Can McLaren Score Podium
For the first time in 15 years, McLaren has a front row starter in their home race. In fact, they have both drivers starting from the top 3 spots in Sunday’s Aramco British Grand Prix (9:55 a.m. ET, ESPN). Can they stay there?
It’s also been 15 years since they’ve won on their home soil with Lewis Hamilton scoring the win for McLaren in 2008.
They brought an upgrade to Lando Norris’ car for last week’s race in Austria and it led to a fourth-place result. They upgraded his car even more and it led to a second-place start in Silverstone.
His teammate, Oscar Piastri also got an upgrade this weekend (he didn’t get one last week) and it led to a career-best third place start.
With Sergio Perez coming from the back, it leaves the pair of Ferrari’s and both Mercedes drivers trying to get by. Can the McLaren’s hold them off?
Norris was 5th and 9th in 2020, 4th in 2021 and 6th last year.
Mercedes
Mercedes felt like they were going to be much better this weekend. So far, they’ve looked just okay. After a strong run in Spain to score double podiums, they felt like they’d come back down to earth in some capacity in Montreal. They didn’t. They were just as fast. So, that’s why they were more surprised to be so far off last week in Austria. They seemed to have lost pace when they didn’t do anything differently.
However, some of their rivals did also bring some upgrades for last weekend which as a result, could have been the prime reason them jumping back ahead of Mercedes after the duo finished P7 and P8 at the Red Bull Ring.
With another upgrade for Silverstone, Mercedes felt like they’d be back up towards the top again. Unfortunately, they’ve struggled for pace.
They’ll start 6th (George Russell) and 7th (Lewis Hamilton) respectively. Can they make up much ground and get on the podium?
Last year started off as Ferrari as Red Bull’s top threat for the championship. Mercedes then took over as the season went on. This year, Aston Martin was the top threat out of the gates, before Mercedes emerged again.
Now though, they’re fading. Ferrari and most recently, McLaren, has joined the fracas leaving Mercedes in the dust.
Both McLaren’s and both Ferrari’s start ahead of the Mercedes duo. Lewis Hamilton notes that both were better than Mercedes last weekend too and with an upgrade again for all in England, Mercedes is still behind.
Which is why I’m watching where they stack up at the end of the race on Sunday. Mercedes had stronger long run pace in practice. Does that pan out?
Tire Strategy
There’s a couple of different options this weekend for tire prominence and that has allowed some strategy plays ahead for Sunday. While Max Verstappen once again looks untouchable, the fight behind him to round out the podium and even the top five will come down to tire strategy.
Who can manage the best plan of tires to use, when to use them and who can manage the fall off will fare best.
McLaren starts P2 and P3. Can they stay up front? Ferrari’s line up next in P4 and P5. Mercedes is behind them in P6 and P7.
Mercedes seems to have better long run pace where the Ferrari’s struggle for tire management. Which leads me to believe the Mercedes duo who’ve been down on the speed charts can jump the Ferrari’s who’ve been strong on the speed charts on Sunday.
Carlos Sainz Jr. just last year, 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. He was 7th, 2nd and 6th in practice this weekend.
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. He was 5th and 1st in the pair of practices that he competed in this weekend. He missed the second practice on Friday.
How Far Can Perez Come Back From
For the fifth consecutive race, Sergio Perez failed to make Q3. For the fifth straight race, his teammate is on the pole. You’ve got to think the top brass at Red Bull is growing tired of Perez’ antics by missing out on the final round…again.
Now, how far can he rebound?
Perez starts 16th.
He started 20th in Monaco, 11th in Spain, 12th in Canada and 15th in Austria. He finished 16th, 4th, 6th and 3rd in those races.
Prior to that, he had 4 top 2 finishes in 5 races and held Verstappen in check for this year’s championship. Now, he’s in a fight for second in leading Fernando Alonso by just 17 points.
Alonso had 5 podiums in the first 6 races but only 1 in the last 3. He starts 9th.
Alex Albon
Williams brought another upgrade and like the one they brought before, it’s paying off. Alex Albon finished 11th last week but was 7th the race prior. In England, they’re even better. Albon was in the top three in every practice session (3rd, 3rd, 2nd) this weekend and qualified 8th. Can he stay in the points to give Williams a shot in the arm again?
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