FP2
VERSTAPPEN CONTINUES TO SET THE PACE AT SILVERSTONE AS WILLIAMS IMPRESS AND LECLERC MISSES OUT
Max Verstappen continued to set the pace in the second practice session for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix, with the Dutchman taking top spot just two hundredths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Williams continued the good work it put in during the morning session, with Alex Albon repeating his P3 from FP1. There was frustration for Charles Leclerc, however, with the Ferrari driving missing the whole session due to an electrical issue.
The start of the session was delayed by five minutes so the track could be swept following several offs and crashes occurring in the FIA Formula 2 Champion qualifying session and when running began AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries was first on track.
It was Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez who set the early pace, however, with a time of 1:30.014. Verstappen soon beat that with a lap of 1:29.550, which stood for the next few minutes. Pérez eventually fought back, however, with a lap of 1:29.451. Sainz then popped up with 1:29.083 that put him in front of Perez and rounded out the initial period spent on medium and hard tyres.
Verstappen was the first of the frontrunners to appear for qualifying simulations on soft tyres and he powered to purple times in all three sectors to set a new benchmark of 1:28.078.
Pérez followed him, 0.264s behind, but he was moved back to fourth, first by Albon and then by Sainz, who posted a 1:28.100 to take P2, just 0.022s adrift of Verstappen.
The pack then switched to longer runs, De Vries brought the session to a close when he sustained a puncture late in the session. The blow out occurred when the Dutch driver braked for the Village right-hander. The Dutchman was able to return to the pits after briefly stopping inside the next turn, The Loop.
With Pérez forth, fifth place went to Williams’ rookie Logan Sargeant, the American driver underling the good work being put in by Williams. Sixth place went to Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, with Nico Hulkenberg in seventh for Haas. Pierre Gasly took eighth for Alpine ahead of Oscar Piastri, while Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10.
Alonso also had his soft tyre lower fuel run interrupted, as Aston order him to quickly slow after he crossed the line following his flying lap as it had detected debris causing "a problem", although it did not report this as a puncture. Zhou Guanyu was 11th for Alfa Romeo with Mercedes’ George Russell in P12, three ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc, however, missed the entire session. Ferrari identified an electrical issue on his car ahead of FP2 but the problem could not be solved during the session and Leclerc didn’t turn a lap.
2023 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:28.078 27 240.782
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:28.100 0.022 29 240.721
3 Alexander Albon Williams 1:28.296 0.218 30 240.187
4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing 1:28.342 0.264 30 240.062
5 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:28.766 0.688 29 238.915
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.866 0.788 30 238.646
7 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:28.880 0.802 28 238.609
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:28.889 0.811 27 238.585
9 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:28.926 0.848 29 238.485
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:29.134 1.056 26 237.929
11 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:29.225 1.147 28 237.686
12 George Russell Mercedes 1:29.238 1.160 25 237.652
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:29.242 1.164 24 237.641
14 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.260 1.182 24 237.593
15 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.283 1.205 24 237.532
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:29.378 1.300 28 237.279
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:29.439 1.361 20 237.118
18 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:29.483 1.405 25 237.001
19 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:29.571 1.493 29 236.768
FP1
Max Verstappen topped the timesheet in the opening practice session for this weekend’s British Grand Prix, beating Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez by almost half a second. Williams’ Alex Albon finished in third place ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen was quickly to the fore when the session got underway, posting a P1 time of 1:30.443 on hard tyres. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll used medium compound Pirelli tyres to go second with a lap of 1:30.979 as drivers worked through their run plans in warm temperatures at the Northamptonshire track.
Nyck de Vries went off track briefly as the session edged towards the quarter-hour mark but after losing control at Luffield the Dutch driver was able to steer his AlphTauri out of the gravel trap and continue.
Verstappen then lowered the benchmark to 1:29.863, though the championship leader complained that it was “like driving on ice”, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc moved to second place ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz. Both were almost a second off the Red Bull, despite using medium tyres.
Sergio Pérez then took P3 just two tenths of a second off his team-mate and Williams’ Logan Sargeant briefly took a headline-grabbing third place, albeit on soft tyres.
As the session hit the halfway point, Verstappen was at last deposed when Sainz claimed top spot with a soft tyres lap of 1:29.357. That put him half a second clear of the Dutchman with Pérez third ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Sargeant. Local hero Lewis Hamilton was in sixth and complaining that “bouncing is pretty bad”.
Leclerc then moved to second place with a lap of 1:29.418s but with a little less than 20 minutes left Alpine’s Esteban Ocon shot to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:29.319.
His stay was short though as Leclerc went for another attempt and this time he moved to P1 with a lap of 1:29.280.
Pérez was the first of the Red Bulls to make the switch to soft rubber but his first attempt on the red-banded tyre, a 1:29.333, only netted him third place. But Vertsappen was also out on the softs and when he crossed the line he vaulted back to the top with a lap of 1:28.836, which he then improved to 1:28.600. Pérez wasn’t done, however, and he claimed P2 with a lap 1:29.048 moments after Albon had scaled the order with his best lap of 1:29.089 which was good enough for third.
Fourth place went to Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who finished 0.668 off Verstappen while Leclerc had to settle for fifth on a circuit the Monegasque driver said might not provide the same boost as Ferrari experience in Austria and Canada.
Ocon took sixth for Alpine, ahead of the second Ferrari of Sainz, while Lando Norris was eight in a McLaren boasting more upgrades following the suite the team had already introduced in Austria. Lance Stroll was ninth in the second Aston Martin and the final top 10 spot went to Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.
2023 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:28.600 26 239.363
2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull Racing 1:29.048 0.448 22 238.159
3 Alexander Albon Williams 1:29.089 0.489 22 238.049
4 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:29.268 0.668 21 237.572
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:29.280 0.680 25 237.540
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:29.319 0.719 23 237.436
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:29.357 0.757 25 237.335
8 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.441 0.841 25 237.112
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:29.471 0.871 26 237.033
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:29.658 1.058 16 236.538
11 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:29.691 1.091 26 236.451
12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.768 1.168 23 236.248
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:29.828 1.228 24 236.091
14 George Russell Mercedes 1:29.874 1.274 28 235.970
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:30.090 1.490 22 235.404
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:30.092 1.492 28 235.399
17 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:30.124 1.524 24 235.315
18 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:30.321 1.721 20 234.802
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:30.385 1.785 21 234.636
20 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:30.591 1.991 22 234.102
