Max Verstappen led Red Bull Racing to a record-equaling 11th consecutive grand prix win with a straightforward victory at the British Grand Prix.
The triumphant streak, dating back to last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, matches McLaren’s legendary 1988 streak that saw the team win all but one race that season.
Verstappen was made to work for his win in the opening phase of the race, when he was jumped from pole by second-place starter Lando Norris.
Norris got the better start to sweep into the lead at the first turn, and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri attempted to make it a one-two by pressuring Verstappen all the way up to Copse, where he thought better of attempting to dive down the Dutchman’s inside.
But McLaren’s dream of an unlikely victory lived only as long as it took for race control to enable DRS. By lap 5, Verstappen breezed into the lead with an easy slipstream pass.
A safety car restart on lap 39 — called for Kevin Magnussen’s combusting Haas power unit — brought the field back together again, but a perfect getaway meant no threat ever eventuated, and he cruised to the checkered flag.
“We had a terrible start, so we need to look into why that was,” Verstappen said. “But even after that both McLarens were super quick. It took a few laps to pass them, then at one point I could ease out a gap and everything looked all right again.
“Of course very happy that we won again — 11 wins in a row for the team, I think is pretty incredible.”
Norris converted his front-row start to second place after a late-race duel with Lewis Hamilton for the runner-up position.
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Lewis vs Lando! This is SOOOOOOO CLOSE!! 🤯#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/GxAA75NbHT
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Norris’s switch to the hard tire during the caution, whereas Hamilton took the soft, gave the Mercedes significantly more grip for the first few laps of the resumption. Norris’s defense was inch perfect as they diced through Brooklands, Luffield and Woodcote, and twice Hamilton had to think better of a bold move through Copse.
But by the time DRS was enabled three laps into the restart, Norris’s tires were up to temperature, preventing an easy pass. Hamilton, meanwhile, had cooked his tires, and his challenge faded. Norris took the flag with a 2.9s advantage for his best result since finishing second at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
“Pretty insane,” Norris said. “I just want to say a big thanks to the whole team. They’ve done an amazing job. Pretty amazing.”
McLaren looked on track to score a double podium, but the safety car period was poorly timed for Piastri, who had made his sole stop on lap 29, just two laps before Magnussen’s car ground to a halt with fire erupting from beneath his engine cover. Hamilton, who was yet to stop, took advantage of the reduced pace to jump Piastri and nab third from the Australian.
“That [McLaren] was rapid through the high-speed corners. I couldn’t keep up,” Hamilton admitted. “I think this is a good positive for us as a team to know we’re not that far away. We’ve just got to keep on pushing and we can catch those guys up front.”
Piastri saw off a challenge from George Russell for his best finish in Formula 1, while Russell restricted Sergio Perez’s recovery from 15th on the grid to sixth.
Fernando Alonso finished seventh in a muted performance for Aston Martin, having spent the final stint defending against the rapid Williams of Alex Albon.
Albon picked up four points in his third top-10 finish of the season after a gutsy duel with he Ferrari drivers following the restart, benefiting in part from the chance to pit for softs behind the safety car.
Charles Leclerc led home teammate Carlos Sainz in ninth and 10th after difficulties squeezing pace from the hard tire.
Leclerc was among the first to stop for the white-marked rubber but struggled to make an impact with it, and despite undercutting Russell with the early tire change, he was passed easily only a few laps into his defense. He used the safety car to abandon the strategy and switch back to the medium tire, which helped him back past Sainz, who was stuck with his hards, after the safety car restart.
American rookie Logan Sargeant came achingly close to his first points, finishing 11th and just 4.1s behind Sainz.
Valtteri Bottas finished 12th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and the penalized Lance Stroll, who had crossed the line 11th but was penalized for cutting the Vale chicane and banging wheels with Pierre Gasly. The contact appeared to break Gasly’s suspension, forcing him into retirement — and a double DNF for Alpine, which also saw Esteban Ocon’s race end with a hydraulics failure after only nine laps.
Zhou Guanyu finished 15th with brake problems ahead of AlphaTauri teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries.
