British Grand Prix team ratings: Perfect McLaren and sub-par Ferrari

Jamie Woodhouse 12 Jul 2023 9:00 AM

The PlanetF1.com team ratings for the British Grand Prix are in, with McLaren enjoying another excellent race.

For those of you familiar with our driver ratings, the format will largely be the same but with some key differences as to what ratings will be awarded for regarding the teams.

To start, these ratings are focusing on the team away from the drivers so as an example, a driver’s failure to line up properly on the grid was not caused by the team so their rating does not drop as a result. However, moving to start work on the car early during a penalty is definitely their fault so has a big impact on their score.

It is not just penalties we are focusing on but also on team strategy as well as their reliability.

Other than that, it should be exactly the same as you are already used to so let’s dive in:

Red Bull 9

Another example of the ruthless efficiency of Red Bull as they picked up their record-equalling 11th consecutive win.

On Max Verstappen’s side of the garage, everything was done well including their choice of strategy late on with Hannah Schmitz opting to put him on the soft tyres in contrast to McLaren’s choice to go with the hards.

While Sergio Perez again finished off the podium, that can hardly be put down to Red Bull’s fault as they gave him all the tools to have a good race.

Mercedes 8.5

They got a little lucky with the timing of the Safety Car especially as Oscar Piastri had just come into the pits but a P3 and P5 is nothing to turn your nose up at.

Mercedes may have lost the speed we saw in Spain and Canada but they, like many outfits this year, are finding that these cars are very dependent on the tracks they drive on.

Silverstone was a harder challenge with the high speed corners not exactly a strength of the W14 but Hungary should be a more natural fit.

阿斯顿·马丁6

In the post-race press conference, team principal Mike Krack snapped back that he is not concerned with other teams’ performance but McLaren’s rise would no doubt have been on his radar.

The two teams’ fortunes have been in parallel in reverse for while the Woking outfit have taken great strides since Austria, the Silverstone-based team seems to have hit a stumbling block.

Krack was quick to point out the nature of the Silverstone circuit did not suit their car and was hopeful of an upturn in fortune in Hungary.

Ferrari 6

While McLaren are on the up, Ferrari took a step backwards in Silverstone, registering just three points between their two drivers.

Truthfully their pace was nowhere in Britain and again there were a few back and forths between both drivers and their engineers when it came to strategy calls.

Worryingly for them they even finished behind the Williams of Alex Albon which, even considering the immense straight-line speed of the FW45, is a poor result.

McLaren 10

If you would have offered Lando Norris a P2 at his home grand prix at the start of the season, he would have bit your hand off.

While not quite the level of Aston Martin’s resurgence, the turnaround of the MCL60 has been as dramatic as it has been impressive.

There were signs of it in Austria but Silverstone was the real deal and aside from a poorly timed Safety Car, a double podium for the first time since Monza 2021 was on for the historic outfit.

McLaren produced a perfect performance at their home grand prix but the biggest challenges are yet to come especially at a Hungary track that is less suited to the strengths of the MCL60.

Alpine 5

An issue for one driver and a race-ending collision for the other spells a poor weekend for Alpine, especially when their nearest rivals did so well.

Of the top five teams, it is Alpine who have yet to enjoy their moment in the sun and have stumbled into the season rather than hit the ground running.

The car does have pace but never enough to challenge the same way McLaren did in Silverstone.

A shifting of the leadership structure suggests those within Alpine are also not happy about their current predicament.

Williams 9

A fantastic day for a Williams car that just loves straight lines. While Lando Norris deservedly took plenty of the plaudits for his performance, Alex Albon’s was just as impressive.

Both drivers started on the medium tyres and that soft run at the end particularly helped Albon who pulled off a lovely move past Carlos Sainz.

Williams are the biggest of yo-yo teams this season but they will be hoping for more days like Sunday to come.

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哈斯5

Nico Hülkenberg narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance but that would turn out to be the highlight of Haas’ weekend.

Kevin Magnussen’s race literally went up in smoke when he suffered a fiery power unit failure with blame for that heading in Ferrari’s direction.

Hülkenberg meanwhile again finished lower than he started as Haas’ tyre problem rumbles on, though damage caused by early contact with Sergio Perez cannot be blamed on him either.

Alfa Romeo 4

While performance can be a little harder to achieve, filling the car up with the correct amount of fuel is about as basic as it gets for a Formula 1 team.

In the last five races, Alfa have averaged a finishing position of 16.5 and if it were not for the four points earned by Valtteri Bottas in Bahrain, their current standing may be put under more scrutiny.

In Silverstone, they showed some kind of pace as Bottas improved from his P20 start to a P12 finish but had he been able to compete in Q2, maybe then he could have scored a point for the first time since Canada.

Zhou Guanyu meanwhile finished 15th.

With the Audi move on the horizon, there is a danger that Sauber’s next few years will fall by the wayside but that would come at not only a huge loss of reputation but also a significant hit to the bank balance.

AlphaTauri 5

Another disappointing race weekend for an AlphaTauri team that looks out of ideas for how to make their car quicker.

从自r performances in Austria and now Silverstone, it seems one of the biggest areas of weakness for the AT04 is high speed circuits so perhaps their fortunes will fare a little better in Hungary.

For the on-track team, there was not much strategy magic they could work to mask what is the worst car on the grid.

Ferrari McLaren Team ratings