F1
Oracle Red Bull Racing tied a Formula One record that has stood for 35 years with an 11th straight victory, with Max Verstappen winning six races in succession for the first time.
Summary
- 1The British GP in exactly 74 words*
- 2The British GP in six pics
- 3Max overcomes early hiccup to make history
- 4AlphaTauri's upgrades a work in progress
- 55. The number you need to know
- 6The word from the paddock
- 7The stats that matter
- 8Away from the track
- 9Where to next, and what do I need to know?
- 10Inside the wide world of Red Bull Motorsports
01
The British GP in exactly 74 words*
Max Verstappen won six races in a row for the first time in his Formula One career, Oracle Red Bull Racing's world champion taking his first British Grand Prix victory. The win was the team's 11th in succession, tying McLaren's all-time record of 11 straight victories set in 1988. McLaren's Lando Norris started and finished in second place, while Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) stood on his home podium for a 14th time by finishing third.
* 2023 is the 74th season of the F1 world championship
02
The British GP in six pics
03
Max overcomes early hiccup to make history
The weight of history was heavy on Red Bull's shoulders ahead of the annual visit to Silverstone; the team hadn't won the British GP since Mark Webber in 2012 (Verstappen had won at Silverstone before, in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020), meaning the march to an 11th straight win dating back to Abu Dhabi last year was likely to be harder in reality than it appeared on current form.
What's more, McLaren's record 11th consecutive F1 wins in the 1988 season with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost has been one of the sport's toughest nuts to crack; a team had won 10 straight on four previous occasions (Ferrari in 2002, and Mercedes in 2015, 2015-16 and 2018-19) without annexing that elusive 11th triumph on the bounce.
Verstappen qualified on pole for the fifth time in a row on Saturday, but any thought of a cruise when the lights went out evaporated in a wheel-spinning getaway that saw him get swamped by McLaren's Norris into the first corner, the Briton's rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri almost making it past the Dutchman too. McLaren's pace had been the talk of the paddock all weekend, and Verstappen took five laps to reel Norris in and eventually pass him into the Brooklands corner to reclaim top spot.
From there, Verstappen had things under control, but an inspired Norris kept him honest. A Lap 33 safety car caused by a fiery retirement for Kevin Magnussen (Haas) gave Verstappen the chance to pit with the field neutralised, and he immediately gapped Norris by two seconds on the first lap of the restart with 14 laps to go to ease to his 43rd F1 win by 3.798 seconds.
Team-mate Sergio Pérez was forced into a recovery mission for another race weekend, the Mexican starting from 15th place on the grid after being caught out by cooling tyres and an improving track in qualifying.
A red flag in Q1 – again for Magnussen's Haas breaking down – saw Pérez sitting at the end of the pit lane waiting for the session to re-start for several minutes, his tyres losing crucial temperature, and he was shuffled down the order as the session finished to miss advancing to Q2 by 0.019secs.
Simply making it back to a decent points finish was the aim from there, and a switch to soft tyres for the final 23 laps gave him the chance to attack in the closing stages, Pérez eventually finishing sixth, a little over six seconds from the podium.
His championship deficit to Verstappen now sits at 99 points after Verstappen took an extra point for setting the fastest lap of the race on Lap 42.
04
AlphaTauri's upgrades a work in progress
Scuderia AlphaTauri brought a significantly revised car to Silverstone, a new floor, suspension and rear wing among the most significant of the aerodynamic updates to the AT04 chassis. The upgrades didn’t lead to immediate progress though, with both Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck De Vries finishing outside of the points.
Tsunoda qualified 17th but was advanced one place on the grid after Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) was excluded from qualifying after he stopped on track and was unable to provide a mandatory fuel sample after the session; the Japanese made a rapid start and was 13th after Lap 1, but crossed the line in 16th place.
De Vries was the final classified runner in 17th place, just under two seconds behind Tsunoda after 52 laps, as AlphaTauri's run of races without points stretched to six Grands Prix.
05
5. The number you need to know
11: Verstappen's win on his 150th start with the team – he won on his first start with the team too, in Spain in 2016 – means he's now won from his past 11 pole positions dating back to last season.
06
The word from the paddock
"Of course, very happy that we won again. Eleven wins in a row for the team, I think that's pretty incredible … but that wasn't straightforward today."
07
The stats that matter
Drivers' championship top 5
Constructors' championship top 5
08
Away from the track
We know Max Verstappen has been in his element on the track this season, but how did he fare when we took him off-road? The (Un)Serious Race Series between Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia AlphaTauri got down and dirty in Austria, with Max and Yuki Tsunoda battling in a pair of monster trucks.
Who won the showdown at the Erzberg, the legendary site of motocross hard enduro event Red Bull Erzbergrodeo? Tsunoda grabbed bragging rights over Daniel Ricciardo on water in Miami – get the lowdown on what happened in Austria here, and watch the video below.
09
Where to next, and what do I need to know?
Round 11 (Hungary), July 21-23
Circuit name/location: Hungaroring, Budapest
Length/laps: 4.381km, 70 laps
Grands Prix held/debut: 37, 1986
Most successful driver: Lewis Hamilton (eight wins)
Most successful team: McLaren (11 wins)
2022 podium: 1st: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing), 2nd: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 3rd: George Russell (Mercedes)
10
Inside the wide world of Red Bull Motorsports
The Safari Rally Kenya is one of the toughest challenges on the World Rally Championship calendar – don't take our word for it, because it's also the sentiment of none other than eight-time WRC champ Sébastien Ogier.
Ogier did what Ogier tends to do – win – in Kenya last month, but this was a very special victory for the French superstar. Read his latest exclusive blog right here to find out why.
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