BRITISH GP – Max Verstappen leads a Red Bull one-two by nearly half a second in first practice
Max Verstappen was fastest in the first practice session for this weekend’s British Grand Prix. The Dutchman set a 28.600 on the soft tyre in the closing moments that put him four and a half tenths faster than his teammate Sergio Perez, Red Bull was likely to be the team to beat at the high speed and downforce circuit.
This weekend the team looking for their eleventh and Verstappen his sixth, win in a row and continuing the domination of 2023, at their second home Grand Prix, Silverstone another circuit which favours the characteristics of the car. The team hasn’t won at the circuit in a decade.
Verstappen was the only driver able to dip below the eight-nine second mark, with Perez’s second flying effort on the soft tyres getting him up to second, but still four and a half tenths off
Alex Albon was the highest placed British driver going third, a decent start for Williams on what should have been the teams eight hundredth Grand Prix, The British driver who races under the Thai flag was four hundredths behind Perez. Albon going nearly two tenths faster than Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, but that suggests that no one was yet at their ultimate potential.
Alonso was six and a half tenths slower than Verstappen, who despite the pace of the Red Bulls complained about a lack of grip that he said felt “like driving on ice”, confirmed the expectation pre-race that Silverstone’s high-speed swerves would emphasise the Red Bull’s advantages over the field.
Charles Leclerc was fifth, the Ferrari driver just over a hundredths behind Alonso and ahead of Esteban Ocon by four hundredths. The Alpine used the upgrades to split the two Ferraris as he went four hundredths faster than last years race winner Carlos Sainz. Ferrari looking at this early stage to be in the mix with their nears rivals in the constructors.
While the Monegasque warned ahead of the weekend that Silverstone’s high-speed nature may expose the weaknesses of Ferrari’s car as they continue to seek improved consistency on the SF23.
Lando Norris put his McLaren eighth nine hundredths behind the Alpine, last weekend the upgrades for the British team delivered a step forwards in performance. Lance Stroll spilt the McLaren’s going nearly three-tenths faster than Oscar Piastri, the Australian this weekend getting the upgrades Norris had last weekend in Spielberg. Although late in the session Piastri had a hydraulic issue
Nyck De Vries was eleventh seven hundredths ahead of Lewis Hamilton. However Mercedes used the first practice as more of a test session collecting data on the new front wing. Both Hamilton and teammate George Russell complained about bouncing, Russell saying the car “felt all over the place” in the closing stages.
Russell complained that the car was “all over the place in Turns Six and Seven” as both drivers seemed to be battling with a lack of rear grip, a perennial problem for Mercedes since the start of 2022. Pierre Gasly splitting the Mercedes six hundredths behind Hamilton and half a tenth ahead of Russell.
The session was also used by Pirelli to introduce a stronger construction of tyres as they announced earlier in the season a stronger construction to reduce chances of failure.
Valtteri Bottas was fifteenth two thousandths faster than the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda. Logan Sargeant was seventeenith ahead of Guanyu Zhou, the two Haas’s rounding out the field, Kevin Magnussen two-tenths faster than Haas teammate Nico Hulkenberg.