Round 11 of the 2023 Formula 1 championship starts this week on July 7th as teams leave Austria and head over to Great Britain. With a spectacular race at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, fans are hoping Silverstone will bring even more action and adrenaline in the upcoming race.
One of the teams that made a giant leap forward in Austria was McLaren. Their new upgrades allowed them to finish P4 at the Red Bull Ring, making this their best result of the season thus far. As we head over to Great Britain, questions are asked whether McLaren can keep the momentum going and fight for a top 5 finish once more? Or will Aston Martin and Mercedes shine at their home GP? UK bookmaker William Hill has the latest odds!
※ Current Odds Date & Time: July 4th, 8:00 A.M. (EST)
The odds for this weekend’s race are somewhat unexpected given how each driver performed in Austria last weekend. That said, we have Sergio Perez who made significant gains compared to last week. His Herculean effort at the Red Bull Ring improved his odds of winning the British GP slightly as he is the 2nd favourite, right behind Max Verstappen, priced at 7.50.
Now we come to the unexpected part of this week’s odds. Namely, Lewis Hamilton is ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz despite having an awful weekend in Austria characterised by constant complaining from the 7-time world champion. What’s more, Ferrari’s upgrades proved fruitful, allowing the Maranello team to compete for the podium once more, displaying far better pace than their rivals at Mercedes. As such, it makes it all the more unexpected having Lewis Hamilton ahead of the Ferrari duo, priced at only 12.00.
The Circuit
Arguably the most iconic track when it comes to Formula 1, Silverstone boasts a rich history having been built as an airfield originally for the RAF. Its first ever GP was held all the way back in 1950 when Guiseppe Farina took in the victory in his Alfa Romeo 158. The race unfortunately had 1 casualty as 1 sheep lost its life during that race.
The track itself is a 5.891 km long circuit featuring 52 laps, 2 tricky DRS zones and 18 corners. Reigning champion, Max Verstappen, currently holds the record in Silverstone with a time of 1:27:097 set in 2020.
What to Expect?
Last week’s race at the Red Bull Ring gave us plenty of data to analyse and valuable insights to consider. That said, we have to start off with McLaren. With Lando Norris delivering McLaren’s best season finish by claiming P4, it would seem that Zak Brown’s team is headed in the right direction. Having spent the majority of the season thus far at the back of the grid, this is a monumental performance by McLaren and offers us a glimpse of what’s to come.
The upgrades developed by the British manufacturer are spearheading McLaren’s effort to be a top 5 team once more and it would seem it is working, for now at least. With Oscar Piastri set for further upgrades at Silverstone, we could potentially see McLaren fighting for more points than in the last five races combined.
An interesting point to take away from Austria as well comes from Ferrari. By introducing further upgrades to the SF-23 challenger, the Maranello team looked set for a double podium finish. That is until Fred Vasseur’s bias took over.
Carlos Sainz, who was trailing Charles Leclerc for most of the race, was not allowed to overtake his teammate despite having better pace and more speed. This compromised his race entirely, dropping him further down the grid making him pick up a few 5-sec time penalties along the way. If Ferrari is to fight for double podium finishes at Silverstone, they definitely need to re-evaluate their driver bias and face the facts that Carlos Sainz is and should be Charles’ equal.
Last but not least, it is worth noting that Ferrari’s engines faced reliability issues once more with Hulkenberg retiring early on in Austria due to an engine failure. Even though Ferrari themselves had no issues thus far in the season, it might be worth looking into Hulkenberg’s engine failure to avoid any mishaps at Silverstone. The race starts at 2:00 p.m. UK time.
