On a day when Brad Pitt showed up at the starting grid to shoot his new film, defending champion Max Verstappen was reduced to a supporting role in his own British Grand Prix victory on Sunday, fans of F1 being captivated by the fight for second place.
Other than losing the lead to Lando Norris at the start, only to regain it, Verstappen’s win on Sunday, his sixth in a row, didn’t have the Hollywood cachet of the battle between Norris and Lewis. Hamilton, seven-time world champion, for second place.
It fits a trend this season: dominant wins for the Red Bull driver and increasingly fierce battles behind him as Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and now McLaren jostle to be the second fastest team.
“It’s very confusing, to be honest, because every race it’s someone else,” said Verstappen, who extended his overall lead over team-mate Sergio Perez to 99 points.
In what he himself later described as a “terrible” start, Verstappen was quickly overtaken by Norris, who had started the race from second position in his McLaren, directly behind the Dutchman. Verstappen, however, regained the lead of the race on lap five and kept it until the end.
The Red Bulls have won each of the ten races presented so far this year, and 11 in a row if the last of the 2022 season is added. This feat equals McLaren’s record of 11 consecutive triumphs in 1988.
Almost everyone expected to see Norris slip in the standings during the race after his astonishing second place in qualifying on Saturday. However, he remained Verstappen’s toughest rival throughout the event.
After a restart in the race following the safety car’s on-track presence, Norris battled wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton, a fellow Briton who, in theory, was shod on more efficient tyres.
Norris held on, however, and he finished the race second ahead of Hamilton, giving McLaren its best result since 2021.
“It was a fantastic fight,” described Norris.
Hamilton had started from seventh place and he paid tribute to the spectators for this 14e career podium in the race held on home soil.
“I didn’t, the crowd did. I felt the energy, I felt the support. That’s the reason we were able to go back [sur le podium]. »
Oscar Piastri, a rookie driver and team-mate of Norris at McLaren, finished fourth, ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes.
For the fourth time in five races, Perez missed the podium, finishing sixth after starting the 15e box on the starting grid.
Starting from ninth place, Spaniard Fernando Alonso, driving his Aston Martin, gained two places and finished the race in seventh position.
“We maximized the race today and finished seventh on a tough weekend for the team. I think we managed our strategy well and made the right decisions during the race. We need to analyze the weekend as a whole, but we are not worried about this result”, analyzed Alonso, in the official press release from Aston Martin.
His Quebec teammate Lance Stroll had completed the race in 11e place, a gain of one rank in relation to his position on the starting grid. However, he was penalized five seconds for having caused a collision with Pierre Gasly, which put him back until the 14the rung.
“It just wasn’t our day today. As we had anticipated, the characteristics of this circuit didn’t really go well with our car, and we had difficulty getting the rhythm on the track”, remarked the Quebecer.
“On two occasions I was forced out by Pierre [Gasly] and the second time, we made contact. We will check tonight if there has been any damage to the car,” added Stroll, who believes that the next stopover, in Hungary, could be more favorable to his car.