Max Verstappen rejects the threat coming from perfidious Albion (British Norris and Hamilton) and subordinately from the Commonwealth (Australian Piastri) and even takes the scalp at Silverstone. Statisticians will ask for the increase, given that every Sunday that the Almighty dedicates to F1 they have to update the data: this is the Flying Dutchman’s sixth consecutive victory, the eighth after 10 races, also having a success in a sprint race and two second places as worst result in the complete GPs.
In the British Grand Prix, McLaren shares take off and instead those of Ferrari sell: after the result of Austria (according to Leclerc, fourth Sainz) the track on which F1 was born offered the Prancing Horse an important exam and the verdict is that it was not passed.
Max Verstappen: 43
Once again the vote (symbolically exaggerated) serves to update his victories in F1. Five laps were enough for him to stifle the revolution that Lando Norris, who took the lead at the start, had tried to set up with the collaboration of Oscar Piastri (the Aussie was in turn very close to overtaking the poleman and bringing two McLarens to the lead ). In «Formula Max» everything goes well even when there are some little problems: «I don’t feel so comfortable with these tires (the soft ones, ed)» he croaked over the radio at the end. In the face…
Andrea Stella: 10
The former Ferrari man, former engineer of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso, is now the McLaren team principal. He deserves the credit for having relaunched a historic team that was lost in anonymity. He did it humbly, inviting us not to delude ourselves about the first part of the season but promising a breakthrough from Silverstone. In reality Norris, who had been able to take advantage of the advanced package in advance, had already convinced Zeltweg, but now the leather change also concerns Piastri’s single-seater. Andrea, a “brain” who emigrated abroad, first of all to follow the Alonso purged by Ferrari: not a big deal for the Cavallino to lose such a resource.
Lando Norris: 9
Voted best driver of the day, according to observers Lando left something to be desired when Verstappen got tired of seeing his license plate, yelled in his face and skewered him like a thrush (he ran, as already mentioned, on lap five). Why didn’t he try to resist? Andrea Stella replied to the observation/accusation: Max was not the opponent to reckon with. A realpolitik that he paid for. In any case, assuming he was too submissive with the Dutchman, Lando roared at Hamilton, screwing up the seven-time world champion’s overtaking. But there’s also a Norris who deserves 10: it’s the one who said no to a father who wanted him to sign his son’s forehead. “You can’t sign a child,” he cut short, vaguely disgusted. Applause.
Oscar Piastri: 9
If Archimedes said «give me a foothold and I will lift the world for you», the new generation kangaroo was declaring, in recent months: «Give me a decent car and I will take it to the top». He now had it and went very fast: killed by the safety car, otherwise he in turn would have climbed onto the podium. However, he was good at defending fourth place from the onslaught of Russell, who had a compound advantage over him.
George Russell: 8
Man of the first stint — no less than 27 laps on soft tires (great result for Pirelli: yes, they were using new-concept and more resistant compounds, but in this case the estimated duration was 17 laps) — he is one of those ruined by the safety car . But the overtaking tricked into Leclerc alone was worth the ticket to the GP.
Alexander Albon: 8
First rule for a team — and what a team! We are talking about the multi-champion Williams, now in GP number 800 — which wants to be resurrected: to have a real driver. Thai with British passport is proving to be. He also likes the loyalty to the cause of the glorious Grove team: Red Bull did a poll to bring him back to their ranks in place of Perez, but Alex gave the two of spades. Waiting to understand with certainty what fish Sargeant is (but at Silverstone the American came close to the points zone and deserves a 6.5 as a vote) Albon is the captain of the rescue.
Lewis Hamilton: 7
In the first part he seemed to have taken a chamomile tea, in reality he was trying to lengthen the stint as much as possible to be able to play the soft tire card in the second, abhorring the hard tires for Mercedes. He did it and fate, with the safety car, gave him a little kiss on the forehead: thus came third place, which is worth the 195th podium of his career, the fourteenth at Silverstone. But the muzzle that Norris gave him has the aftertaste of a generational change.
The World Cup in balance: 6/7
It is said that it is a World Championship in which a substantial balance reigns, given that changes in the rankings of values can be seen at each race (in Silverstone McLaren and Williams hit, while Aston Martin again appeared to decline). All true and fair, but there is a small and not negligible detail: we still don’t see on the horizon who can at least tickle Red Bull (Verstappen’s, of course).
Valtteri Bottas: 6,5
After the beating in qualifying (low fuel on board) which demoted him to last place, Iceman-2 redeemed himself by setting up a more than decent comeback race and finished in twelfth place.
Charles Leclerc: 6-
He does what he can (just a little) with a car that isn’t there this time: from second place in Austria he goes to ninth in Great Britain. In short, from the stars of Zeltweg (less brilliant than those of the Verstappen constellation, but still stars) he passes to the vaguely malodorous stables of Silverstone. The first pit stop was too early (and Charles pointed this out): once he returned he discovered that the SF-23 with the hard tires was pinned down. He changed them for the medium when the engine of Magnussen’s Haas ended up on the spit: Charles was in such a hurry to take off those “shoes” that he entered the virtual safety car regime, while perhaps he would have done better to wait for the real safety car, out in a short time. Total: another bitter Silverstone for Leclerc, recalling the famous quarrel of 2022 with the then team principal Mattia Binotto.
Carlos Sainz: 5
A year ago he broke the ice by winning the first GP of his career in F1 (for now it is also the only one), but 2023 reserves him a miserable tenth place with the memory of a nightmarish “throw”: involved in a fight three with Perez and Albon, he paid for having the less performing tires and collected a double overtaking that became triple when Leclerc ate it too. From seventh to tenth in one fell swoop: my goodness…
Sergio Perez: 5
Yes, of course, he climbs from 15th on the grid to sixth, but the +9 mustn’t deceive. First: he drives the same Red Bull as Verstappen and if it is true that he remained second in the World Championship, the abacus explains that Max has 99 points more than him. Second: for the fifth time they failed to enter Q3 of qualifying, which is like missing penalty kicks in a flurry. At this lap, after the beatings of Horner and Marko, he also received Verstappen’s bullshit / sneer: «It ends up that I will also win the Constructors’ World Championship by myself».
Ferrari: 5
Bad cold shower after the positive result of Austria. In the end, Leclerc’s mistake in qualifying also weighed in, but in the end it was a Red with no pace in the fast corners. Questionable then the choices relating to the pit stops. It was feared that Silverstone was a strict professor (a year ago, moreover, Sainz won, even if, obviously, with a different single-seater), now the important thing is not to get depressed. It could/should go better in Budapest: Aston Martin is losing its edge, it doesn’t take long to get on the Constructors’ podium.
Aston Martin: 4,5
Lower grade because the figure that is not up to par falls a stone’s throw from the team headquarters (just redone, with pharaonic choices). Alonso saves the barrack again (seventh and with blunt arrows: 6 estimate), while Stroll (2) gets lost in another “silly thing”, hitting Gasly and remedying a penalty.