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The 2023 F1 British GP almost always springs a surprise. The surprise either tends to be from the weather or from a late-race safety car that turns everything on its head. This time around, we're going to Silverstone in a season where Max Verstappen has truly taken over the sport.
He's on a five-race win streak right now and has looked untouchable more often than not. Having said that, if we try to look beyond Verstappen, we have a bunch of interesting battles up and down the grid. There's a battle between Ferrari, Mercedes, and Aston Martin for P2 in the championship.
There's even a battle between Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez over who finishes second behind Max Verstappen.
In all of this, though, the 2023 F1 British GP promises to be an intriguing one. So what can we expect from the race weekend? Let's find out as we share our bold predictions for the race weekend.
#1 Max Verstappen wins the 2023 F1 British GP
Well, let's get this out of the way already. Max Verstappen is going to win the 2023 F1 British GP, and he's going to do it in a dominant fashion.
The track characteristics of Silverstone hold some sort of resemblance to Barcelona as well, and we saw how dominant Red Bull was in those conditions.
In Silverstone, a track with a good mixture of slow-speed corners in the first sector and the high-speed sections after that, Red Bull is going to excel.
Unless Verstappen encounters a reliability issue or gets something stuck in his floor, there is no stopping him this weekend as he tries to emulate his win on this track in 2020.
#2 Ferrari might struggle for competitiveness this weekend
Even Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was quite pragmatic in admitting that the team could struggle at Silverstone.
As we referenced earlier, Silverstone has some similarities to the track in Barcelona. That was a track where Ferrari struggled extensively, and Charles Leclerc could not even score points.
To add to this, the car tends to struggle when it comes to keeping the tires alive over a stint. The track layout for the 2023 F1 British GP arguably makes it the worst for such cars, as the stress on tires is going to be extreme.
You take all these things into consideration and even though Ferrari is expected to bring upgrades to Silverstone, the race could prove to be a tough one for the Italian team.
#3 Mercedes secures a podium
With both Mercedes drivers so closely matched, it's always tough to pick which of the two is arguably going to take the initiative. Having said that, what is not so hard to predict is that Mercedes is going to be competitive this weekend.
The team tends to perform well on layouts that are front tire limited and have fast-speed corners. Silverstone plays into that effectively and does a great job of it.
Moreover, there is an upgrade planned for the 2023 F1 British GP that is supposed to bring the next big step to the car. If the upgrade works, we could be looking at the team getting closer to the Red Bull up front.
How close? We don't know that yet, but what we can say is that Mercedes is in prime position to be the second-fastest car this weekend.
#4 McLaren will struggle this weekend
The 2023 F1 British GP is a litmus test for McLaren as it comes to Silverstone on the back of an impressive race in Austria.
Lando Norris secured a P4 finish for the team and surprised everyone. The team was quick to give credit to the driver, but there's hardly any doubt that the upgrade package on the car played a role as well.
There's still a lack of overall clarity on where the team finds itself in the pecking order. Austria is a peculiar track that does not give a true indication of how the cars would perform everywhere.
This is where Silverstone comes into the picture. The track layout for the 2023 F1 British GP will show where McLaren finds itself in the bigger scheme of things.
While there are few that are quick to jump on the bandwagon of McLaren's resurgence, we don't think it would be as easy as it is being made out to be.
The team might struggle to replicate its performance from Austria and could end up in a battle with Alpine in the midfield.
#5 The overall racing will keep the fans engaged
Heading into the 2023 F1 British GP, while there are a few disappointed that there might not be any competition at the front of the grid.
Well, there's certainly no question if someone feels that way. Having said that, there's still a lot to look forward to this weekend.
We could have a possible battle between Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso for the podium position. We could even see a three-way battle between Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Mercedes.
There's still a question mark over how the upgrades make an impact on the respective teams, and there's still a lack of clarity if the notorious British weather spices things up.
All in all, more often than not, the F1 British GP has proven to be a race that delivers in terms of action. This weekend as well, it might be unfair to think otherwise.
