Max Verstappen took his first career F1 win for the sixth time; Red Bull equaled McLaren’s record of 11 consecutive wins; Lando Norris finished second for McLaren; Lewis Hamilton finished third for Mercedes after benefiting from the safety car.
17:44, UK, Sunday 09 July 2023
World championship leader Max Verstappen extended his and Red Bull’s remarkable winning streak with a dominant display at the British Grand Prix.
Verstappen turned pole position into victory at Silverstone, taking his sixth straight victory and equaling Red Bull’s 11th in a row.
Lando Norris, who led the opening stages after passing Verstappen in the opening stages, backed up McLaren’s stunning qualifying performance to finish second in his own race.
Hamilton, who dropped from seventh to ninth after the opening lap, was the main beneficiary of the safety car due to a fire in Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, which helped the Mercedes driver gain four places over the others already there. pitted.
Lando Norris leads the British GP on the opening lap, overtaking Max Verstappen
The interception set up a 14-lap race to the finish in which Norris produced a brilliant defensive display to hold off Hamilton at the start, while Verstappen eased away.
The victory moves the Dutchman 99 points clear as he moves closer to what looks to be an inevitable third consecutive title.
Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastre was unlucky to drive faultlessly after starting third in a maiden Formula 1 podium, but the Australian rookie still finished fourth.
Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton followed the safety car and treated the Silverstone crowd to an epic battle.
George Russell was fifth after being jumped by team-mate Hamilton under the safety car, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez recovered from 15th to finish sixth.
Fernando Alonso was seventh as Aston Martin failed to reproduce the early-season form that made Red Bull’s closest challengers in the opening weeks of the season.
Alex Alban capped a brilliant weekend for Williams to finish eighth, while Ferrari again refused strategic calls as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished ninth and 10th respectively.
British GP result
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) Lando Norris, McLaren
3) Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
4) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
5) George Russell, Mercedes
6) Sergio Perez, Red Bull
7) Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
8) Alex Alban, Williams
9) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
10) Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Verstappen overcame a slow start to take the inevitable victory
Verstappen has secured his fifth consecutive pole position – the first of his career – and it was always going to take something special to beat him on Saturday.
If any aspect of the Dutchman’s performance this season has been imperfect, it has been his starts.
It again proved a weakness as Norris, who has struggled with race starts this season, made a perfect exit to grab the lead.
Max Verstappen takes the lead at the British GP, overtaking Lando Norris, who led for four rounds.
It almost got worse for Verstappen, with Piastre also getting away well, threatening to take second through the opening corners, but the Red Bull driver bravely held off the challenge.
Norris led well in the opening stages but was powerless to deny Verstappen once TRS was activated on lap 4, then the RB19 took the lead on the Wellington Straight.
From there, Verstappen steadily built up an advantage while taking good care of his tyres, which ensured he – like Hamilton and Norris – was still on the track when the safety car intervened.
He still had to contend with a rolling restart, but executed perfectly to catch Norris safely and open up a two-second lead by the end of the lap.
After that, there was little doubt about the outcome, and it’s currently hard to see how anything other than a reliability issue could end Verstappen’s dominant run.
Meanwhile, Perez and Alonso, Verstappen’s nearest early-season challenges, are struggling to maintain that form, with his world championship advantage growing at a rapid rate.
With Verstappen’s dominant races coming up last season in Hungary and Belgium, his lead of more than 100 points looks promising at the sport’s summer break in August.
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