Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and co face humiliation as 71-year record set to go

Max Verstappen and Red Bull have been unbeatable in 2023 (Image: Getty) Red Bull are on track to break a record that has been running since 1952 should they keep up their current exploits. The British national anthem has been played during the podium ceremony at least once in each of the last 71 F1 seasons, but that has yet to occur in 2023 thus far. Under the current podium ceremony proceedings, the national anthem of both the winning constructor and the winning driver is played with fans becoming very accustomed to hearing the Dutch national anthem this season. With Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez accounting for 100% of the Grand Prix victories in the first half of the 2023 season, Red Bull have been a constant presence as the best team on any given race weekend.  If British motorsport fans want to hear their national anthem played at the close of a Grand Prix in 2023 then their hopes will be pinned on either Lando Norris or Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. Norris and McLaren looked set for a season of struggling in the lower midfield following the opening races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but the Woking-based team made huge strides with their upgrade schedule in the lead-up to the summer break. The 23-year-old Briton recorded his first podium of the season on home soil at Silverstone, before following that up with an identical result at the Hungarian Grand Prix. An impressive recovery drive at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps shows that McLaren are here to stay at the front in 2023.  For Mercedes, 2023 has been a season of polarising results. The Silver Arrows’ pace tends to vary dramatically from race to race, but Hamilton’s four podiums and pole position in Hungary will give the team hope that the seven-time world champion can pick up the baton should Red Bull falter.  Lewis Hamilton is the only British pole-sitter of the 2023 season (Image: Getty) Unfortunately for the British duo, Red Bull are showing no signs of slowing down. The Milton Keynes-based outfit introduced new upgrades at the recent Belgian Grand Prix and marked the occasion by dominating the rest of the field. Verstappen took the chequered flag with a 22-second lead from team-mate Perez, while Charles Leclerc, who was the next-fastest non-Red Bull driver, finished over 32 seconds back from the race winner. Even more concerning for Britain’s hopes of seeing a return to the top step of the podium was the fate of Hamilton, Russell and Norris. The former was Britain’s best finisher in Belgium but was almost 50 seconds off the pace of the unstoppable Verstappen.