Saturday Report: 2023 British GP
A tight and chaotic qualifying session leaves Team wanting more but hopeful for race day
George Russell qualified P6 and Lewis Hamilton P7 for the 2023 British Grand Prix.
Hard work focused on single-lap performance overnight seemed to yield gains, with Lewis P5 and George P9 in FP3.
Damp and drizzly conditions continued into qualifying, with difficult tyre choices and strategy calls to be made throughout.
Both drivers progressed from Q1, with the entire field making large improvements in the final stages. In Q2, both Lewis and George’s first runs on the new soft tyre were good enough to ensure they made it through to Q3.
After an initial run on the used soft tyre, both drivers took the new soft for their final laps. George ended P6, just 0.063s shy of the second row, with Lewis half-a-tenth further back in P7.
Free Practice 3
Lewis Hamilton | 16 Laps | 1:27.948 | P5 |
George Russell | 17 Laps | 1:28.284 | P9 |
Qualifying
Q1
George Russell | 10 Laps | 1:29.412 | P3 | Soft, Soft |
Lewis Hamilton | 11 Laps | 1:29.415 | P4 | Soft, Soft |
Q2
Lewis Hamilton | 8 Laps | 1:28.545 | P8 | Soft, Soft |
George Russell | 8 Laps | 1:28.782 | P10 | Soft, Soft |
Q3
George Russell | 6 Laps | 1:27.155 | P6 | Soft, Soft |
Lewis Hamilton | 6 Laps | 1:27.211 | P7 | Soft, Soft |
George Russell
It was an exciting session; I really enjoy these conditions. I’m always confident that I can do a good job and put the laps in when needed. It was stressful at times, but I felt comfortable with our pace in Q1 and Q2. My last lap in Q3 was strong, but it was frustrating to see how close we were to being a couple of positions further forward. I was a little bit disappointed not to achieve this but we’re in a decent place for tomorrow. The Team did a good job of improving the car overnight and I’m excited to see what we can do in the Grand Prix. We believe we have stronger race pace than on the single lap, so I’m confident that we can move forward.
Once again, the energy from the fans today has been amazing. You really feel the support from the stands and it’s incredible to see how they are backing the Team and us as drivers. It’s a special weekend and we can hopefully do a good job tomorrow and challenge for the podium.
Lewis Hamilton
We weren’t quite quick enough today unfortunately. The conditions were tricky out there but there was still an element of fun to it, as we tried to get on top of the tyres. There were some moments where it looked like we had the potential to challenge further forward, but then we fell back a little. We seem to struggle on the single lap more than we do on the race pace, so we will see what we can do tomorrow. If we can progress forward, then that would be amazing. Hopefully we can put some pressure on the cars ahead and get into a battle with them.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO
It was an interesting session today, with the gap between P2 and P7 only a few tenths. We were more competitive than we thought we might be in terms of lap time, and the gap to the front-row is small. That is not an excuse though and P6 and P7 are the positions we are in. The question for us now is how much pace differential you need in order to overtake. There are several cars ahead of us but we’re hopeful we can make some good progress.
Whilst it’s frustrating in one sense, it's also encouraging to see the lap time gains that others have found, including McLaren recently. It’s a good example of how you can add performance during the season. We’ve been able to do so ourselves and we’re focused on continuing to do that. This will help us compete on both Saturday and Sunday, and ultimately close the gap to the front.
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
Qualifying wasn’t an easy session; there were a few bands of rain coming through that kept us on our toes. In those conditions, it’s easy to get a car knocked out along the way but we have both well in the top 10. It’s frustrating to be on the wrong side of a tight bunch today, but the gap to pole is a big improvement on Friday.
Our long run pace looked good yesterday, so we’re hoping to be able to push forward. We also haven’t made any changes to the car that should hurt that race pace. We’d prefer to be starting further up as it would certainly help our chances of getting on the podium, but there are still opportunities on strategy that will allow us to offset. Whether McLaren have the race pace to match their qualifying speed will influence the strategy significantly. It’s going to be an interesting Grand Prix as there could be plenty of cars in the battle for the podium.