With F1 looking to add more teams eventually, it was a surprise there was an eleventh team in the Silverstone paddock. Called APX GP, the team had an exciting driver pair in the experienced Sonny Hayes and a young rookie, Joshua Pearce.
Before you frantically search the web for their records, this is a fictional team in the new F1 movie directed by Joseph Kosinski and produced by Apple Studios, with Hollywood star Brad Pitt (right) playing the role of Hayes.
The crew started shooting in Silverstone, with the team running an F2 car between sessions for footage. Pitt and British actor Damien Idris, who plays Pearce, were also seen on the grid before the race during the national anthem and even attended the drivers’ briefing on Friday to explain how they would go about the filming.
The last F1-based movie was Rush, which chronicled the 1976 title battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt and was a huge hit.
The previous fictional F1-based film, Grand Prix, was released in 1966 and won three Academy Awards. With Lewis Hamilton also involved in the production as a consultant/co-producer, there is hope and hype that fans will get a great racing movie.
Pitt and British actor Damien Idris, who plays Pearce, were also seen on the grid before the race during the national anthem and even attended the drivers’ briefing on Friday to explain how they would go about the filming. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Standard practice
Moving on from reel to real action, in the recently concluded British Grand Prix, Dutchman Max Verstappen scored his eighth win of the season and sixth consecutive this year. For Red Bull, it is the tenth win of the season and the 11th successive win since the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi last year. The record of 11 wins has ensured the Energy Drinks giant equalled McLaren’s record set in 1988 for the most consecutive wins by a team.
The win and the point for the fastest lap mean Verstappen has a 99-point lead over his teammate Sergio Perez, who had another poor weekend, finishing sixth. The Mexican driver failed to reach the third and third (final) parts of qualifying for the fifth race in a row and had to start from the 15th position.
Bright spots for McLaren
One of the big disappointments of the 2023 season has been McLaren, which started the year with a fundamentally flawed design and has been playing catch-up ever since. The disastrous start to the season also cost its Technical Director, James Key, his job. The team said the upgrades it brought in Baku, Azerbaijan, were how it should have started the season. In Austria, the former champions brought another significant upgrade that only Lando Norris had, and he finished fourth, showing the team was on the right track.
McLaren got its best result of the season in Silverstone, finishing second and fourth. Norris and his teammate Piastri, who also had the upgrades, had a brilliant qualifying session and started second and third, respectively. In the race, Norris overtook Verstappen at the start and led the race for four laps before the reigning champion got back the place. However, Norris and Piastri could hold their own, running second and third. Unfortunately, Hamilton got a jump on Piastri when he pitted during the Safety Car period, while the latter had stopped a few laps before. While the car might not be competitive on all tracks, at least the team can take heart from the fact that its upgrades are working and it is going in the right developmental direction.
At the British grand prix, Max Verstappen scored his sixth consecutive and eighth overall win of the season | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Fan favourite set to return
Just days after the British Grand Prix, the under-fire AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries lost his job after a poor start to his maiden season, with Daniel Ricciardo taking his place from the Hungarian GP.
The Dutch driver got the gig after his impressive on-off debut for Williams at last year’s Italian Grand Prix, where he scored a point on debut. Impressed with the driver, Dr. Helmut Marko, advisor to Red Bull and head of its junior driver programme, drafted De Vries at AlphaTauri (Red Bull’s sister team).
De Vries has had a tough start in the slowest car on the grid and has been slower than his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, who is in his third year with the team. Dr. Marko is known for being ruthless with young drivers, and the Red Bull system has a habit of throwing drivers in the deep end quickly and chucking them out if they don’t show instant results. What is interesting is the selection of Ricciardo — who McLaren fired after two poor years — instead of promoting a youngster, as AlphaTauri’s raison d’etre is to enable promising junior drivers.
The Australian is a reserve driver for the Red Bull family and has been doing sim work. It gives a chance to measure if Ricciardo has recovered his mojo after struggling with the peculiar demands of McLaren. The move could also be a way to keep Perez on his toes, though the Mexican has a contract for 2024. It will be interesting to see how Ricciardo fares.
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