Formula 1 heads straight from Austria to Silverstone for the 2025 British Grand Prix after an enthralling return to Europe, where Lando Norris bounced back from his clash with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to lead home a one-two for the Woking-based outfit.
With McLaren’s car thriving in high tyre wear conditions and the team demonstrating remarkable pace management, described in colourful terms by Red Bull boss Christian Horner, Silverstone is shaping up as an ideal hunting ground for Norris.
The championship battle is tightening and major teams navigating a rollercoaster of form, all eyes are now on whether Norris can finally claim his maiden home victory and join the ranks of Britain’s racing legends.
With Red Bull struggling and the midfield continuing to flip-flop from race to race, what can we expect at the British Grand Prix?
Norris to join British hero list?
Lewis Hamilton has made Silverstone his own playground since joining the F1 grid in 2007, winning the event a record nine times and joining Stirling Moss, Peter Collins, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, John Watson, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and David Coulthard as British winners of their home grand prix.
Norris enters the weekend with a chance to add his name to that list, riding a wave of momentum from his stunning Austrian GP. Having given his seat up for Alex Dunne in FP1 for McLaren to fulfil a rookie session, he went on to top every session thereon in, holding off Piastri’s advances throughout the 70-lap race on Sunday.
More from the Singapore GP
Catch up with Total Motorsport's latest Singapore GP coverage, including Max Verstappen's victory at Marina Bay, Ferrari's costly strategy gamble, the full race classification, and the updated 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.
Silverstone should play to McLaren‘s strengths given the high tyre wear usually associated with the layout, which will exaggerate the team’s ability to look after rubber – as described by Red Bull team principal Horner in a rather fruity manner last weekend.
“What’s truly impressive, and for me I can’t see any other team being able to do it, is when you look at how close Oscar is able to run behind Lando with a car fat on fuel at the beginning of the race,” Horner said.
“He’s basically making love to his f****ing exhaust pipe for lap after lap after lap, and the tyres are not dying. That to me is, you know, that is their advantage.”
Piastri won’t take Norris‘ comeback in Spielberg lying down though and will hope to extend his championship lead back out to over 20 points. If the pace in the latter stages on Sunday is anything to go by, this will be a two-horse race.
Ferrari upward trend to continue?
But Ferrari will be hoping that the upturn in form in recent races will continue to take the team towards McLaren after another podium for Leclerc.
The Monegasque added to his tally for the season and followed up his fourth in Canada with an assured drive to third having outqualified Piastri on Sunday, albeit almost three-tenths down on Norris.
Hamilton was fourth after a promising showing, though the issues between both drivers and the pitwall seemingly continued as strategic opinions clashed throughout. It’s been a consistent theme throughout the season so far and a corner has to be turned for progress to continue, especially as eyes start turning towards next year’s new regulations.
The key for the Scuderia this weekend will be consolidating its position from Austria, keeping Mercedes and Max Verstappen behind.
Red Bull fightback to begin?
Verstappen‘s retirement on Lap 1 was a disaster for Red Bull as its season of struggles continued.
The Dutchman was the victim as Kimi Antonelli missed his braking point at the top of the hill at Turn 3, punting Verstappen around and out of the race and leaving Yuki Tsunoda as the sole Red Bull driver at the team’s home circuit.
It turned out to be a miserable 68 laps for the Japanese driver – the only car to be lapped twice by winner Norris – who twice made contact with other cars, struggled for speed and was set back by a 10-second penalty.
Where Red Bull goes from hereon in, given it has already made a driver swap this season is anyone’s guess but the car is clearly subpar compared to others from this generation of F1 technical regulations. The fact Verstappen is playing only a bit-part role at the front of the field shows as much.
Whether there’s a quick solution for the problems, or if the Milton Keynes-based outfit just has to brace itself for next year, remains to be seen but the picture is looking somewhat bleak: Sauber has outscored Red Bull across the past three races.
Will the midfield flip again?
Talking of Sauber, what a run the Hinwil-based team has enjoyed. With another score for Nico Hulkenberg, a double-points finish ensured that Gabriel Bortoleto scored his first F1 points.
The Brazilian was impressive throughout, qualifying eighth in his first Q3 appearance and maintaining position in the race – including a thrilling battle with ‘manager’ Fernando Alonso – finishing ahead of Hulkenberg, who scored for the third race in succession.
Haas also scored through Esteban Ocon, while Liam Lawson secured his best F1 result with sixth, cutting the gap between Williams and Racing Bulls in the race for fifth in the constructors’ standings after the Grove-based outfit suffered a did-not-start and did-not-finish.
For Alpine, it was another testing weekend with Pierre Gasly struggling to extract performance and Franco Colapinto failing to nail down his long-term future with anything near an eye-catching performance.
But the recent trend is for the midfield to change from race to race, so there is nothing to say that Alpine and Williams can’t come back. Williams, in particular, has been in fine form this season with points added to their total consistently in the first quarter of the season.
The niggles suffered in recent races have to be sorted, but the squad is most likely to fill the space behind the top teams.
