Verstappen moves into the top ten of most Formula 1 pole positions, McLaren qualify on the front row at Silverstone for the first time in 15 years and Magnussen equals Stroll for second in the all-time Q1 exit list. Here are the facts and statistics from qualifying at the 2023 British Grand Prix!
VERSTAPPEN TAKES 2023 BRITISH GRAND PRIX POLE
Max Verstappen took pole position for the 2023 British Grand Prix, securing the 27th pole of his career and moving ahead of Mika Hakkinen for tenth in the list of most Formula 1 pole positions.
Verstappen’s pole position made Red Bull the sixth Formula 1 team to record 90 pole positions.
This was Verstappen’s fifth consecutive pole position, which makes this the longest pole streak of his career to date. It’s the 24th time that a driver has taken pole at five consecutive races.
With pole position at the 2023 British Grand Prix, Verstappen secured the 50th front row start of his Formula 1 career. He is the eighth driver to start on the front row at 50 races.
IN THE TOP TEN
Lando Norris joined Max Verstappen on the front row of the grid at the 2023 British Grand Prix. This was the third time that Norris started on the front row in his Formula 1 career, after the 2021 Austrian and Russian Grands Prix.
Norris maintained his record of having never been out-qualified by his team-mate at Silverstone.
Norris recorded McLaren’s first front row qualification at Silverstone since Heikki Kovalainen took pole at the 2008 British Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri qualified in third place for the 2023 British Grand Prix, qualifying in the top eight for the first time in his Formula 1 career.
With Norris second and Piastri third, this is the first time since 2007 that both McLaren drivers qualified in the top three at the British Grand Prix.
With both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell reaching Q3, the Brackley-based team became the second to reach 250 double Q3 appearances since the knockout system was introduced in 2006. That number includes double Q3 appearances under the team’s Honda and Brawn GP guises. Ferrari are the only other team to have achieved the feat, having done so at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix.
Recording his 17th top ten qualification at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher as the driver to have recorded the most top ten qualifications at the circuit.
With seventh place, Hamilton recorded his worst British Grand Prix qualifying result since qualifying eighth at the 2012 British Grand Prix.
George Russell out-qualified Lewis Hamilton for the first time since the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. Sixth is Russell’s best British Grand Prix qualifying result to date.
Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc both maintained their 100% Q3 appearance records at Silverstone, while Oscar Piastri joined the group of drivers who’ve never missed out on Q3 at the British Grand Prix.
Qualifying eighth, Alex Albon equalled his best Saturday result of the season to date at the 2023 British Grand Prix. He also qualified eighth at the Australian Grand Prix.
Albon’s Q3 appearance made this the first time that Williams have reached Q3 at three consecutive races since the 2017 Bahrain, Russian and Spanish Grands Prix.
This is Albon’s best-ever qualifying result at Silverstone, having previously qualified ninth at both the 2019 British Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
With ninth place, Fernando Alonso equalled his worst qualifying result of the season so far. He also qualified ninth at the Spanish Grand Prix.
OUT IN Q2
With 13th place in qualifying, Esteban Ocon recorded his worst qualifying result of the 2023 season to date. 2018 remains the only time that Ocon has out-qualified a team-mate at Silverstone.
Qualifying 14th for the 2023 British Grand Prix, Logan Sargeant recorded his best qualifying result in Formula 1 so far.
The 2023 British Grand Prix marks the first time since 2016 that both Williams drivers qualified in the top 14 at Silverstone.
Valtteri Bottas was eliminated in Q2 for a second consecutive season at the British Grand Prix. Bottas did not participate in the session as he came to a stop on track at the end of Q1. He was later disqualified due to not being able to supply a sample of fuel.
OUT IN Q1
Sergio Perez was the shock exit in Q1, failing to qualify in the top ten for a fifth consecutive race. It’s the first time that Red Bull have failed to reach Q3 with at least one car at five consecutive races since the end of the 2008 season.
This is the first time that Perez has recorded a Q1 exit at the British Grand Prix – though he qualified 20th in 2021 as a result of Sprint Qualifying.
Perez is only the second Red Bull driver – after Daniel Ricciardo in 2017 – to record a Q1 exit at the British Grand Prix.
AlphaTauri were the only team to record a double Q1 exit at the 2023 British Grand Prix. With both Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries out in Q1, this is the first time that the Red Bull junior team has recorded double Q1 exits at three consecutive races since the 2009 Turkish, British and German Grands Prix.
This was the team’s first double Q1 elimination at the British Grand Prix since 2011.
Qualifying 17th, Tsunoda equalled his worst qualifying result of the 2023 season so far. He also qualified 17th at the Miami Grand Prix.
This was the first time Tsunoda out-qualified his team-mate at the British Grand Prix.
Zhou Guanyu was eliminated in Q1 for a third consecutive race. This was the first time in his career that Zhou was eliminated in Q1 at three races in a row.
Bringing the red flags out in Q1 after coming to halt in the final sector, Kevin Magnussen recorded his 61st Q1 exit. That saw him equal Lance Stroll for second in the list of most Q1 exits in Formula 1.
With his sixth Q1 exit at Silverstone, Magnussen equalled Jenson Button’s record tally of six Q1 eliminations at the British venue. Magnussen has been eliminated in Q1 on all of his last five appearances at Silverstone.
Magnussen qualified on the back row at consecutive races for the first time in his Formula 1 career. This was the first time Magnussen set the slowest qualifying time since the 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix.