SILVERSTONE, UK: On a day when Brad Pitt joined the Formula One grid to shoot his new movie, defending champion Max Verstappen was reduced to a cameo role in his own win with F1 fans gripped by the fight for second place.
Apart from losing the lead to Lando Norris at the start 鈥� and then taking it back 鈥� Verstappen鈥檚 cruise on Sunday to yet another win 鈥� his sixth in a row 鈥� lacked the Hollywood-style drama of Norris鈥� battle with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton for second.
That fits a pattern this season of dominant wins for the Red Bull driver and increasingly hard-fought battles behind him as Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and now McLaren jostle to be the second-fastest team.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very confusing, to be honest, because every single race it鈥檚 someone else,鈥� Verstappen said.
Filming for Pitt鈥檚 upcoming F1-themed movie had been taking place all weekend around the F1 sessions, using black-and-gold cars from the fictional APX team. Pitt himself and co-star Damson Idris joined the grid in racing suits before the start.
Verstappen extended his overall lead to 99 points over teammate Sergio Perez. First place in a race earns 25 points.
Starting in pole position, Verstappen was overtaken off the line by McLaren鈥檚 Norris in what he later admitted was a 鈥渢errible鈥� start but swept back into the lead on lap five and held on until the end. Red Bull has won all 10 races this year, 11 in a row including the final race of 2022, matching the record of McLaren with 11 consecutive wins in 1988.
Norris had been expected to drop back after qualifying a surprise second on the grid, but instead remained Verstappen鈥檚 closest challenger throughout the race. After a safety-car restart, he fought wheel-to-wheel with Hamilton, who had what were in theory faster tires, but held on to second for his and McLaren鈥檚 best result since 2021. 鈥淚t was an amazing fight,鈥� Norris said.
Hamilton had started seventh and credited the crowd for powering him to a 14th career podium finish at his home race. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 do it, the crowd did,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 felt the energy, I felt the support. This is the reason we got back up there.鈥�
McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri was a career-best fourth ahead of Hamilton鈥檚 Mercedes teammate George Russell as McLaren鈥檚 upgraded car proved far more competitive than even the team had predicted.
Perez was off the podium for the fourth time in five races, finishing sixth after starting 15th, with seventh for Aston Martin鈥檚 Fernando Alonso and an impressive eighth for Alexander Albon of Williams.
When Kevin Magnussen broke down with flames coming from the back of his Haas on lap 33 of 52, it gave drivers including Verstappen, Norris and Hamilton the chance to pit under the safety car without losing time. Ferrari was among the losers because Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had just pitted. They finished ninth and 10th respectively.
Race organizers and police were on high alert to prevent a repeat of the protest at last year鈥檚 race when environmental activists stormed the track. That included police using a facial recognition system on the entry gates to the circuit, a relatively new and controversial technology in Britain.
Drivers had warned against a repeat of track protests, arguing it would risk their safety and that of any protesters entering a live track. Last year鈥檚 protest took place shortly after a crash had caused a red-flag stoppage, meaning cars were already going more slowly on their way to the pits.
Before the Grand Prix on Sunday, environmental group Last Generation delayed the start of a DTM sportscar race in Nuremberg, Germany, after pouring oil onto the track.