Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 07, 2023 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan | Getty Images)
SILVERSTONE, United Kingdom – The paddock of Formula 1 returned to Silverstone, a home of sorts for the series and host of the British Grand Prix.
A majority of teams have their home base in England like Aston Martin, who is literally a stone’s throw away from the track. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing is based out of Milton Keys which is not far down the road to Williams Racing down in Grove. Suffice to say, the paddock has strong ties to the United Kingdom.
Friday’s sessions were a re-acclimation to the fast-paced Silverstone circuit with a new tire design from Pirelli hitting the track. Nine of the 10 teams attempted to update their cars in an attempt to catch the formidable Red Bull Racing team – specifically Max Verstappen.
Blue skies welcomed the fans and teams to the track for Free Practice (FP), a busy yet quiet session from the drop of the green flag.
Verstappen set the mark and kept his mark through the entirety of the session with his teammate Sergio Perez holding on with half a second behind him. However, the biggest story of the day was given a bit of an intro as Williams Racing’s Alex Albon ranked third following a large batch of upgrades that are already showing strength.
Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso posted the fourth fastest time showcasing strength with some new upgrades. He was tailed by Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
While Ferrari had no reported changes from the previous week, they hoped to show continued improvement with their car.
Despite a flurry of activity in the opening practice session, it was relatively incident free with AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries spinning in Leffield.
Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone Circuit on July 07, 2023 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Mark Thompson | Getty Images)
Shortly afterward, FP2 kicked off with the same conditions. This was a busy session with a mix of shorter qualifying runs with long runs along with more speed from the teams. However, the biggest story of the session was Leclerc unable to make any laps during the entirety of the session due to an electrical issue with the car.
Much like FP1, Verstappen led the charge with even faster times than in the previous session. Still, it was not as far ahead as he was due to reigning pole-sitter and race-winner at Silverstone, Carlos Sainz, setting the second fastest effort on the timing sheets.
Once again, the story of the session came from Williams Racing. Albon ranked third for a second consecutive session. On the other hand, Albon’s rookie teammate, Logan Sargeant, found himself in fifth, right behind the other Red Bull of Perez.
A few teams stood out when looking towards areas of improvement. McLaren’s Landon Norris utilized upgrades meant for Austria. In spite of this, both cars, which featured the same upgrades in a retro livery, had some quick times with Piastri posting times good enough for the top 10 for the two FP sessions.
Aston Martin, entrenched in a fight with Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, fared decently during both practice sessions though probably not where they hoped. Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, found some consistent times, especially in FP2, albeit with a missing mirror and a hurt finger due to a kicked-up stone.
Their rivals, Mercedes, had a strangely quiet session. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell found themselves in the bottom half of both timing sheets on Friday. Then again, there is the hope that perhaps the wick could be kicked up a bit more for Saturday’s FP3 and qualifying sessions.
Finally, another team that had a respectable session was the Alpine team as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly posted top 10 efforts with Friday’s FP sessions as they hope to continue their midfield fight back up the order.
Saturday brings the thrid and final FP session followed by qualifying. It remains to be seen if Verstappen can keep his current form or if Sainz can go back-to-back with poles on the Silverstone circuit.
Also, it will be interesting to see if Williams continues their impressive form from Friday and transition it into Saturday while Mercedes hopes to turn things around to keep up the fight with Aston Martin.
