The F1 travelling show returns to an old favourite at Silverstone, where as usual Max Verstappen won from pole with a fastest lap, but there was a surprise or two. So to go further than just the race result our summary covers the 2023 British Grand Prix Result for the big event and so much more.
This 2023 British Grand Prix Result, Lap by Lap, Review & Summary gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
READ MORE:
2023 Latest Grand Prix Driver Ratings
2023 British Grand Prix Preview
Our 2023 F1 Calendar & Results
2023 British Grand Prix Result Main Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Well here are the top laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – Another qualifying, another Max Verstappen pole position. The changeable conditions caught a few out, but certainly not the World Championship leader. The big surprise from qualifying was the McLarens who ended up in second and third. Behind them is a pair of Ferraris and Mercedes, and the immensely impressive Alex Albon in the Williams. No surprise lately that Sergio Perez turned in another shocker and will start the race from 15th gird slot.
As for Raceday, the rain is holding off, so it is a dry race.
GRID (Starting Order) – VER NOR PIA LEC SAI RUS HAM ALB ALO GAS — PER (15th)
Lap 1 – Lando Norris beats Max Verstappen off the line and takes the lead of the race into the first sweeper to a huge roar of the crowd. Oscar Piastri is no shrinking violet either also trying to take on Verstappen halfway around the first lap but falling just short. Further back George Russell is the winner of the first lap getting ahead of Carlos Sainz, but fellow Brits Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon both drop places. No accidents or incidents as all the car make it around.
ORDER – NOR VER PIA LEC RUS SAI ALO HAM GAS ALB
Lap 3 – McLaren’s qualifying speed is no fluke as Norris manages to stay ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri isn’t falling away either in third if anything is edging further ahead of Charles Leclerc every lap. The home crowd are happy for now anyway – just a lazy 480,000 have attended this weekend at the British GP in a record.
Lap 5 – Max Verstappen risks being less popular in England than usual by overtaking Lando Norris for the lead down the Wellington straight.
Lap 6 – Decent battles everywhere in the top half. The top three are still reasonably close. The two Ferraris and George Russell are arguing over 4th and two of them nearly touch as Leclerc swerves under braking according to Russell. Lewis Hamilton is trying his best to take 7th from Alonso, which he manages on lap seven.
Lap 7 – Sergio Perez watch. The Mexican is currently 13th, stuck behind Ocon and Stroll which won’t be easy to progress. Ocon pits a few laps later and is the first retirement of the race.
Lap 12 – The field has settled down a bit, with Norris 1.8 seconds behind Verstappen and Piastri 1.5 seconds behind Norris. But that may change a little or a lot, depending on if that rain in the background comes via the circuit.
Lap 18 – Looks like the early racing promise has fizzled out and we are left with some strategy to liven things up. Charles Leclerc obliges by making a pit stop and drops from 4th to 12th.
Lap 20 – Quick check on the front and Max Verstappen is 4.4 seconds to Lando Norris who is around 2.5 seconds ahead of his team mate Oscar Paistri who is doing a great job.
ORDER – VER NOR PIA RUS SAI HAM ALO GAS PER
Lap 26 – TV Cameras show Charles Leclerc overtaking Lance Stroll for 11th. That’s how low on action the race feels right now.
Lap 29 – George Russell pits, as does Carlos Sainz. More to come surely. Yep, Piastri pits next lap and drops only to 6th. Imagine saying that about a McLaren – dropping to 6th after a pit stop.
Lap 31 – George Russell get his own supporting roar from the crowd as he passes Charles Leclerc for 7th.
Lap 33 – VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED / SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED – Kevin Magnussen’s Haas is smoking and stops on the track in a slightly dangerous position. So the drivers use it as a chance to pit. This includes race leader Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton. The pitting later worked for that trio, as Lewis Hamilton comes out in front of Oscar Piastri and steals third and the others stay ahead of him.
ORDER – VER NOR HAM PIA RUS ALO SAI PER ALB LEC
Lap 37 – Geez this Safety Car is taking a while. It’s getting late here in Australia and we’ve already lost the Third Test of the Ashes series, so don’t have a distraction now.
Lap 39 – SAFETY CAR ENDING
Max Verstappen kills the restart as expected and has a huge gap straight away. Lewis Hamilton pressures Lando Norris for second, and there a bunch of evenly matched cars waiting for an incident.
Lap 40 – Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton race side-by-side an inch apart but Norris hangs on for now.
Lap 44 – Carlos Sainz loses a bunch of places in the top ten. First to Perez then Alex Albon, and his team mate.
ORDER – VER NOR HAM PIA RUS ALO PER ALB LEC SAI
Lap 46 – Sergio Perez will probably win the Driver of the Day, overtaking Alonso for 6th.
Lap 48 – The camera pans to Shakira talking to someone and not watching the race. Thanks.
Lap 49 – Lando Norris is given the black and white flag for keeping within the white lines. He could lose his hard work if penalised. So let’s hope he can behave himself and get that podium he deserves.
Last lap – Max Verstappen does it easy, rarely bothered after the first few laps. Lewis Hamilton split the McLarens in an impressive showing for all levels of that sandwich.
FINAL ORDER – VER NOR HAM PIA RUS PER ALO ALB LEC SAI
| Pos | Driver | Grid | Time |
| 1 | Max VERSTAPPEN | 1 | 52 Laps |
| 2 | Lando NORRIS | 2 | + 3.798 behind |
| 3 | Lewis HAMILTON | 7 | + 6.783 behind |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | 3 | + 7.776 behind |
| 5 | George RUSSELL | 6 | + 11.206 behind |
| 6 | Sergio PEREZ | 15 | + 12.882 behind |
| 7 | Fernando ALONSO | 9 | + 17.193 behind |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | 8 | + 17.878 behind |
| 9 | Charles LECLERC | 4 | + 18.689 behind |
| 10 | Carlos SAINZ | 5 | + 19.448 behind |
| 11 | Logan Sargeant | 14 | + 23.632 behind |
| 12 | Valtteri BOTTAS | 20 | + 25.83 behind |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | 11 | + 26.663 behind |
| 14 | Lance STROLL | 12 | + 27.483 behind |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Pit | + 29.82 behind |
| 16 | Yuki TSUNODA | 16 | + 31.225 behind |
| 17 | Nyck de Vries | 18 | + 33.128 behind |
| R | Pierre GASLY | 10 | DNF Lap 46 |
| R | Kevin Magnussen | Pit | DNF Lap 31 |
| R | Esteban OCON | 13 | DNF Lap 9 |
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. Five points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS
Took pole position for a brief moment on Saturday, and took first place in the race for a few laps on the Sunday for the race ended up second for both which is a huge step forward for McLaren. A podium at his home race is a prize he probably thought was out of reach given the McLaren’s pace in early races.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
OSCAR PIASTRI – Sensational third on the grid, and had decent pace in the race to stay with his team mate at the start. A welcome window into the Australian’s talent, which hasn’t been easy with that car.
LEWIS HAMILTON – Qualifying looked a little ordinary, but he came to live in the race and secured a home race podium alongside fellow Brit Lando Norris.
ALEX ALBON – Fast all weekend in most sessions, some feat in a Williams these days. Lost two spots on lap one and faded a little in the race, but overall is a driver on the up.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – Oh, we almost forgot. Another win from pole position with fastest lap. Extended lead in the World Championship. It’s almost boring for him.
THE GRAPE-EST – SERGIO PEREZ
Another poor showing in qualifying saw him lining up 15th for the race. He then made slow progress through the field but eventually got points. He can’t claim to be a title challenger on current form. He can’t keep getting rewarded with Driver of the Race awards if he shouldn’t be there in the first place.
DIS-HONOURABLE MENTIONS
NYCK DE VRIES – On notice to perform and then qualifies 19th, which wouldn’t please his bosses. Did OK during the race.
ESTEBAN OCON – First retirement of the race and a little under whelming in most sessions.
KEVIN MAGNUSSEN – Drove around the tail of the field for a lot of race, but his reasonably miserable race ended with a busted Haas.
Was it a good race, loads of action, tense, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest.
We rate the big race itself so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 10
Another qualifying failure means the season itself is probably over for a Drivers Championship threat from Perez. But the silver lining to that is McLaren’s return to form is great for the Championship further back if it holds. So some importance.
ON TRACK ACTION – 4/10
Early laps promised so much, but ultimately the racing died down. A random fire in the Haas of Kevin Magnussen which was left on track saw a Safety Car deployed, and that bunched up the field nicely. Great battle between Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton after the Safety Car.
ENDING 6 / 10
The Kevin Magnussen Safety Car livened things up a bit later in the race which was welcome. It brought everyone together and created new opportunities for passing. Not that many happened, but it was still interesting.And the joy of McLaren’s improved result made staying up for the ending a little more worth it.
OVERALL RATING 15 / 30
Not a bad race but no classic. One to watch as a Mini next year before the 2024 race weekend. The initial battle for first was great, and there were a few good scraps elsewhere. But it wasn’t a classic race.
2023 SEASON RATINGS SO FAR
Want to know what we thought of previous races? Or which ones to to back and watch?
R1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – 15/30
R2 – Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – 10/30
R3 – Australian Grand Prix – 23/30
R4 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 8/30
R5 – Miami Grand Prix – 20/30
R6 – Monaco Grand Prix – 23/30
R7 – Spanish Grand Prix – 15/30
R8 – Canadian Grand Prix – 12/30
R9 – Austrian Grand Prix – 18/30
2023 F1 Season Power Rankings
Stay tuned for our Power Rankings from the race soon as it is currently being calculated and will be ready on Monday.
Who not check out last season: Our 2022 F1 Season Driver Ratings
