Max Verstappen wins at Silverstone but Brad Pitt steals the show

2023-07-09 17:54:02
HomeSportMax Verstappen wins at Silverstone but Brad Pitt steals the show

The Dutchman celebrates his sixth win in a row at the British Grand Prix. And movie star Brad Pitt is on the starting grid.

Brad Pitt is at Silverstone with a fictitious Formula 1 team. Goode / dpa

Max Verstappen on his way to his third world title, the thrilling McLaren youngsters Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in second and fourth place – and world star Brad Pitt on the starting grid at Silverstone. While Verstappen in the Red Bull brought the sixth win in a row and the eighth in the tenth race of the season almost playfully to the finish line, Pitt stole the show from the protagonists at least a little bit at the start of the shooting of his new Formula 1 film.

Not, however, the furious young McLaren duo with Norris and Piastri, who breathed new life into the recently rather monotonous Formula 1. In qualifying, the two only had to give way to Verstappen in second and third place, and in the race they kept the established teams in check for a long time. “How long can you keep the pace, Lando?” the box asked. “It feels great,” was her reply. He found the tires “great, yes really, really great”.

Hulkenberg drives a lonely race

Under the thunderous cheers of the spectators in the packed grandstands, Norris tricked the world champion at the start and took the lead. Verstappen also had to fend off the strongly pushing Piastri in the second McLaren, the young Australian put a lot of pressure on the series winner. Verstappen played along for five laps, then the champion accelerated and took back his accustomed first place from Norris at the end of the Wellington straight.

Max Verstappen celebrates his eighth win of the season.Isakovic/AFP

Ad | Scroll to read more

However, Verstappen was not completely satisfied. “The car pulls pretty much to one side,” he told the pits. A light drizzle stayed constant over the track, and the wind also affected the stability of the cars. “The wind makes driving a lot more difficult,” said Verstappen, but that didn’t stop him from slightly increasing his lead at the front from lap to lap. After ten of 22 races, he is already 99 points ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished the next used weekend in sixth place.

In the back third of the field, Nico Hülkenberg drove a lonely race in the Haas with no prospect of a front place. A piece of the front wing of his car broke when he braked early, the pit stop and changing the part cost Hulkenberg time that he could not make up. 13th place was damage limitation at best.

Norris is driving a great race

At halfway point in the race, Verstappen was already more than seven seconds ahead, but behind him Norris and Piastri drove an inspiring race. Although Piastri fell behind record world champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes in fourth place after the tire change, his amazed parents saw in the pits holding hands how their son kept Mercedes driver George Russell in check.

Before the warm-up lap, the drivers had an unusual amount of space on the grid. The photographers followed Brad Pitt and his film crew on their heels, accompanying the world star on his way to the cars of the fictional Apex team at the end of the field. Filming began in Silverstone for the still unnamed film, which is to tell a story from Formula 1 with Pitt in the leading role.