With Max Verstappen’s win at Silverstone on Sunday, the all-conquering Red Bull team won an 11th consecutive Grand Prix, tying McLaren’s 1988 record, which was arguably the most dominant season by a single constructor in the history of the sport.
Ironically, it was McLaren themselves who this weekend posed the greatest threat to the team based in Milton Keynes. It took a last second effort from champion-elect Verstappen to deny Lando Norris a sensational home pole position while the latter also led the race briefly too.
The British Grand Prix saw another dramatic change in the pecking order for teams not named Red Bull with McLaren clearly the second fastest team over the course of the weekend and Aston Martin, Red Bull’s closest competitors earlier this season, seemingly now struggling for pace.
Let’s now take a look at what else we learnt from Formula One’s 2023 visit to the best circuit on the calendar.
Lando lights up Silverstone
Lando Norris surging into the lead of the British Grand Prix at the start was by far the feel-good moment of the 2023 season as of yet.
Powered on by his home crowd, Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were able to stick with Verstappen closer than most have throughout 2023 during the race. Only an ill-timed Safety Car denied the Australian rookie a maiden podium.
Norris has now had two excellent races back-to-back, but with a vastly different circuit coming up in two weeks’ time in the form of the Hungaroring, it will be very interesting to see whether McLaren really are the team that can take the fight to the mighty Red Bull.
No slowing down for imperious Verstappen
Having the best driver in the sport racing in what, in all likelihood, will go down as statistically Formula One’s greatest ever car seems like a guaranteed recipe for success.
Of course, it isn’t quite as straight forward as that. Through some bad luck and his own shortcomings, Sergio Perez has immensely struggled in recent races in the same machinery as his commanding teammate.
The Dutchman is so incredibly at one with his car right now. It seems as though he could start last on the grid and scythe through the field to win at a canter, such is his dominance.
Verstappen could tie Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine consecutive race wins at none other than the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort should he also win in Budapest and Belgium before the summer break.
The way he and his Red Bull are going at the moment, who knows how many races he could win this season.
Williams’ resurgence continues
Certainly the stars of Friday practice at Silverstone were the Williams team, with Alex Albon finishing third in both sessions with his teammate Logan Sargeant joining him in the top five after FP2.
While the pace dropped off a little from the stratospheric heights of Friday, Albon finished in the points for the second time in three races on Sunday while Sargeant just missed out on his first points in Formula One in P11.
For a team that have been basement dwellers for the past five seasons, Williams are well and truly a midfield team and crucially have plenty of momentum behind them.
There was something very nostalgic about seeing both McLaren and Williams show great form at Silverstone on British Grand Prix weekend. Let’s hope it continues.
2023’s puzzling pecking order
Answers on a postcard please if you can work out the true order behind leaders Red Bull and ahead of the backmarkers of Alfa Romeo and Alpha Tauri.
While it has long been the case that different circuits suit different cars better, the true pace of teams this season seems to change session by session, let alone track by track.
Ferrari, seemingly second best in Spielberg a week ago, were average at best at Silverstone. Aston Martin have also struggled since the early success of their upgrade package with McLaren the clear beneficiaries of everybody else’s misfortune.
We know that Verstappen will romp away with most race victories. Who comes second though seems to be anybody’s guess.
Can the chasing pack close the gap to Red Bull? Find out when Formula One returns to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix in two weeks.
