Max Verstappen wins British Grand Prix
Formula One leader Max Verstappen won the British Grand Prix on Sunday as Red Bull stayed unbeaten in 2023 and equalled McLaren's 1988 record run of 11 victories in a row. McLaren's Lando Norris finished second in front of a 160,000-strong home crowd at Silverstone, with his fellow Briton and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes after starting seventh. "Eleven in a row. That's pretty crazy," said Verstappen over the team radio after his sixth win in a row and eighth in 10 races this season. The double world champion also took the fastest lap to surge 99 points clear of closest rival and team mate Sergio Perez, who finished sixth after starting 15th. Australian Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren with Britain's George Russell fifth for Mercedes and Fernando Alonso seventh for Aston Martin. Alex Albon continued resurgent Williams's strong recent showing with eighth, ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Verstappen started on pole position but did not have it all his own way with Norris, alongside on the front row, seizing the lead at the start. The Briton stayed ahead until lap five when Verstappen passed with DRS (drag reduction) assistance at the end of the Wellington Straight. The Red Bull did not disappear into the distance, however, with Norris still within a second of Verstappen five laps later and the McLaren drivers agreeing to hold position for the benefit of the team and to manage the tyres. "I did what I could. I brought the fight to Max for as long as possible," said Norris. The safety car, deployed from lap 33 to 38 after Haas driver Kevin Magnussen's engine died and burst into flames, bunched up the pack with the top three getting a cheap pitstop before the final 14 laps of racing. Haas's Nico Hulkenberg and Perez made contact on lap eight in a battle for 13th, with the German then pitting for a new front wing. Alpine's Esteban Ocon was the first retirement, told by the Renault-owned team that it was all over due to a hydraulic leak when he returned to the pits on lap 10. Team mate Pierre Gasly also retired on a bleak afternoon for the Renault-owned outfit. Organisers said 160,000 fans attended Sunday's race with a British Grand Prix record of 480,000 over the course of the event. They could also breathe a sigh of relief after a feared protest by 'Just Stop Oil' campaigners, who invaded the track last year, failed to materialise. (Reuters)