This weekend the 2023 British Grand Prix will take place at the legendary Silverstone circuit. Here, races have been witnessed that have gone down in the history of the highest category of motorsports.
Silverstone is known for having hosted the first scoring Grand Prix in the history of Formula 1, back in 1950. The winningest driver of this Grand Prix is none other than local hero and seven times world champion, Lewis Hamilton. However, Ferrari is the most victorious team in this Grand Prix with a total of 17 wins. They won last year’s edition with Carlos Sainz as the Spaniard bagged his first win.
We know that most of the team factories are located within the UK. McLaren is located in Woking (just over 100 kilometres from its factory to Silverstone), Mercedes’ Brackley factory is just a 15-minute drive to the circuit, while Red Bull, who are based in Milton Keynes, are 30 minutes away. The closest team to Silverstone is Aston Martin, who are even on one side of the legendary English track.
To this we have to add that there are currently 3 British drivers on the grid for the 2023 Formula 1 season. We are talking about the two Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, and McLaren driver Lando Norris. It is a very special race for many drivers and teams. So much so that today it was announced that Aston Martin and Williams will have special car liveries on their cars.
Photo Credit: Williams Racing
Williams will debut a blue design with the British flag on the engine cover. The Grove-based team were supposed to celebrate their 800th Grand Prix in Formula 1 at Silverstone, but after the cancellation of the Imola Grand Prix due to flooding following heavy rains that hit the Italian country, now that milestone is going to take place during the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest.
Despite this, Williams has announced that they will be celebrating this milestone with the special livery for both races, so their UK fans will also be part of the commemoration.
“The one-off Silverstone design pays homage to the team’s British heritage and to its beloved founder, the late Sir Frank Williams.”
As for Aston Martin, the Silverstone-based team announced a brand-new partnership with Valvoline Global, making them their Offical Lubricant Partner. To honour this partnership, Aston Martin has unveiled their one-off livery for this weekend’s British Grand Prix.
The AMR23 will still be that iconic green but will add Valvoline’s colours to the top of their engine cover, part of the sidepod and the lubricant brand will also appear on the front wing.
Aston Martin confirmed this weekend will be the only one in which they are going to use this livery. Subsequently, the brand will have prominent on-car branding until the end of the 2023 season.
Photo Credit: Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team
“From this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Valvoline Global will provide race-proven lubricants for our AMR23 to help drive performance. This long-term partnership with Valvoline Global will also benefit our new works power unit partnership with Honda from 2026 with bespoke lubricants,” Aston Martin’s team principal Mike Krack stated.
