety car. The safety car allowed the field to change their tyres. Hamilton jumped Piastri and Russell in the pit lane and came out in third place. The Ferrari drivers ofCarlos Sainz Jr. and Leclerc were unlucky with the two losing positions during the stop.[24] Meanwhile,Zhou Guanyu reported brake duct issues.[25]
On the safety car restart, Verstappen kept the lead until the end as numerous battles were occurring behind him. Hamilton was behind Norris and was unsuccessful in his attempts to overtake. Albon and Leclerc also had a battle through the final laps. Stroll made contact with Gasly's rear-right suspension, which forced the latter into retirement. Stroll was given a five-second penalty for the incident.Sergio Pérez recovered from qualifying fifteenth to finish in sixth place.[24]
Verstappen's victory was his firstBritish Grand Prix win and his second at Silverstone after his triumph at the2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Norris's second place was his and McLaren's first podium since the2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and his joint best Formula One result, having previously finished second at the2021 Italian Grand Prix.[26][27] The podiums of Hamilton and Norris ensured that this was the first time sinceDavid Coulthard andEddie Irvine finished first and second, respectively, in the1999 British Grand Prix that two home driversrepresenting the United Kingdom stood on the podium together in the race. Norris also became the first British driver other than Hamilton to score a podium position on home soil since Coulthard did so with victory at the2000 British Grand Prix.[28]
Notes
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| Previous race: 2023 Austrian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2023 season | Next race: 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2022 British Grand Prix | British Grand Prix | Next race: 2024 British Grand Prix |
