Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz pushed Max Verstappen close on pure pace at the end of the opening practice sessions for Formula 1’s 2023 British Grand Prix, but a close look at the data shows the Red Bull driver was under little pressure when it comes to race speed.
In the other Ferrari, an electric problem meant Charles Leclerc missed all of FP2, while the Aston Martin drivers had little things break on their machines that caused interruptions in the afternoon session.
At Mercedes, things were more of a struggle overall, which contributed to the home crowd having less reason than usual to cheer for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Thankfully for the bumper crowd at Silverstone, Williams had a surprisingly strong showing in both FP1 and FP2.
Here’s everything we learned on Friday at the 2023 British GP.
The story of the day
FP1 got underway at 1230 local time – with a different feel compared to normal.
One race on from the Austrian sprint event and with the development race hotting up behind Red Bull, many teams were trying test items in the opening session …