F1 Journal - 2023 British Grand Prix Round Up

10/7/2023

What a British Grand Prix Weekend. Wet to Dry Qualifying, Mclarens on the front 2 rows and a Silverstone Crowd that made me proud to be an F1 fan. lets go through Team by Team and see how their Weekend went.

Redbull- 1st & 6th

Max Verstappen-
Winner for the 2nd time at the legendary Silverstone circuit. From Friday to Sunday Max was in control. He took pole by 0.241 seconds from the reformed Mclaren of lando Norris. He Briefly lost the lead of the Grand Prix to Lando Norris after a brilliant move into Turn 1 by the Brit but Max quickly took back the lead on lap 5 when DRS was enabled. From there it was a controlled performance from Max with no threat from Lando after the safety car on lap 33 when the HAAS of Kevin Magnussen suffered and engine failure. It was good to see Max race this weekend rather than disappear into the distance off the start.

Sergio Perez- Another rough weekend of Sergio. Qualifying is by far his greatest issue and the severity of that issue is only exacerbated by the consistent poles of his team mate. Perez qualified 16th but started 15th after Bottas took a penalty., his start was less than ideal going deep into turn 1 after locking his brakes. From there his day started to improve and pitting under the lap 33 safety car helped more but despite his best efforts he ended the day 6th.

Mclaren- 2nd & 4th

Lando Norris- What a home Grand Prix weekend for Lando!! This weekend Lando's car was adorned with the 2nd stage of a 3 part update to the MCL60 and boy are those updates working. The Mclaren came alive in Qualifying and managed to only be beaten by Max Verstappen's Redbull by 0.241 the closest margin of any car this year and he wasnt done at Qualifying. Lando got an inspired start and made a move on the reigning world champion into the first corner that caused the whole of Silverstone to explode with cheers, Lando held onto the lead till lap 5 when Max over took him with the aid of DRS. A lucky call for Lando, saw Mclaren chose to pit Piastri first, meaning Lando could take advantage of the lap 33 safety car that came out just 2 laps after Piastri pit. After the safety car Lando was on the Hard tyre and had the Mercedes of Hamilton on the soft tyre right behind him and after some brilliant back and forth and all the tyres Hamilton's car possessed Lando held onto 2nd place till the end. 2nd place at his home Grand Prix Lando had the weekend of his life!!!

Oscar Piastri- This weekend Oscar had the first part of the 3 stage update that Lando had last weekend in Austria and boy could you tell. Qualifying Piastri was narrowly behind Lando to Qualify 3rd for the British Grand Prix. He would have finished the Grand Prix there as well if it wasn't for the team pitting him just 2 laps before a safety car came out allowing those in front of him to stay there despite pitting. But that did stop the rookie and he fought hard with George Russell to hold onto 4th till the end, almost catching and passing Hamilton before the end of the race. He raced brilliantly and we got a glimpse of the true talent locked away in that helmet. But its safe to say Mclaren are very happy with their decision to sign the young Australian.

Mercedes- 3rd & 5th

Lewis Hamilton- An encouraging weekend for the 7 times world champion. Lewis Qualified 7th but after a great start was up to 4th by the 3rd corner. He raced hard with Piastri but couldn't get past the 'flying' Mclaren, but much to his advantage Piasti pit before the lap 33 Safety car and Lewis managed to jump the young Australian after pitting during that safety car period. This put him 3rd of soft tyres behind the Mclaren of Lando Norris on new hards. They raced hard yet fair and in the end Lewis used all the momentum his tyres had but just couldn't stay with the newly updated Mclaren. But 3rd at home was a brilliant way to end his British Grand Prix weekend and he celebrated with fellow Brit Lando Norris on the podium.

George Russell- George out qualified his team mate to start 6th on the grid but after a less than ideal start, being jumped by Lewis George despite starting on the soft tyre in the hopes of making up places off the start, George put in a great stint on the soft tyre, taking it 29 laps into the race. But he like Oscar Piastri pit before the safety car and ultimately this hurt his strategy. He raced hard and went on to finish a strong 5th behind his team mate. Not what George would have wanted for his home race but strong points will hopefully satisfy him till Hungary.

Aston Martin- 7th & 14th

Fernando Alonso- After qualifying 9th it was already a frustrating weekend. The race turned out to have the same theme. Fernando had some brilliant battles with Hamilton, LeClerc, took advantage of pitting under the safety car and at the end fending off a rapid Alex Albon to claim 7th. Under whelming from the Brtish team at their home Grand Prix but 6th was probably the best the Aston Martin had to offer this weekend.

Lance Stroll- If Alonso's weekend was frustrating then Stroll's could only be described as disappointing. The home Grand Prix for the Aston Martin team and the encouragement of their cars performance so far this 2023 Lance was hoping for better. He qualified 12th but pitting prior to the safety car, a black & white flag for track limit and pushing Gasly off the track damaging the Alpine's suspension and causing his retirement meant Stroll also got a 5 second penalty for causing a collision & Stroll ended the race a dismal 14th.

Williams- 8th & 11th

Alex Albon- What a weekend for this man at his unofficial home Grand Prix, Alex put his drastically improved Williams car into Q3 for the 3rd weekend in a row and his weekend only got better from there. A great start, strong racing and a car he clearly feels happy in meant that he was hot on the tail of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin in 7th right up to the chequered flag. Alex seems to have his sparkle back and watching him racing against the likely of Hamilton, Leclerc and Alonso just shows how much talent he really has.

Logan Sargeant- A really good weekend for Logan. He got himself comfortably into Q2 and started in his highest ever starting position of 14th. But Sunday is what counts and for the first time Sargeant had the opportunity to show what he can do in one of these f1 cars. He raced well and despite being one of the unlucky few to pit before the safety car, it didn't effect his position drastically and from there he went on to finish in 11th just missing out on his first points in formula 1. Hopefully we see this Logan Sargeant turn up for the rest of the year.

Ferrari- 9th & 10th

Charles LecLerc- Not what Ferrari & Leclerc wanted of their day. He started 4th but straight off the start Hamilton jumped not just Charles but his team mate as well. Not the start they were hoping for at all, but worse was the state of Charles medium tyres on lap 19 when the Mercedes of Geroge Russell made his softs go 25 laps(including his qualifying run). The racing however was great and Charles had some fantastic battles through out the race with Alonso & Albon but he in the end came off worse finishing behind both of them to come 9th.

Carlos Sainz- Carlos started the race 5th on the medium tyres but despite some great racing he pit on lap 23, 10 laps before the safety car that caught so many out. It killed his strategy and from there he ran behind his team mate till the end. I don't see the light in Sainz eyes anymore. He just doesn't seem happy and the issues with Ferrari's race management is only adding to the frustration and disappointment he currently feels.
he ended the race 10th.

Alfa Romeo- 12th & 15th

Valtteri Bottas- Another bad weekend for Alfa and Bottas. They under fueled his car in qualifying, so he ran out on fuel because of this despite stopping out on track when it came to the FIA's sample he didn't have enough so was there for put right to the back for breaching procedure. But he fought his way forward and finished 12th, gaining 8 places in total

Guanyu Zhou- Zhou qualified 17th but thanks to his team mates penalty he gained a position to start 16th. It wasn't the best day but he ran a calm collected race and brought the car home in 15th. We can only hope that Alfa gets the car to a better place and make the engine work for them and we see both drivers further up the grid soon.

HAAS- 13th & DNF

Nico Hulkenberg-
Nico had a brilliant qualifying again to start 11th, the one lap pace of the HAAS is great but tyre managment on a Sunday is their real issue and to compound this after an OK start for Hulkenburg he was one of many that the lap 33 safety car didn't benefit. After he pit on lap 23, he raced hard to the end and brought the HAAS home is a semi-respectable 13th.

Kevin Magnussen-
The sister HAAS of Kevin Magnussen didn't have the same positive qualifying as team mate Nico, qualifying last but started the race 19th thanks to Bottas' penalty. But that was the only good thing to come to Magnussen this weekend when after his first pit stop Kevin's engine blew pretty spectacularly on lap 33, starting the day for the safety car but ending his is flaming style.

Alpha Tauri- 16th & 17th

Yuki Tsunoda- Yuki qualified 17th, started 16th because of Bottas' demotion to the back. He like Russell risked the soft tyre to begin the race in the hopes it would help him off the start which it did he gained a couple of positions before the softs went off on lap 26. But like so many the safety car brought out by Magnussen hurt his strategy by allowing those around him who had not pit to get a cheap pit stop and negating the advantage he had after starting on the softs. He continued to race hard but ultimately finished 2nd to last, only beating his team mate De Vries and the DNF finishers. Like i said in my Austrian round up though I believe there is speed in the 2 Alpha Tauri drivers its the car that seems to be letting them both down.

Nyck De Vries- The Alpha Tauri car is struggling and it does not seem to be getting any better. Nyck qualified 19th but after the Bottas' penalty started 18th. He raced well, got an ok start and showed some real class fighting at the back but having to pit on lap 23 to get off his dead medium tyres off the car meant when the safety car was brought out for the flaming HAAS on lap 33 any good work he had done on his first stint was undone and meant he ended the race in last position other than the DNF cars. I really hope Alpha Tauri figure out their issues and give Nyck a car he can show his class in.

Alpine- DNF & DNF

Pierre Gasly- It really is a shame Gasly didnt finish the race. He had an inspired Qualifying getting his Alpine into Q3 and started 10th. After some brilliant racing with Alonso and capitalizing on the lap 33 Safety car, Pierre was in a great position to get a great result but while fighting with an out of position Lance Stroll he drove into Gasly and broke his left rear suspension, ruining any chance he had of the result he deserved. It was great to see him back on top form and enjoying the car. Better luck in Hungary hopefully.

Esteban Ocon-
It wasn't the best weekend for Ocon. After qualifying 13th in his Alpine his race did not last long as his car couldn't continue after the first few laps and he retired soon after the start. not ideal but we have seen some great races from Ocon so no doubt the will make up for a bad weekend at Silverstone at the next race in Hungary.

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