Resurgent McLaren add new dimension to the race to beat Verstappen · RaceFans

In the 74-year history of the British Grand Prix, only eight British drivers have had the honour of starting from pole position for their home grand prix: Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Tom Pryce, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris was oh-so-nearly the ninth member of that illustrious list at the end of a thrilling Saturday at Silverstone. For 13 seconds, the 140,000 fans lining the circuit watched with bated breath as Norris sat atop the timing screens on provisional pole position – many of them hoping that he would stay there.

But there was to be no fairytale home pole for the McLaren driver as Max Verstappen roared across the line to claim the top spot on the grid and continue his seemingly unstoppable run of dominance in F1’s modern-day ground effect era.

Red Bull have faced many challengers over the opening 10 rounds of the 2023 season so far – from Aston Martin to Ferrari to Mercedes. Verstappen has had his mirrors filled with two Ferraris and two Mercedes directly behind him on the starting grid already this season, but not two McLarens.

As Sergio Perez has once again given himself plenty of work to do in order become a factor at the front on Sunday following his fifth successive qualifying disappointment, McLaren are the latest team to have strength in numbers over Verstappen heading into a grand prix. After their strongest showing of the season last weekend in Austria, Norris is allowing himself some optimism on the eve of his and McLaren’s home grand prix.

“I’m not normally hopeful going into a Sunday, because of how this year has been and how things normally go or certain tracks come Sunday,” Norris said. “But I’ve got some reasons to believe and some hope after our pace today, and how we were on Friday, that we can have a good race tomorrow.”

But while Norris is sensible enough to admit McLaren’s pace is “probably not enough” to take the fight to the driver aiming for his sixth victory in a row, he believes McLaren have “enough to put up a fight for, hopefully, a top five”.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Team mate Oscar Piastri starts from five places higher than he’s ever started before in his rookie season to date. After Norris was able to finish ahead of an Aston Martin and both Mercedes last weekend in Austria with an upgraded car, Piastri is hopeful he can do the same in his first race with the revised McLaren.

“I think we’ll have to see what our race pace is like,” said Piastri. “Lando showed last week that we can hang on in the races now to a much better extent. So hopefully we can try and do the same tomorrow.

“Of course, staying in the top three will be tricky with quite a few quick cars behind us. But definitely a solid points score can be on the cards.”

Behind the McLarens, Ferrari beat both Mercedes to fourth and fifth for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr. Ferrari’s Austrian Grand Prix performance validated them as having genuinely strong race pace, so it’s only natural that Leclerc says he’s focused on attacking the McLarens ahead of him, rather than the Mercedes behind – even if he knows Norris will put up a fight.

“Of course it’s going to be tricky,” Leclerc said in response to a question from RaceFans. “Lando is always aggressive in defending, but I will be as aggressive to try and pass him.”

However, Sainz appears to be more concerned about the threat of the Mercedes duo than his team mate is. “I think we are both going to be under a lot of pressure from the Mercedes because yesterday they were flying in their race pace,” he said.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Mercedes endured a difficult Friday where both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell admitted to being baffled by their inability to find a comfortable set-up. The team’s trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, described Mercedes as having a “race car that could fight for a podium, with a qualifying car that would struggle to threaten the top 10”. So after qualifying just behind the Ferraris, Russell was much happier about Mercedes’ prospects for the race.

“I’m feeling positive, feeling motivated, but there’s a couple of unknowns,” he said. “I think we know roughly where Ferrari will be. I think we probably have a tenth or two on them – whether that’s enough to pass them physically on-track rather than around the pit stops is one thing.”

Hamilton, who will line up one place behind his team mate, was keeping cautious about his chances of being about to thrill his many thousands of home fans on Sunday with a podium.

“Of course I’ll try to be optimistic and do our best but, realistically, I’m not sure,” he admitted. “We’ll find out. It is difficult to get past the two Ferraris and then we’ve got two McLarens now there – it’s going to be a tough race.”

Saturday’s rain-affected running makes Friday’s long run data all the more relevant with the race expected to be dry with a lower risk of rain than Saturday. Second practice saw more long runs than usual, with the Red Bulls and Sainz all doing multiple high-fuel runs on the soft and medium compounds.

Of the top seven starters, Russell posted the fastest average lap time on the soft tyres of 1’33.725, just under a tenth of a second faster than Verstappen’s pace on the softs, but over a run of just four laps compared to Verstappen’s seven. With Leclerc unable to participate in the session, Sainz’s pace on the softs was the slowest, but his pace on the mediums was more promising. McLaren also looked reasonably strong, with Piastri’s average lap time on the softs fractionally faster than Verstappen, while Norris chose the hard tyre for his long run of nine laps, averaging a pace of 1’34.0.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Tyre wear will be especially important at Silverstone due to the many high-speed corners placing the rubber under heavy and sustained load throughout the 52-lap race. Pirelli point to a two-stop strategy as the best route to the chequered flag.

Last year saw the vast majority of drivers used all three of Pirelli’s dry compounds during the race. After everyone avoided using soft tyres during last weekend’s race in Austria – save for winner Verstappen’s fastest lap attempt – Pirelli expects the soft compound will be a much more viable option in the race on Sunday, much like it proved at the end of last year’s race.

The cloudy conditions could also have a material impact on the race, with track temperatures projected to be lower than teams enjoyed on Friday in the glorious sunshine. McLaren will be relieved by the weather forecast, as the MCL60 prefers a cool track even in its updated form.

With its long straights and open, flowing corners, Silverstone is already a circuit that provides opportunities for close battling over multiple corners. With the three teams nearest to Red Bull looking so close to each other heading into race day, the three drivers who end up on the podium at the end of the day will each have to work exceptionally hard to get there.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Qualifying times in full

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Sector times

Speed trap

Over to you

Is anything going to keep Verstappen from another win? And who will emerged in front among his rivals?

Share your views on the British Grand Prix in the comments.

2023 British Grand Prix

Browse all 2023 British Grand Prix articles