The BritishGP featured some interesting storylines, with McLaren grabbing headlines for showing vastly-improved pace with its updated MCL60 F1 car. Here are 10 things we learned from last weekend:
Silverstone almost always serves up something special. And the 2023 edition again thrust itself into race-of-the-year contention as Formula 1 fans were treated to a thrilling encounter.
Norris’s brilliant start imperilled things for a while, but Verstappen’s straight-line speed prowess, even up against a very slippery McLaren, gave the Dutchman a decisive edge and he was untroubled from lap five of 52. Only the safety car restart put the win at risk again, but Verstappen dropped Norris heading into Stowe nicely and had snapped the DRS threat by the start/finish line as green-flag racing officially returned.
McLaren had added a new front wing and nose cone to the big upgrade package it had introduced in Austria. So, has the Woking crew finally turned a corner with the MCL60 package? It seems so, but the team isn’t getting carried away. The Australian had already shown he could push Norris close in 2023’s opening rounds – particularly over one lap – but since the MCL60 has been improved it has been the Briton shining most regularly. Not so here, where Piastri put in a Q3 time just 0.131s slower. Joining Norris in the top three gave McLaren its best grid showing since Monza 2021 – the race won by the driver Piastri replaced, Daniel Ricciardo.
This was the first in a series of annual briefings from the four F1 engine suppliers – Mercedes, Ferrari, Honda and Renault – which are aimed at improving knowledge of the current V6 turbo powerplants, as well as of the plans for the simplified and more sustainable versions coming in 2026. Mercedes was up first, with its AMG High Performance Powertrains managing director, Hywel Thomas, introduced by regular FIA press conference host Tom Clarkson.
The F1 paddock became part film set as the production company captured shots of Pitt and co moving around. The work was based from the repurposed former FIA motorhome acquired via the company that erects F1’s official track sponsor signs and advertising logos, with which the film is also working closely.
“I have to say that safety car came out at a perfect time. As we boxed in, and obviously had a restart, [I was] kind of licking my lips a little bit,” he reckoned. “I had better pace than Fernando, which was a bit of a surprise. But then Charles was coming quite quickly at the end. So it was a race of forwards and backwards - one eye forward, one eye back. It became a bit of a dogfight.
The team is still a well-oiled machine for the most part, even if Sunday’s pitstops were a smidgen more leisurely than it had hoped for. But the car continues to let it down. Ferrari endured a simply awful Sunday, scraping three points after qualifying P4/5After the Austrian Grand Prix, where Ferrari looked to have turned the corner and staked its claim as having the second-best car in F1, the SF-23's inconsistencies once more began to bite.
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