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THE DAY ON
TRACK:
Another win for Max Verstappen, the reigning world champion now clearly the
dominant force, along with his Red Bull Racing car, in 2023. This was Max’s
second win at the Silverstone circuit, following on from the Formula 1 70th
Anniversary Grand Prix held here in 2020. He was never really troubled, even
if he was surprised at the speed of Lando Norris’ start in the McLaren from
the spot alongside him on the grid. Once back in front, the Dutchman had a
trouble-free time of it, even after the restart on lap 39, as the race had
been neutralised while Kevin Magnussen’s Haas was removed from the side of
the track. Much to the delight of most of the 480,000 strong crowd – a
record for this track, Verstappen was joined on the podium by two British
drivers, the aforementioned Norris and Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes driver
having been the main beneficiary of the appearance of the Safety Car.
Red Bull’s win puts the team equal with McLaren for the most consecutive
race wins (11.) The last time a driver for the Austro-British team did not
win a race dates back to George Russell’s victory in the Brazilian Grand
Prix last year.
One-stop was the most common strategy, but the Soft proved far more popular
than our earlier predictions. The only cars not to run the C3 were the two
Ferraris and two McLarens.
The most used compound during the Grand Prix was the C2, which ran 485 laps,
50% of the total completed. The C3 was second (337 laps, 34.74%), followed
by the C1 (148, 15.26%).
Russell’s 28 laps was the longest stint on the Soft, while for the Medium,
Verstappen, Hamilton, Norris and Alonso did 33 and Bottas ran 32 on the
Hard.
The fastest laps for each compound were all set on tyres that had done ten
or more laps. For the C1, the best time (1.30.543) was set by Norris on lap
43 with a set of tyres that was 10 laps old. Russell was quickest with the
C2 (1.31.124) on lap 13 of his second stint, while the fastest race lap fell
to Verstappen in 1.30.275 on C3 on lap 11 of his second stint. It should
also be noted that after pit stops for Russell and Verstappen, the race was
neutralised for five laps.
MARIO ISOLA - MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
“First of all, well done
to the amazing crowd at Silverstone: 480,000 is an impressive record, a sign
of the incredible popularity Formula 1 is experiencing right now.
From a tyre point of view, this weekend delivered interesting answers. The
introduction of the new construction went according to plan and initial
analysis of the data is in line with our expectations. The feeling that all
three compounds could be used in the race was confirmed this afternoon.
Certainly, the considerably cooler temperatures when compared to Friday
allowed for the Soft to be pushed harder for longer. But apart from that,
the fact that all three compounds were valid choices meant the teams could
choose the tyre combination that best suited their cars. Finally, a word
about degradation, which was lower than expected for all three compounds,
even though this track is one of the toughest on tyres. It meant the teams
were able to extend their stints without any significant drop off in
performance.”
Formula 2
Wins for Frederik Vesti and Victor Martins in the Sprint and Feature
races respectively at the Silverstone round of the FIA Formula 2
Championship. Saturday’s race started in the rain, heavy enough for the cars
to leave the grid following the Safety Car. Prema Racing’s Danish driver was
first past the line ahead of Theo Pourchaire (ART Grand Prix) and Jack
Doohan (Invicta Virtuosi Racing). The Safety Car was also required in the
Feature Race, won by Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) despite being given a
five second penalty. Another podium for Pourchaire, third behind Zane
Maloney (Rodin Carlin). Vesti still leads the classification on 135 points
ahead of Pourchaire (129) and Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS, 111 points).
Formula 3
The FIA Formula 3 Championship has not got long to run now with
Silverstone hosting the sixth of nine rounds this season. Brazil’s Gabriel
Bortoleto (Trident) still leads the standings on the same 36 points as
before, ahead of Spain’s Josep Maria Martì (Campos Racing) while Italy’s
Gabriele Minì (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and the Estonian Paul Aron (Prema Racing)
are equal third on 77 points, 51 behind the leader. The wins in England went
to Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) in the Sprint, ahead of Bortoleto and
Christian Mansell (Campos Racing) while the Feature ended in a one-two for
Trident, Oliver Goethe taking his maiden win ahead of Leonardo Fornaroli
with Martì completing the podium. |
