Max Verstappen's first British Grand Prix win came from pole in front of a record crowd, with Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton completing a rare home podium.
The 2023 British Grand Prix was won by Max Verstappen, who started from pole on 9 July 2023 at Silverstone. Norris and Hamilton took the other two podium places, and Red Bull's first British win since 2012 followed.
Max Verstappen won the 2023 British Grand Prix from pole, his first win in the race and his second at Silverstone. Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium, which put two British drivers on it together for the first time since 1999.
What was the 2023 British Grand Prix?
Silverstone hosted round ten of the 2023 world championship on 9 July, and the event marked the 74th time the British race had been run. A record 480,000 people attended over the weekend, the largest crowd recorded for the event.
The weekend ran from 7 to 9 July. The drivers and teams matched the season entry list with no stand-ins, though it was the last Grand Prix start for Nyck de Vries.
The first practice session on 7 July ended with Verstappen fastest, ahead of Sergio Perez and Alexander Albon. Verstappen topped the second session too, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Albon. The third, on 8 July, went to Charles Leclerc, with Albon and Fernando Alonso behind him, and that session closed the practice programme two hours before qualifying.
The race was also used as a filming location for the film F1. Brad Pitt was filmed driving a Formula 2 car around Silverstone, and that footage was later cut into the racing scenes made on the day.
Two Britons on the podium behind a Dutch winner, the first such finish since 1999.
How did qualifying play out at Silverstone?
Verstappen took pole after a red flag and a broken front wing, with Norris second and Oscar Piastri third. Qualifying ran in cloudy conditions with a small patch of rain at the close of Q1, and the top three gave McLaren its best qualifying of the season.
Qualifying started at 15:00 local time on 8 July, under cloudy skies. The race itself followed at the same local time on 9 July.
Lewis Hamilton spun at Stowe on his first qualifying lap and needed a late improvement to avoid elimination. Verstappen and Albon both lost lap times for track limits. Nyck de Vries was released onto Piastri's path with no investigation made. When Verstappen pulled out of the garage to resume after the red flag, he understeered into the pit wall, which broke his front wing and required a replacement.
Sergio Perez topped the timing sheets when the session resumed, but other drivers improved and he was eliminated in Q1. Norris then finished the segment on top, ahead of Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton and Verstappen. It extended a run of five straight races without reaching Q3, and in each of them his team-mate Verstappen had taken pole. Kevin Magnussen broke down between Stowe and Vale, and the red flag came out with three minutes left in Q1. Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and de Vries also went out in Q1.
Bottas's car failed at the end of Q1, and he took no further part in qualifying. Q2 was delayed while his car was recovered, and once the rain had gone, Lance Stroll and Logan Sargeant both had laps deleted for track limits. Norris led briefly, then Alonso, Albon, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz set faster times. Verstappen finished that session fastest ahead of Piastri, Norris, Albon and Sainz. Stroll, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Sargeant were all out of qualifying in Q2, alongside Bottas.
With no rain threatening over the last ten minutes, DRS was enabled for Q3. Verstappen was provisionally quickest after the first laps, with Hamilton and Piastri behind him, and then the field came in for fresh rubber. The second runs in Q3 kept Verstappen on top, and McLaren's best qualifying of the year came with Norris and Piastri in second and third. Both drivers were astonished by how they had gone, and Piastri said the result was an encouraging step forward for McLaren.
Bottas qualified 15th, but he was disqualified during scrutineering because his car could not produce the one-litre fuel sample required. He was allowed to start at the stewards' discretion, but he went to the back of the grid.
How did the race unfold?
Norris made a better start than Verstappen and led for four laps. A DRS-assisted Verstappen passed him by lap four, took the fastest lap and led every remaining tour, while a fire and a safety car reshaped the middle of the race.
The opening lap saw a scramble at the rear of the field. Hamilton passed Gasly and began to chase Alonso, but could not get past him until a DRS move. Stroll and Esteban Ocon fought for position, and Ocon retired on lap 12 with a hydraulic leak. Albon was running tenth at that stage.
Rain was reported during the race, but never heavily enough to justify wet tyres. Yuki Tsunoda was first to switch to the soft compound and Charles Leclerc moved onto the hards. Verstappen extended his lead while Norris, satisfied with his pace, turned his attention to the cars behind him.
On lap 32 Magnussen's Haas, which ran a Ferrari power unit, went up in flames and retired. The virtual safety car was first deployed and then upgraded to a full safety car, and under it Hamilton jumped Piastri and George Russell in the pit lane to come out third. Sainz and Leclerc lost positions during the same stops, and Zhou reported brake duct problems.
When the race resumed, Verstappen kept the lead to the end, while the fights behind him continued. Hamilton tried and failed to get past Norris, and Albon and Leclerc battled through the final laps. Stroll hit Gasly's rear-right suspension, and Gasly was out of the race. Stroll received a five-second penalty for the incident, and he still finished 11th after it was applied. Sergio Perez recovered from 15th on the grid to finish sixth.
Pirelli brought its C1, C2 and C3 compounds, which are the hard, medium and soft options in its range, for teams to use at the event. The race saw rain, but never enough to bring out wet tyres.
Why did Norris's second place matter so much?
McLaren had not stood on the podium since the 2022 Emilia Romagna race until Norris's second place. The result also matched his best Formula One finish, which he had earlier achieved at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. Among British drivers, only Hamilton had finished on a home podium since Coulthard's 2000 win until Norris did so too.
Two British drivers on the podium together had not happened since Coulthard and Irvine's first and second in 1999. That made the 2023 podium a rare moment for the home crowd.
Verstappen's win was his first at the British Grand Prix and his second at Silverstone, after his victory at the 2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. It also gave Red Bull its first British Grand Prix win since 2012.
The podium and the key finishers
| Position | Driver | Team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | Pole and win; first British Grand Prix win |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | Joint best result; McLaren's first podium since Emilia Romagna 2022 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Two British drivers on the podium together |
| 6 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | Recovered from 15th on the grid |
What changed for the rest of the 2023 season?
Nyck de Vries's last Grand Prix start came at Silverstone. Two days after the race he lost his AlphaTauri seat, and Daniel Ricciardo, the third driver at Red Bull Racing's sister team, took over from the Hungarian Grand Prix onward.
Verstappen went into the race 81 points clear in the drivers' standings, with Perez second and Alonso a further 17 points back. Red Bull led the constructors by 199 points from Mercedes and 202 points from Aston Martin.
