 2023 Silverstone Formula 2 Race 1
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|---|---|---|
 The Silverstone Circuit in 2023. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 8 July 2023 | |
| No. | 157 (15 of 2023) | |
| Event | Formula 1 Aramco British Grand Prix 2023
| |
| Location | Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, Northamptonshire, UK | |
| Format | 120 km / 45 min (Sprint Race) | |
| Lap length | 5.891 km (3.660 mi) | |
| Distance | 19 laps / 111.929 km (69.54945618 mi) | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver |  Théo Pourchaire
| |
| Team | ART Grand Prix
| |
| Time | 2:00.009 on lap 19 | |
| Race Result | ||
| First | Second | Third |
 Frederik Vesti
|
Théo Pourchaire
|
 Jack Doohan
|
| Winner Team |  Prema Racing
| |
| Time | 40:16.405 (166.554 km/h) | |
| Race Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
 2023 Red Bull Ring Feature Race
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2023 Silverstone Feature Race
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The 2023 Silverstone Sprint Race, officially the 2023 Silverstone Formula 2 Race 1, was the fifteenth race of the 2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship, held at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, UK, on 8 July 2023.[1] The race, which was held on a soaked circuit that never truly dried, would see Frederik Vesti claim a dominant victory to increase his Championship lead, as teammate Oliver Bearman spent most of the race as the focus of attention.[2]
Qualifying for the Feature Race, in contrast, had been held in dry conditions and had seen Victor Martins sweep to his second successive pole position, while Vesti would only manage tenth after a failure late on in the session.[3] That would, however, leave the Dane on pole position with Isack Hadjar alongside, Théo Pourchaire would share the second row with Enzo Fittipaldi, while double penalties for Zane Maloney would push the Barbadian driver back from fourth to tenth on the grid.[3][4]
With heavy rain falling before the race the officials decided to start the race behind the Safety Car, although the field would be released at the end of the lap with Vesti duly easing clear into the first flurry of corners.[2] Behind, Bearman would immediately start harassing Fittipaldi for fourth, while Ayumu Iwasa hit trouble almost instantly and had to pull aside in the midfield, narrowly avoiding getting taken out by Brad Benavides as the American pilot was turned around by Clément Novalak.[2]
That incident, with Benavides ending up wedged against the barriers, would bring out the SC once again, with Vesti launching away when it was withdrawn at the end of lap three to reclaim the lead, while behind Bearman worked his magic.[2] Indeed, having darted past Fittipaldi just before the SC was scrambled the Brit would dart past Pourchaire into turn three, before selling Hadjar a dummy into Stowe to claim second towards the end of the lap to make it a Prema Racing one-two.[2]
The Italian team's prime position was not to last, however, for as Vesti began to ease clear out front Bearman would try too hard to keep up, sending himself into a spin through the final corner after catching the outside kerb at the end of lap six.[2] That allowed Hadjar to immediately dart back past and let Pourchaire close right onto his tail, with the Frenchman duly easing past the #8 Prema a lap later as Bearman's confidence seemed to have taken a knock.[2]
The track would begin to dry, albeit not very quickly, with Jack Doohan the man to watch as he caught Bearman to setup an entertaining scrap, while ahead Pourchaire pulled up to the tail of Hadjar and duly pulled past him exiting Club on lap twelve.[2] That move, however, came way too late for Pourchaire to threaten for victory, for Vesti had pulled over eight seconds clear out front and was still easing clear of the #5 ART even when Pourchaire was in clear air.[2]
Bearman and Doohan were getting more and more feisty as the race wore on, with Bearman managing to briefly get some breathing room when he encouraged Doohan to run wide at Stowe, allowing Bearman to catch Hadjar, passing the #10 Hitech before Doohan could catch him.[2] Doohan made his way past the Hitech a lap later and quickly got back onto Bearman's tail, and would duly throw a lunge at Bearman around the outside of Stowe once again.[2]
Bearman gave Doohan room this time, planning to go deeper on the brakes into Vale to try and keep the #14 Invicta Virtuosi at bay, although that was a misjudged decision, with Bearman locking his front right on the brakes.[2] Doohan duly slipped past, giving Bearman a small wave as he did so as he slithered away to third, while Bearman scrambled back onto the track and was instantly swallowed up by the chasing pack, with Fittipaldi and Hadjar blasting past in short order down the start/finish straight, while Martins and Arthur Leclerc looked for a way around the errant Prema.[2]
Out front, meanwhile, an imperious Vesti would run unopposed to the chequered flag to claim his fifth F2 victory, over thirteen seconds clear of Pourchaire at the finish despite his title rival claiming fastest lap on the final tour.[2] Doohan rounded out the podium ahead of Fittipaldi and Hadjar, while Bearman managed to keep his nose clean over the final two laps to hold sixth from Martins and Leclerc to round out the scorers.[2]
Background[]
Less than a week after the chequered flag had fallen in Austria the field were gathering at another familiar venue for the series, with the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, Northamptonshire, UK, playing host to the series once again.[1] The Silverstone circuit was unchanged as ever with its two well established DRS zones, and would see the return of the hard tyres to the roster of available compounds, with a step between that and the softs provided by Pirelli.[5] Likewise, given the short turn-around between the weekends there would be no changes to the entry list ahead of the trip to Silverstone, while the weather report ahead of the weekend suggested a mixed set of conditions, particularly on Saturday.[5]
Ahead of the race there would be a rule clarification regarding the tyres, with the series announcing that no measurements outside of temperatures and wear could be made to the tyres during the race weekend, and nor could any tyre be fitted to anything other than a Formula 2 car.[6]
Vesti's Vantage[]
It had been a net gain for Frederik Vesti at the Red Bull Ring as he had outscored his closest challenger in the Championship, the Dane increasing his advantage to twenty points as the weekend in the Red Bull Ring came to a conclusion. Théo Pourchaire had retained second, while a podium and fastest lap for Ayumu Iwasa meant that the Japanese pilot had moved to within four points of Pourchaire and within 24 of the Championship lead. Oliver Bearman was next up after his strong late-race charge, Richard Verschoor had catapulted himself back into the top five with his first win of the campaign, while there were no changes at the foot of the table as Roy Nissany, Amaury Cordeel and Brad Benavides all failed to score once again.
Likewise, Prema Racing had been the big winners after the trip to Austria, the Italian squad's lead having grown to a comfortable 43 points, with ART Grand Prix equally settled in second. DAMS, meanwhile, had gained a little on the lead duo in third but still faced a 69 point deficit to the leaders, while Rodin Carlin had moved up to fourth ahead of defending Champions MP Motorsport as they both moved past the 100 point mark. Van Amersfoort Racing, meanwhile, were up to sixth after their first F2 triumph, overhauling Campos Racing, while PHM Racing by Charouz had still failed to threaten the scorers as they remained pointless at the foot of the table.
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2023 Silverstone Sprint Race is displayed below:
- * Placeholder liveries are show for the second drivers in each team.
Grid[]
The grid for the Sprint Race was set by reversing the top ten results from qualifying for the Feature Race, as per-FIA Formula 2 Championship rules.[3]
| Pos. | Pos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | 1 | ______________ |
| Frederik Vesti | 2 | |
| ______________ | Isack Hadjar | |
| Row 2 | 3 | ______________ |
| Théo Pourchaire | 4 | |
| ______________ | Enzo Fittipaldi | |
| Row 3 | 5 | ______________ |
| Oliver Bearman | 6 | |
| ______________ | Jack Doohan | |
| Row 4 | 7 | ______________ |
| Ayumu Iwasa | 8 | |
| ______________ | Victor Martins | |
| Row 5 | 9 | ______________ |
| Roy Nissany | 10 | |
| ______________ | Zane Maloney* | |
| Row 6 | 11 | ______________ |
| Arthur Leclerc | 12 | |
| ______________ | Jehan Daruvala | |
| Row 7 | 13 | ______________ |
| Jak Crawford | 14 | |
| ______________ | Kush Maini | |
| Row 8 | 15 | ______________ |
| Roman Staněk | 16 | |
| ______________ | Richard Verschoor | |
| Row 9 | 17 | ______________ |
| Ralph Boschung | 18 | |
| ______________ | Brad Benavides | |
| Row 10 | 19 | ______________ |
| Dennis Hauger† | 20 | |
| ______________ | Clément Novalak | |
| Row 11 | 21 | ______________ |
| Amaury Cordeel | 22 | |
| ______________ | Juan Manuel Correa |
- * Maloney served a three place grid penalty for impeding Pourchaire during qualifying and an additional three place grid penalty for impeding Doohan during the same session.[4]
- † Hauger served a five place grid penalty for failing to abort a flying lap during qualifying as per the FIA Sporting Code.[4]
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
The final classification of the 2023 Silverstone Sprint Race is displayed below:
| 2023 Silverstone Sprint Race Race Result | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Strat. | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 7 | Frederik Vesti
|
Prema Racing
|
19 | 40:16.405 | 
|
2:00.384 | 10 |
| 2ndFL | 5 | Théo Pourchaire
|
ART Grand Prix
|
19 | +13.432s |
|
2:00.009FL | 9 |
| 3rd | 14 | Jack Doohan
|
Invicta Virtuosi Racing
|
19 | +19.422s |
|
2:00.295 | 6 |
| 4th | 4 |  Enzo Fittipaldi
|
Rodin Carlin
|
19 | +25.610s |
|
2:01.623 | 5 |
| 5th | 10 | Isack Hadjar
|
Hitech Pulse-Eight
|
19 | +30.517s |
|
2:01.681 | 4 |
| 6th | 8 | Oliver Bearman
|
Prema Racing
|
19 | +30.863s |
|
2:00.672 | 3 |
| 7th | 6 | Victor Martins
|
ART Grand Prix
|
19 | +31.345s |
|
2:02.786 | 2 |
| 8th | 12 |  Arthur Leclerc
|
DAMS
|
19 | +31.633s |
|
2:02.060 | 1 |
| 9th | 16 |  Roy Nissany
|
 PHM Racing by Charouz
|
19 | +32.452s |
|
2:02.447 | |
| 10th | 3 |  Zane Maloney
|
Rodin Carlin
|
19 | +38.554s |
|
2:02.696 | |
| 11th | 2 |  Jehan Daruvala
|
 MP Motorsport
|
19 | +39.880s |
|
2:03.100 | |
| 12th | 1 |  Dennis Hauger
|
MP Motorsport
|
19 | +40.251s |
|
2:02.407 | |
| 13th | 24 | Kush Maini
|
 Campos Racing
|
19 | +44.116s |
|
2:02.925 | |
| 14th | 9 |  Jak Crawford
|
Hitech Pulse-Eight
|
19 | +44.706s |
|
2:03.387 | |
| 15th | 20 |  Roman Staněk
|
Trident
|
19 | +48.241s |
|
2:03.423 | |
| 16th* | 15 |  Amaury Cordeel
|
Invicta Virtuosi Racing
|
19 | +50.269s* |
|
2:02.468 | |
| 17th | 21 | Clément Novalak
|
Trident
|
19 | +51.066s |
|
2:03.323 | |
| 18th | 22 | Richard Verschoor
|
Van Amersfoort Racing
|
19 | +52.808s |
|
2:03.328 | |
| 19th | 23 | Juan Manuel Correa
|
Van Amersfoort Racing
|
19 | +1:07.916 |
|
2:03.875 | |
| 20th | 25 |  Ralph Boschung
|
Campos Racing
|
19 | +1:14.160 |
|
2:04.382 | |
| 21st | 11 |  Ayumu Iwasa
|
DAMS
|
18 | +1 Lap |
|
1:59.913 | |
| Ret | 17 | Brad Benavides
|
PHM Racing by Charouz
|
0 | Collision |
|
— | |
| Source:[8] | ||||||||
- Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
- FL Indicates a driver was awarded the bonus point for setting the fastest lap of the top ten finishers.[8]
- * Cordeel was awarded a five second time penalty for overtaking Novalak off track and gaining a lasting advantage.[9]
Milestones[]
- Fifth victory for Frederik Vesti.
- Prema Racing secured their 36th victory in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
- Also their 44th win at F2/GP2 Series level.
Standings[]
Frederik Vesti had increased his Championship lead, although the fact that his dominant victory had only amounted to just a single point improvement to his hold on the seemd like scant reward for his efforts. Indeed, second place and fastest lap meant that Théo Pourchaire had done all he could to limit the damage to his title ambitions in the first race at Silverstone, with the Frenchman ending the day 21 points behind the Dane, while holding a thirteen point gap to Ayumu Iwasa in third. Oliver Bearman, meanwhile, would end his rollercoaster day in fourth ahead of Richard Verschoor, while Enzo Fittipaldi had been the day's biggest mover as he leapt up to sixth.
In the Teams' Championship it had been a day of consolidation for Prema Racing, as they increased their lead to 45 points at the head of the table. Indeed, it was scarcely the reward they would have wanted for Vesti's performance, for ART Grand Prix had like their lead driver done enough to limit the harm to their title ambitions and keep pace with the leaders, while also enhancing their grip on second as their lead over DAMS grew to 36 points. Behind, Rodin Carlin had held fourth ahead of MP Motorsport, Campos Racing's pointless run had continued, while PHM Racing by Charouz had come the closest they had yet to a maiden point, Roy Nissany having fallen short of eighth place by just eight tenths of a second.
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See Also[]
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See the related event on the Formula One Wiki |
| 2023 British Grand Prix |
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References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 '2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship calendar announced', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 01/11/2022), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/1TcNhOuCEgcklihGU4PPfu/2023-fia-formula-2-championship-calendar-announced, (Accessed 01/11/2022)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 'SPRINT RACE: Vesti unassailable in lights-to-flag Silverstone victory', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 08/07/2023), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/clAiv8geTTjoFYIwdZEOL/sprint-race-vesti-unassailable-in-lights-to-flag-silverstone-victory, (Accessed 14/09/2025)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 'QUALIFYING: Martins takes back-to-back pole positions', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 07/07/2023), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/5hVchZDn3S8ZrPDIaqrKQk/qualifying-martins-takes-back-to-back-pole-positions, (Accessed 14/09/2025)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 'Maloney and Hauger penalised after Silverstone Qualifying', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 07/06/2023), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/6eTIXfOnTpYNQuutkTmqAm/maloney-and-hauger-penalised-after-silverstone-qualifying, (Accessed 14/09/2025)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 'Silverstone Preview: Flat out fever', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 06/07/2023), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/vtOsZ4sM3xCZqC6HCNfdC/silverstone-preview-flat-out-fever, (Accessed 14/09/2025)
- ↑ 'F2 Bulletin 1 - Testing of Tyres v2', fia.com, (FIA, 06/07/2023), https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Silverstone%20Event%20-%20F2%20Bulletin%201%20-%20Testing%20of%20Tyres%20v2.pdf, (Accessed 14/09/2025)
- ↑ 'F2 Entry List - Silverstone 2023', fia.com, (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, 06/07/2023), https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20Silverstone%20Event%20-%20F2%20Entry%20List%20-%20Silverstone%202023.pdf, (Accessed 06/09/2025)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedResults - ↑ 'Amaury Cordeel penalised after Silverstone Sprint Race', fiaformula2.com, (FIA Formula 2, 08/07/2023), https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/5JWm23viP3I6UgDuxVHDRt/amaury-cordeel-penalised-after-silverstone-sprint-race, (Accessed 14/09/2025)