Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively) for teams to use at the event.[6]
A reduction in allocated tyre sets from the standard 13 to 11 was trialled during this Grand Prix, with the intention of making tyre usage more sustainable. The usage of tyre compounds during qualifying was mandated as hard in Q1, medium in Q2 and soft in Q3, assuming that the weather is dry.[7]
Practice
Three free practice sessions were held for the event, consisted of two one-hour sessions on 21 July, at 13:30 and 18:00 local time (UTC+2), and a one-hour practice session on 22 July at 13:30.[8]
Mediums were used for the second segment, Q2. Lando Norris led the session early on with Oscar Piastri behind him. Verstappen initially topped the timesheets but his lap was deleted due to track limits. Nico Hülkenberg was sixth as Bottas returned to fourth. Tenth-placed Fernando Alonso snuck into the final segment (Q3) by a gap of 0.002 seconds, knocking out Carlos Sainz Jr. Sainz was joined by Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, Stroll and Pierre Gasly as part of the group all knocked out.
Softs were used for the third and final segment, Q3. This was Pérez's first time in Q3 since the Miami Grand Prix two months ago; he would qualify ninth, ahead of Hülkenberg. Verstappen put his car on provisional pole until Hamilton pushed through to make his first pole position since the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – and breaking a streak of consecutive Verstappen poles dating back to the Miami Grand Prix. Zhou put up the highest qualifying performance of his career in fifth, with his teammate Bottas in seventh behind Charles Leclerc. Norris and Piastri continued to show the McLaren MCL60's newfound pace by qualifying third and fourth. Alonso was in eighth.[14][15]
The race was held on 23 July 2023, at 15:00 local time (UTC+2).[8]
Race report
At the start, Max Verstappen overtook polesitter Lewis Hamilton into turn 1 and led the rest of the 70-lap race comfortably, initially with Oscar Piastri behind him. Also in turn 1, Zhou Guanyu, after a poor start, rear-ended Daniel Ricciardo, who was pushed into the back of Ocon. This pushed Ocon into Gasly, with the latter two retiring. This meant Ricciardo was momentarily in last place.
Tyre changes shook up the order, with Pérez ending up second behind Verstappen, who was leading comfortably; Verstappen would come into the pits himself and retain his lead. Charles Leclerc was under attack by Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz Jr., but Stroll fell behind as Fernando Alonso moved past him. Pérez stopping meant that Lando Norris was second, and Pérez soon overtook Norris' teammate Piastri for fourth with a small push for Piastri into the grass, which stewards did not investigate. Soon, Hamilton took Piastri's spot but could not catch Pérez. Leclerc sped in the pit lane, at a speed of 80.7 km/h (50.1 mph) compared to a limit of 80 km/h (50 mph), and received a five-second penalty.
By the end of the race, Verstappen pulled out a 33-second gap – Verstappen's highest of the season – as Norris continued to defend against Pérez. Logan Sargeant had a spin, resulting in his retirement. Red Bull won the race, breaking the record for most consecutive wins by a constructor, with 12, McLaren had previously held the record since 1988, with 11 consecutive wins. McLaren's Norris took second place with Piastri in fifth. Alonso and Stroll were ninth and tenth, respectively. Second place for Norris marked the first time in his Formula One career that he had claimed back to back podiums and the first time McLaren had achieved consecutive podiums since they achieved back to back wins with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button at the 2012 United States Grand Prix and 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix, respectively.[18][19][20][21]
On the podium, Norris accidentally broke Verstappen's trophy – a hand-made Herend vase valued at about $45,000 – during the celebrations. Norris poked fun at the incident, "blaming" Verstappen for it, although he subsequently apologised to Verstappen and his team. Herend produced a replacement trophy at no cost, which was presented to Verstappen in late August with Norris in attendance holding a fake invoice for the trophy.[22]
^Noble, Jonathan (24 July 2023). "Norris blames Verstappen over $45,000 F1 winner's trophy breakage". Motorsport.com. Norris smiled when he reckoned it was Verstappen's fault for having left the trophy in a bad place. "Max just placed it too close to the edge," said Norris. "It fell over, I guess. Not my problem. It's his!"
Max Verstappen
