The brutal resurrection of the McLarens, while Aston Martin is settling, demonstrates that performance is sometimes due to little, here to aerodynamics.
Le Point Auto with AFP The McLarens were the event of the British Grand Prix, won as usual by Max Verstappen. Lando Norris in 2nd place even contained the attacks of his master, Lewis Hamilton, still as pugnacious. © XAVI BONILLA/DPPI via AFP Published on 07/09/2023 at 7:10 p.m.
And six that make eight! Max Verstappen (Red Bull) picked up his sixth victory in a row, the eighth in ten races this season, on Sunday at the British GP at Silverstone where Britons Lando Norris (McLaren) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) finished on the podium.
The reigning double world champion still flew over the race despite an average start and continues to escape the provisional classification of the world championship. The Dutchman is getting even closer to a third consecutive world title, especially since his first pursuer, his teammate Sergio Pérez, only took sixth place. The Mexican, who however made a good comeback after starting in 15th position, is already 99 lengths behind the untouchable leader.
Norris, second on the grid, made a superb start and allowed himself the luxury of overtaking Verstappen, who was closely followed by the other McLaren of Australian rookie Oscar Piastri, to the delight of the tens of thousands of British supporters who roared as one. But the suspense only lasted a few minutes since the Dutchman regained the lead on the 5th lap, once the DRS was cleared. He then managed the race calmly, even if he did not manage to create a big gap as usual.
Even after the safety car intervened due to Dane Kevin Magnussen’s Haas breaking down on lap 33 and the field regrouping, Verstappen never flinched when the race resumed with less than 15 laps to go. ‘arrival.
Norris replaces Alonso as challenger
Thanks to a resurrection of the McLarens, judiciously modified for this Grand Prix, Norris was the hero of the day and stole the show from local idol Lewis Hamilton. He has won the British GP eight times, a record, and on Sunday won his 11th podium in a row at Silverstone. After his superb start, the McLaren driver was intractable and resisted Hamilton like an old veteran at the end of the race.
A performance when he had hard tires and the seven-time world champion was riding on soft tyres. He thus won the seventh podium of his career, the first since May 2022. Hamilton, who had started in 7th position, however managed a good race taking advantage of the intervention of the safety car, unlike his teammate George Russell, who pitted just before and finally finished 5th.
Alpine, are you there?
Piastri was also trapped by the safety car and finished a frustrating fourth place, the best result of his young F1 career, after a fine performance that confirmed the hoped return of McLaren. On the other hand, Ferrari had another disappointing race as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, who started fourth and fifth respectively, fell five places to finish only 9th and 10th.
A disaster because they were even overtaken by the Williams of Thailand’s Alex Albon and the Aston Martin of Spaniard Fernando Alonso, which is a little behind compared to its thunderous start to the season. Among those who failed, the day was disastrous for the French Alpine team since neither of its two single-seaters made it to the finish. Esteban Ocon was forced to retire from the 10th lap due to a hydraulic leak, while Pierre Gasly imitated him at the end of the race after breaking a suspension during a collision with the Aston Martin of the Canadian Lance Stroll.
Alpine, which hoped to perform better this weekend thanks to a new front wing, slips back to 6th place in the constructors’ classification in favor of McLaren, which scored more points in a Grand Prix on Sunday (30) than in the previous nine this season (29). It’s called an upgrade. It remains to be confirmed at the next Grands Prix, what the drivers are ready to do.
