A dream weekend for McLaren, more questions for Ferrari, and other winners and losers from the British Grand Prix

Four winners and three losers from the British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix is in the rear-view mirror, and yes, Max Verstappen won again.

But for another team, it will be hard to leave Silverstone behind.

Before Formula 1 takes a week off, here are the winners and losers from the British Grand Prix.

Winners: McLaren

Photo by Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

It was, for lack of a better word, a “mega” weekend for McLaren.

First came Saturday, when the team put both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri into the top three during qualifying, with Norris starting the Grand Prix in P2 and Piastri in P3. Then, in the Grand Prix itself, Norris shot out to an early lead. While Max Verstappen slowly reeled him in, Norris was able to fend off a hard charge from Lewis Hamilton at the end for his best-ever finish at his home race.

While Piastri was undone a bit by the safety car at the end of the race, he still held off George Russell to come across the line in fourth, his best-ever finish in Formula 1.

While the results were massive for the team — McLaren moved ahead of Alpine and into fifth place in the Constructors’ standings — they also set a bit of a marker down for the rest of the field. Even after their performance Saturday, there were questions about their Sunday pace.

Questions perhaps answered best over the closing laps. When teams pitted under the safety car on Lap 34, most teams opted for the softs. Norris and McLaren, however, opted for the hards. With Norris sitting in second — and Hamilton behind him on softs — the thought was that Hamilton would eventually complete the overtake.

Even Norris was skeptical:

However, Norris was able to hold him off, which certainly drew the attention of Mercedes. In the post-race press conference, Hamilton was asked about the strategy, and was told that Toto Wolff had just told the media that Mercedes thought they would “eat up the McLarens” on the softs, and here what Hamilton had to say:

“Yeah, I mean, just knowing what it’s like to be on the Hards on the restart at the end with someone on the Softs behind, I knew that it would be difficult. I hadn’t, obviously, had any running with the McLarens. So I had no idea how strong they were earlier on in the stint, or in the race,” said Hamilton. “And it wasn’t until that moment that I started to see some of their strengths and see them get stronger and stronger over the laps.”

All told, McLaren leaves Silverstone behind having moved ahead of Alpine, while putting the rest of the field on notice that they are coming.

Losers: Ferrari

The weekend got off to a solid start for Ferrari, at least for Carlos Sainz Jr. Sainz was second in FP2, and while Charles Leclerc missed out on the entire session, there were signs that Ferrari could be in store for a good weekend.

Then came qualifying, when the team finished P4 and P5 behind Verstappen and the McLarens. That was the first worrying sign.

The second? Seeing the SF-23 struggle to hang with the McLaren duo early in the race. There was — as is often the case — a strategic call that will be second guessed, as the team brought Leclerc in a few laps ahead of their plan. When he gave up the track position, he found himself unable to earn those places back as he struggled to get a handle on the hard compound.

It was a conservative approach from the team, which yielded a conservative result, as Leclerc finished ninth, and Sainz tenth.

“Our plan was to do a one-stop race, running Medium then Hard. We pitted both drivers before the Safety Car, which definitely put us in a bad situation. However, we cannot just blame this episode to explain our finishing positions,” said Team Principal Frederic Vasseur following the Grand Prix.

“The start of the issue with us was on Friday when Charles wasn’t able to run in FP2 and so we only had a long run on the Soft from which we had concerns about degradation. That’s why we decided to go with Medium-Hard, which proved to be too conservative a choice as the degradation was lower than expected,” added Vasseur. “That is an important lesson for us.”

While Ferrari hoped to gain ground on Aston Martin for third place in the Constructors’ standings, they leave Silverstone behind having actually lost ground in that fight.

Winners: Mercedes

After Friday, it looked as if Mercedes was going to be left looking for answers when the British Grand Prix came to a close.

Instead, the team found a way to put both Hamilton and George Russell into the top five,

Both drivers took advantage of the late safety car and capitalized with their strong finish, with Hamilton securing his 14th podium at Silverstone with his P3, while Russell came across the line in P5.

“We’ve performed well today compared to in qualifying. We’ve gained some points on our closest competitors in the Constructors’ Championship, so we can say it’s a solid day. P3 and P5 is OK, but no more than solid,” said Team Principal Toto Wolff following the Grand Prix. “I see the positives from this weekend though. Whilst podiums are good, it’s more important to see that the car has potential, and our eyes are on closing the gap to the very front.”

Wolff might be selling their points haul a bit short. Mercedes walked away with 25 more points in their account, turning a three-point lead over Aston Martin into a 22-point lead over the course of the weekend. Couple that with a rather flat weekend from Ferrari, and you have a very good result for the Silver Arrows.

In terms of second place, that is.

Losers: Alpine

Photo by Kym Illman/Getty Images

While the British Grand Prix was a dream weekend for McLaren, it was a nightmare for the team they leapfrogged in the Constructors’ standings.

Alpine came away without anything to show for their efforts at Silverstone. Esteban Ocon completed just nine laps before retiring due to a hydraulic failure, and Pierre Gasly fared little better, finishing 18th, dead-last among the cars that classified. He was challenging for points, but the timing of the safety car could not have been worse for him, and as Gasly tried to get back into contention an incident with Lance Stroll — which saw the Aston Martin driver penalized — resulted in a failure of Gasly’s A523.

They arrived at Silverstone 18 points ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’ standings. They leave SIlverstone now 12 points behind them.

“It’s not been our weekend and that is summed up by our race today. We had a decent start to the race, but it was over early for us with a hydraulic leak on the car. In the end, as a team, we did not score any points which is extremely disappointing,” said Ocon after the Grand Prix. “We need to regroup and react, especially given the leap some of our competitors have made over the last couple of races.”

Gasly perhaps summed it up best.

“It really seems we’re on the wrong side of some things at the moment, especially luck.”

They’ll hope for some more luck in two weeks at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Winners: Williams

After Friday’s incredibly strong FP2 for Williams, which saw Alex Albon in P3 and Logan Sargeant in P5, many wondered if they would deliver a shock result in the British Grand Prix.

While they fell short of that statement performance, it was still a strong weekend for Williams. Albon put together another points finish, coming across the line eighth, and Sargeant enjoyed the best result of his rookie campaign, finishing 11th.

It was the first points finish for the team at home since Felipe Massa came in tenth at the 2017 British Grand Prix.

“We’re now P7 in the Constructors’ Championship tied with Haas, so we’re in a very good place, said Albon following the Grand Prix. “The points aren’t always available so we need to make sure that in the few races where we can score points, we capitalise on them.”

Dave Robson, the team’s Head of Vehicle Performance, had praise for both drivers.

“The car worked well today and both drivers were excellent. Alex showed great skill in attack and defence whilst also managing his tyres very well,” said Robson.

“Logan too showed good race craft and was able to build on his race in Austria to deliver another impressive performance,” added Robson. ”It is frustrating for him to finish 11th, but his first Formula 1 Championship point is getting ever closer.

Losers: Aston Martin

Following a “challenging” British Grand Prix, veteran driver Fernando Alonso took a moment to analyze the big picture.

“We’ve been performing better than expected so far in 2023 and it’s a long season. Only two races ago we were fighting for the win and there will be more ups and downs during this season,” said Alonso in the team’s post-race debrief.

While Alonso is right, this was a difficult weekend for the team, compounded by the result from Mercedes. Alonso managed a seventh-place finish, but he saw Sergio Pérez move two more points ahead of him in the battle for second place in the Drivers’ standings. As for the Constructors’, the big day from Mercedes saw the Silver Arrows build a 22-point lead over Aston Martin, thanks in part to Lance Stroll finishing outside the points, in penalized 14th-place finish. Stroll was penalized for an incident with Gasly late in the race, cited for “causing a collision” between the two.

“Today’s result has consolidated our third place in the Championship and we increased our advantage over Ferrari,” said Team Principal Mike Krack. “We will work hard as a team to return to a more competitive weekend in Budapest in a couple of weeks.”

When you are looking at bright sides, silver linings, and the big picture, it is hard to call the weekend a win.

Winner: Max Verstappen and Red Bull

At this point, what else is there to say?

While the rest of the field was fighting and banging away, Verstappen was pulling away. He finished nearly four seconds ahead of Norris — which almost makes it a close finish by 2023 standards — and yet again picked up an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the day. It was Verstappen’s sixth-straight win, and a victory in Budapest in two weeks would see him join Nico Rosberg, Michael Schumacher, and Alberto Ascari in a tie for second place with seven-straight wins.

Sebastian Vettel holds the record with nine-straight wins.

Verstappen now has a commanding 255-point lead in the Drivers’ standings, and shows no signs of letting up.

As for the team, Red Bull has now won 11-straight grands prix, dating back to last season, tying the team with McLaren for the most consecutive victories for a constructor in F1. A victory from either Verstappen — or Pérez — in Budapest would see the team set that mark.

For his part, Pérez shook off another dismal qualifying performance to get into the points, as Pérez fought his way to a sixth-place finish. That saw him extend his lead over Alonso for second place in the Drivers’ by two points. While that might not be enough to temper the pressure that seems to be building around him, it is still a solid result.

But right now, it is Verstappen’s world, and we’re all just making laps in it.