Welcome Drivers!

The British GP just wrapped up. I am typing this as I am watching the post-race interviews with the podium finishers. It was a very exciting day for McLaren as they saw both their drivers finish in the top 4 and looked very impressive in doing so.

Max Verstappen ultimately won the race but not without getting a scare from the McLaren team. This marks his 6th victory in a row, something only 4 other drivers have done in F1: Michael Schumacher (twice), Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel, and Alberto Ascari. This also marked Red Bulls 11th win dating back to Abu Dhabi of last season and tied them with McLaren for the record of most consecutive race wins! Incredible stuff from Red Bull as they embark on this historic season.

Lets dive into all the action of the race today and a review of my race predictions that I made yesterday!

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2023 British GP Race Review

Elation For McLaren

This race was the first sign of hope for McLaren since their 1-2 finish in Monza 2021. They successfully converted their 2-3 race start into a 2-4 finish. To make this finish even more impressive, they showed incredible pace against Max at the beginning of the race as well. Lando overtook Max into turn one to take the lead of the race and the Silverstone crowd went ballistic. It was clear the British fans wanted to see Lando’s first race win at his home race.

Max eventually regained the lead a few laps later but the McLaren duo held on the rear of the Red Bull and put a solid gap between themselves and the Ferrari. The result could have been even better if they had better timing in regards to the Safety car. Piastri pitted earlier than Lando and unfortunately the Safety Car occurred a few laps later. Had Piastri pitted under the Safety Car there is a good chance they would have finished 2-3.

Both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton made comments on just how fast that McLaren was. At the Safety Car restart, Lando was able to hold off Lewis, who was on a set of relatively new softs, while he was on a set of new hard tires. Behind them, Piastri had the same task of holding off George Russell with the same tire combination. Safe to say this track suited the McLaren package very well. The ultimate test for their upgrades will come next race in Hungary, a very different track layout than Silverstone.

Red Bull Gives You Win(g)s

Another race, another Max & Red Bull win. They are going on a historic tear at the moment and at this point it looks like it will continue. Prior to the Safety Car, Max had pulled out a 9s lead and it looked like he would breeze to another win. The race restart made it tricky but as he has done so many times this season, Max made it look easy and quickly pulled out a 2s lead over Lando behind. A fun fact, if Red Bull only had one driver in the lineup, they would still be leading the championship by 52 points. That is just insane to think about.

As mentioned in the intro, Red Bull has won 11 consecutive races equaling the record set by McLaren in the 1988 season with the legendary MP4/4. I imagine this record will be broken in Hungary but it may not be as easy going with McLaren and Mercedes making improvements and Aston’s package better suited for lower speed tracks. If they want to continue with this run, they will need more support from their second driver Perez, who has struggled since the Miami GP.

Perez has failed to make it to Q3 in 5 consecutive race weekends. For most teams this is a death sentence but he has been able to reel off some quality results despite being on the back foot. I am sure Horner and Red Bull are pushing Perez to correct his qualifying woes to get back to the front and help Max fight off the other teams.

Mercedes Are Back

After an off week in Austria it appears that the Mercedes upgrades are working and the team is trending in the right direction. They clearly had more pace than the Ferrari duo and were right on the tail of the McLarens at the end of the race. They played their strategy perfectly and I think got the best result they could have this week.

Hamilton seems optimistic about the direction of the development and even said he thinks he knows exactly what needs to be changed to get them competing with Red Bull once again. I think they will be competitive once again in Hungary where there is less straights, which is a huge advantage for Red Bull.

Mercedes is currently P2 in the Constructors championship and when it is all said and done that is where I think they will finish. Aston has clearly fallen off the pace of the top teams and Ferrari’s package appears to be very inconsistent week in and week out. McLaren throwing their name in the hat will potentially make it interesting. Very fun to see the fight for 2nd place heating up.

Alpine Woes

It was a very bad weekend for Alpine who experienced a double DNF in Silverstone. That combined with McLaren’s stellar performance has slotted them back into P6 of the constructors championship. This can’t be good for confidence for a team that wanted to be competing for 4th in the constructors but now are behind the ball on development compared to McLaren.

Ocon retired from the race very early on with what was reported as a hydraulic issue. He was not racing in the points at that time but with all the chaos of the safety cars late who knows what could have happened.

Gasly’s race was much more tragic. He was in contention for the majority of the race and was in a points scoring position after the Safety Car. He was getting into it banging wheels with Lance Stroll when Stroll aggressively came back on track and slammed into the Alpine car. This broke the Alpine’s suspension and ultimately ended the race immediately for Gasly. Stroll received a time penalty for the move that knocked Gasly out of the race.

Alpine had high expectations for the beginning of the year but have not capitalized on their opportunities thus far. They will be looking to get themselves into more points opportunities and hopefully be able to convert them.

Other Race Thoughts

I feel like every race I see Lance Stroll doing something totally unnecessary and dumb causing contact and messes with other drivers. I think Fernando’s presence and performance put a lot more stress onto the Canadian driver’s shoulders. He hasn’t responded particularly well despite his teammate giving him positive reinforcement to the media. Could this be a pivotal season for Stroll and will Daddy Stoll begin taking a look at other drivers to replace him.

Race Predictions In Review

1. McLaren Podium

Result: Correct

I go this one right on the nose yesterday. I predicted that McLaren would have at least one driver finish on the podium. They almost did me one better with two drivers on the podium. It was a great day for the McLaren team and its always great to see the historic squad back in the mix in F1.

2. Mercedes Can’t Find Performance

Result: Very, Very, Very Wrong

I couldn’t have made a worse prediction here. Mercedes looked very competitive with their new upgrades and had their chance of getting Lewis into P2. I thought they would struggle to get by the Ferrari drivers during the race but due to strategy and better tire management they made Ferrari look like minced meat.

3. Perez Doesn’t Crack Top 5

Result: Correct

I got this one right too, albeit only by one position. Perez finished in P6 after starting the race in P15. He made steady progress through the field but made a pit stop before the Safety Car which stymied his progress after the restart. He will need to fix his qualifying performances otherwise Red Bull may start looking at Yuki or Danny to replace him next season.

Excited to be officially back and posting F1 content again. Will be back later this week to discuss Sergio’s Perez’s outlook at Red Bull going forward.

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