Can Anyone Stop Red Bull?

Max Verstappen is running away with this year’s championship. The two-time defending world champion enters Sunday’s Aramco British Grand Prix (9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN 2) riding a wave of five straight wins. The thing is, he’s not won here since 2020 and has just two podiums in his last seven starts in Silverstone.

However, Verstappen has though scored a top two finish in 10 straight races including all nine this season. In fact, he has 19 top two finishes in his last 21 tries.

The thing is, he was only seventh here a year ago. He wrecked on the first lap from pole in 2021.

Maybe that opens the door a little bit this weekend?

If so, do you look at his teammate, Sergio Perez as the top driver to capitalize? Perez scored his first podium finish (3rd place) last week in Austria since a runner-up finish in early May in Miami. What’s odd is the fact that he’s missed out on Q3 in each of the last four races.

He qualified fourth and finished second in England last year. The year prior, he only finished 16th from a 20th place start.

Which makes me wonder if this weekend is truly the end of Red Bull’s 10 race win streak. They’ve also won 19 of the last 20 races in general.

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Constructors Standings

Red Bull has run away with the lead in the constructors. They’re 199 points up. No one is catching them. However, the battle behind them is really heating up. Aston Martin has cooled and went from P2 to P3. Mercedes got hot and now leads Aston Martin by three. Ferrari is improving and breathing down Aston Martin’s neck.

Which is why I’m watching this three-way battle on Sunday.

Ferrari won this very race a year ago and followed that up with a win in Austria. This year, the two races were flipped and in last weekend’s race, Ferrari’s looked vastly improved. Can they carry that over to Silverstone?

Carlos Sainz Jr. started on pole, led 27 of 52 laps en route to the emotional victory. He was sixth a year prior. Sainz has finished between 4-6th in 7 of the 9 races run this season including being sixth just last week.

Charles LeClerc has finished 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd and 4th respectively in his last five Silverstone tries too. He was runner-up last Sunday and fourth the race prior in Montreal. However, those two results and a third in Baku are his lone top five finishes in nine 2023 starts.

What about Mercedes?

When the Silver Arrows left Montreal, they thought that they had something really going. See, they had finished with a double podium in Spain. Then, they had quicker cars where they didn’t expect to be in Montreal for which Lewis Hamilton finished on the podium again. If they were strong on these two tracks, maybe they truly were heading in the right direction.

Then came last week in Austria. They struggled.

George Russell finished seventh and Hamilton in eighth. How much though was that a byproduct of other teams bringing upgrades?

Ferrari and McLaren each had some upgrades and it improved their pace. Mercedes didn’t bring one to Austria but does now. Does that do enough to get them ahead of not only Ferrari and McLaren, but Aston Martin as well? If so, how much does it close the gap to Red Bull too?

This weekend will mark the 18th home race for Hamilton. He has eight wins and 13 podiums in his previous 17 tries including 10 straight podiums here at that. He’s scored three wins in the last five races at Silverstone and was third a year ago.

For Russell, he’s never finished in the points in his home race and he’s had one podium all season. That’s why I’m not only watching Hamilton this weekend, but if Russell can get some points too.

Then you have the Aston’s. They had a strong start to the 2023 season with 5 podium finishes in the first 6 races run. However, over the last three, they’ve had just one. What’s happened?

Fernando Alonso was 6th in Spain, second in Montreal but fifth again in Austria. Lance Stroll was 7th, 9th and 9th in the same races. Can they get back on the podium this weekend?

Silverstone could look like Spain and in that race, Aston Martin was behind in P6-P7. They’ve fallen to three points behind Mercedes in the constructors standings for second and only 21 points clear of Ferrari for third.

That’s why I expect Red Bull to flourish this weekend still, but who is next best in class behind them between Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin?

Sainz, Russell and Stroll will be the keys to who scores the most points among these three camps. We know what we’re going to get between LeClerc, Hamilton and Alonso. It’s who leads the gap to the finish line among their teammates.

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McLaren vs. Alpine

McLaren brought and upgrade last weekend in Austria for Lando Norris and it paid off massively. He had a season-best weekend with a fourth-place result. Now, with some more upgrades heading their way including rookie Oscar Piastri receiving one too, I’m curious how far McLaren can get this weekend.

Norris is always strong here with three top six finishes in his last four starts. Piastri is hopeful to join him in the points. Can he give McLaren their third double points weekend in the last five races and get them some massive momentum heading into the final race before summer break?

With Red Bull being Red Bull, Ferrari being strong here last year and Mercedes bringing another upgrade, how far can McLaren get?

Then you have Alpine also bringing an upgrade. They had three straight races with double points to two straight now without.

Esteban Ocon has finished between 8-9th four times this season. He was also third in Monaco. He was outside the points in the rest.

Pierre Gasly is starting to heat up. He has four points finishes in the last five races, but none of them was better than 7th.

With an upgrade, can they hold off the McLaren’s?

Alpine leads McLaren by 18 points for fifth in the constructors.