Max Verstappen wins British Grand Prix: 'It wasn't straight forward today'

Published on 09 July 2023 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen has won the British Grand Prix for the first time in his career. The two-time World Champion, who started from pole position, lost the lead to Lando Norris at the start of the race. On lap five, Verstappen was able to take back the lead from Norris. Despite a late safety car, Max’s victory was no longer in danger. With over three seconds ahead of Norris, Verstappen took his sixth win in a row. The win today also marked the eleventh win in a row for the team of Oracle Red Bull Racing, equalling McLaren’s record. Local hero Lando Norris scored an excellent second place in a much improved McLaren, and his compatriot Lewis Hamilton finished third with his Mercedes.

After the race, Verstappen says: “We had a terrible start, we need to look into why that was. But even after that, both McLarens were super quick. It took me a couple of laps to pass Lando. Once I did, it took a while to control the tyres, but then I could ease out a gap and everything looked quite alright again. But after the safety car, on the softest compound, it was a bit more tricky to keep the tyres alive, so the gap stayed around three seconds. Of course I am very happy that we won again. 11 Wins in a row for the team, I think that’s pretty incredible, but it wasn’t straight forward today.”

The unpredictable British weather was also challenging today: “It’s quite open here around the circuit, and the wind was pretty strong,” says Max. “There were dark clouds and you notice that you have a different wind speed every lap, to which the car is quite sensitive. This can cause the car to break out in the corners, so that makes it difficult.”

About the bad start, Max says: “I was doing a bit of drifting on Thursday, with the Marketing team. And it felt like I was doing it as well on the start today. This isn’t good, we have to look into that. But at least it made it a little bit more exciting, we had to push for it. Lando didn’t really put up a fight, he was nice to me. But he came back again in the DRS, so he had a lot of pace. He did very well today.”

Finally, Max is looking forward to the next race in Hungary. “We’ll have an upgrade there, so hopefully we can take another step.”

It is cloudy before the start of the British Grand Prix, but still dry at the start of the 52-lap long race at the famous Silverstone Circuit. The top five start the race on the medium compound tyres, while Russell, on P6, is the first driver to start on the soft compound. Max doesn’t have a great start from pole position and loses the lead in turn one to the McLaren of Lando Norris, who started from P2. Norris’ teammate at McLaren, Oscar Piastri, started from P3 and had a great start. The Australian manages to place his car alongside Verstappen’s, and keeps challenging the Dutchman throughout the first lap. But Max can keep Piastri behind him. 

Verstappen finds himself in the McLaren ‘sandwich’ during the opening laps, with Norris just ahead of him, and Piastri just behind. On lap five, Verstappen has DRS and takes back the lead from Norris in turn six. On lap ten, Esteban Ocon has to park his Alpine in the pits due to some technical problems and is the first dropout of the race. The McLarens can initially keep up with Verstappen’s pace, but after a few laps they have to give in a bit. 

Charles Leclerc makes his first pit stop in lap 19, falling back from P4 to P12. Verstappen is at that moment already more than four seconds ahead of Norris. Piastri is the first one from the top three to pit, and he does this in lap 30. The rookie switches his medium tyres for a set of hards and returns to the track in sixth place.

On lap 33, smoke is coming out of the Haas of Keving Magnussen, and he has to stop his car on the Wellington Straight. The Dane is the second dropout of the race. As a result, the safety car comes out on track. Max jumps on this opportunity and makes his pit stop. The Red Bull mechanics switch the mediums for a set of soft tyres, and the Dutchman returns to the track still being in the lead. Norris also pits and comes back out again in P2 on a set of hard tyres, with Lewis Hamilton right behind him on softs.

On lap 39 the safety car goes in again, releasing the field. Max immediately pulls a gap at the restart and keeps the lead. Hamilton, on softs, turns up the pressure on Norris, who is driving on the hard compound. The Mercedes driver tries to overtake his young compatriot, but Norris is driving with his elbows out and maintains his second place. Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll collide at turn seventeen, causing Gasly’s suspension to break. The Frenchman slowly drives back to the pits, with which both Alpines have retired from the race. 

Nothing changes in the leading group and Max claims the victory. It is his eighth win of the season, and he now leads the championship with 99 points ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez. With a P2-finish, Lando Norris equals the best result of his F1-career. Lewis Hamilton finishes third. Piastri scores his best result so far in his still early F1-career with a fourth place finish, while Russell finishes in P5. Sergio Perez, who started from a disappointing fifteenth place, eventually finished sixth. Fernando Alonso, Alexander Albon and the two Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz complete the top ten.

Results Grand Prix Great Britain: