2019 British F1 Grand Prix Preview
Robin Hood eveninâ friends and fans of Formula Wahn, and welcome ter the preview for the 2019 British Bag of Sand Prix. Yeah me China Plates, the F1 circus is Hammer and Tack on the Queenâs own soil at the Silverstone Circuit, the âHome of Formula Oneâ, this weekend. And aw indications âre that we could be in for anovver blindinâ race.
Good evening friends and fans of Formula 1, and welcome to the preview for the 2019 British Grand Prix. Yes mates, the F1 circus is back on the Queenâs own soil at the Silverstone Circuit the âHome of Formula Oneâ, this weekend. And all indications are that we could be in for another excellent raceâŠ
Way back in May 1950, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the very first race ever in the then newly created World Championship of Drivers. 69 years and over 1000 races later, and the minds, eyes and hearts of Formula 1 fans around the world return to the place where it all started.
The British and Italian Grands Prix are the only two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix that have been staged during every season that the championship has been held.
That very first Grand Prix was completely dominated by Alfa Romeo. The race was won by Italian Giuseppe Farina for the Alfa Romeo team, after starting from pole position, with a race time of 2:13:23.6 and an average speed of 146.378 km/h. His teammate and fellow Italian Luigi Fagioli finished second in another Alfa Romeo, with Brit Reg Parnell following closely behind in a third Alfa.
At the end of the 70-lap race, the Alfaâs were the only 3 cars still on the lead lap, with their nearest challenger, Frenchman Yves Giraud-Cabantous in his Talbot-Lago, a full 2 laps behind.
Known by his nickname âNinoâ, Emilio Giuseppe Farina would go on to win three Grands Prix in that inaugural season, the same number as his closest rival for the Championship and another Alfa Romeo teammate, Juan Manuel Fangio. Farina would claim the very first (and his only) World Drivers Championship title by 3 points. Fangio would need to wait until the end of the next yearsâ season before he would get his name etched into the trophy for the first of his five world titles.
I sincerely doubt that the 2019 Alfa Romeo Team will get anywhere close to the Silverstone podium this time around. I imagine they would be more than happy with simply repeating the results of the last race in Austria by getting both of their cars into the points by the time the chequered flag falls on Sunday.
The 2019 Race
- Is Round 10 out of 21 of the 2019 Formula One World Championships, and the 1007th race officially classified as a round of the F1 Championship.
- The 2019 GP will be the 74th running of the British Grand Prix, and significantly, the 70th time it has been a round of the Formula One World Championship.
- This weekend will be the 53rd time that a World Championship round will have been held at the Silverstone Circuit.
- With 9 races of the 2019 season completed, and despite his first non-podium finish of the year last time out in Austria, Lewis Hamilton continues to comfortably lead the Driverâs Championship with 197 points. Valtteri Bottas remains 2nd on 166 points and retains the 40 points gap to 3rd placed Sebastian Vettel on 126.
- After his P10 finish and single Championship point in Austria, weâre eventually able to remove Alfa Romeoâs Antonio Giovinazzi from the list of scoreless drivers. The Williams team of Russell and Kubica are now the only drivers yet to score points this season.
- In the Constructorâs Championship table Mercedes F1 still stands strong despite the teamsâ poorest points haul for the season so far in the previous race. With 363 points, their lead over Ferrari (now on 228 points) was slightly reduced to âjustâ 135, while Verstappensâ fantastic win in Spielberg keeps Red Bull in an isolated 3rd place on 169 points. They are now 59 points behind Ferrari and 117 points ahead of McLaren who in turn have surged 20 points clear of Renault after their 2nd consecutive double points finish.
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Williams remain on zero points for the season. Hopefully the team can cap a weekend of celebration of team founder Sir Frank Williamsâ 50 years in Formula 1 with a change to that stat. Hope never hurt anyone.
The 2018 Race
Lewis Hamiltonâs hopes of a record sixth British Grand Prix looked to be in tatters after Kimi Raikkonen pitched him into a spin at the start. The Mercedes driver recovered to second in spectacular fashion, but it was title rival Sebastian Vettel who took the ultimate spoils with a superbly measured performance.
Hamilton arrived at Silverstone one point adrift of Vettel in the driversâ standings but confident in the knowledge that he was the favourite to win in front of his home crowd. That looked unlikely within moments of the lights going out, but the polesitter refused to give up the fight.
Mercedes gave themselves a chance of snatching back the win by leaving Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas out when the Safety Car was called into action late in the race, while Ferrari and Red Bull pitted for fresh tyres. And for a few laps, it looked like it may work as Bottas held off Vettel, with Hamilton to third.
But ultimately, Vettel had too much pace on the softer tyres and after eyeing his prey for a few laps, brilliantly snatched the lead from Bottas. Hamilton also moved past the Finn, but he didnât have the performance to attack Vettel and had to settle for second with Raikkonen third.
It was Vettelâs 51st victory, moving him level with four-time world champion Alain Prost in third in the all-time list. The German extended his championship lead over Hamilton to eight points heading to his home race at Hockenheim, and an embarrassing spin that started his decline for much of the rest of the season. But thatâs story for next time.
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Pole Position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:25.892 [Outright Lap Record]
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Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1:30.696
- Podium:
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P1 = Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari (1:27:29.784)
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P2 = Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (+2.264)
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P3 = Kimi RÀikkönen, Ferrari (+3.652)
The Schedule
The Poms are only a little behind us at this time of the year, so the weekendsâ schedule is reasonably sensible.
The Circuit
At the 2018 British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton compared a flat-out lap around Silverstone to flying a fighter jet, which should tell you all you need to know about the Northamptonshire circuit.
Despite numerous layout changes over the years, Silverstone has maintained its character as one of the fastest tracks on the F1 calendar, while historic corners like Maggotts, Becketts and Abbey provide some of the biggest challenges for racing drivers anywhere in the world.
Originally a World War II airfield, the Silverstone Circuit has gone through a number of changes since the daredevil drivers in leather skullcaps and pilotsâ goggles of the late 1940s first blasted around the airfield perimeter and down the runaway in open-topped Maserati 4CLTs.
As the graphic below shows, a total of 9 different configurations of the circuit have been used over the years.
Of the 10 Formula 1 teams, seven have their headquarters in England, while Toro Rosso also make use of a windtunnel and design facility in Bicester, less than 15 miles away from Silverstone.
While Mercedes, Red Bull, Haas, Williams, Renault and McLaren are all a relatively short drive from the British GP - McLaren being the furthest at around 70 miles â the closest by far are Racing Point, based just over the road from Silverstoneâs main gates.
This year, the history of some of those teams will be celebrated at Silverstone, with the iconic fairy-tale championship-winning Brawn BGP001 running on Thursday, 10 years after the team now known as Mercedes tasted their shock success, while Williams will celebrate Sir Frank Williamsâ 50th year as a Formula 1 Team Principal.
The current circuit layout remains unchanged since the 2011 GP, even as circuit facilities, track surface and run-off areas continue to be modernised and upgraded. At 5.891 km, the circuit is one of the longer on the current calendar. The Grand Prix is contested over 52 laps of the circuit, giving us a little over 306 km of racing.
There are 18 turns on the layout, including perhaps the most thrilling complex of corners on any F1 circuit â the sweeping, high speed bends that make up the challenging complex of Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel â a leftârightâleftârightâleft series of turns that lead onto the Hangar Straight.
Hereâs the hometown hero, the Championship leader, the firm favourite to take a record-breaking 6th British Grand Prix win, the Silverstone Race Lap Record holder (a blistering 1:30.621 that he set during the 2017 race), ya boi Lewis Hamilton to tell us how to drive almost 6 kilometres in around 90 seconds:
The Tyres
For the third time this year (after Bahrain and Spain), Pirelli will bring the three hardest tyres in its range â C1, C2 and C3 â as the White hard, Yellow medium, and Red soft respectively at Silverstone. This is to cope with some of the highest energy demands of the year, thanks to the British circuitâs famous fast corners. As the venue for the very first world championship grand prix nearly 70 years ago, Silverstone is one of the spiritual homes of motorsport, which is always hugely popular with fans.
Silverstoneâs defining characteristic is those rapid corners, with the Maggots, Becketts and Chapel sequence in particular â which the drivers enter flat-out in top gear â putting a lot of continuous energy through the tyres. As a result, they are subjected to very high g forces.
The entire track has been resurfaced just before the grand prix this year, in order to smooth out the bumps, improve drainage, and accentuate cambers. This could result in even faster lap times. The fastest-ever lap of the current layout was set by Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton last year in qualifying.
Silverstone is all about lateral energy rather than traction and braking, although there are also some slower and more technical parts in the Arena complex. Consequently, some degree of compromise is needed when it comes to set-up. Itâs a circuit where overtaking is definitely possible, but this requires a lot of commitment.
Typically for England, the weather is very hard to predict. Both bright sunshine and torrential rain have been seen in the past for the British Grand Prix â sometimes during the same weekend â so teams will need to be prepared for anything.
Both one and two stops were used last year, in a race that was (unusually) affected by two safety cars. All the drivers who made a second pit stop did so during the safety car, a tactic that helped Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel to win the grand prix.
Mario Isola, Head of F1, Pirelli:
âThe new asphalt has only been laid very recently, so itâs going to be interesting to see what the effect of this will be in competition. It could make a circuit that is already fast even faster. Weâre nominating effectively the same compound selection as we did last year, which should be well-suited to cornering demands that are among the highest of the year, along with places like Spa and Suzuka. With the new asphalt and famously variable British weather, there will definitely be a few unknowns heading into this yearâs Silverstone race. This makes the exercise of data-gathering in free practice even more important than usual, in order to come up with the best strategyâ.
The Weather
Perhaps the only thing more unpredictable than F1 Race Steward decisions is the British weather. As the other MEW F1 League racers and I discovered in our recent Silverstone race, the weather can change completely from one session to the next.
Iâve been keeping an eye on the Silverstone forecast for most of the week, and every time Iâve checked, a 60%-80% probability of rain has been forecast for at least one of the weekend sessions. At the same time, every time Iâve checked, it has changed. Honestly, your guess is as good as mine at this point, it really can be that unpredictable.
The last three years are a prime example, with 2018 seeing a hot and dry race, 2017 cloudy and cooler, and 2016 being hit by near torrential rain just before the Race Start that led to the race starting behind the Safety Car. On that occasion, all three types of tyre were used as wets were switched for intermediates and then slicks as the rain stopped and the circuit dried out. Two hours after the very wet start, the podium was bathed in the early evening sunshine.
Selected British Grand Prix Records
Driver Records
- Most wins: 5 â Jim Clarke, Alain Prost, Lewis Hamilton
Repeat Winners (Drivers)
- 5 â Jim Clarke (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967); Alain Prost (1983, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1993); Lewis Hamilton (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
- 4 â Nigel Mansell (1986, 1987, 1991, 1992)
- 3 â Jack Brabham (1959, 1960, 1966); Niki Lauda (1976, 1982, 1984); Michael Schumacher (1998, 2002, 2004)
- 2 â JosĂ© FroilĂĄn GonzĂĄlez (1951, 1954); Alberto Ascari (1952, 1953); Stirling Moss (1955, 1957); Jackie Stewart (1969, 1971); Emerson Fittipaldi (1972, 1975); Jacques Villeneuve (1996, 1997); David Coulthard (1999, 2000); Fernando Alonso (2006, 2011); Sebastian Vettel (2009, 2018); Mark Webber (2010, 2012)
Team Records
- Most wins: 16 â Ferrari
Repeat Winners (Constructors)
- 16 - Ferrari (1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1976, 1978, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2018)
- 14 - McLaren (1973, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008)
- 10 â Williams (1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997)
- 8 â Lotus (1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972)
- 6 â Mercedes (1955, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017)
- 3 - Red Bull (2009, 2010, 2012)
- 2 â Delage (1926, 1927); Maserati (1948, 1949); Cooper (1959, 1960); Tyrrell (1971, 1974); Renault (1983, 2006)
The Digital Race Programme
Iâm loving all the European races that give fans far away from the action an opportunity to feel digitally engaged with the event. The Brits are doing us a solid too by making the full digital race programme available to us all for free, niks, mahala, gratis. Download it to read at your leisure now:
The focus is obviously on the British teams and drivers, but the historical significance of the British Grand Prix and the contributions of British teams to the sport are also highlighted. Good reading all round.
https://secure.viewer.zmags.com/publication/9031b46e#/9031b46e/1
And FinallyâŠ
Not much more to add other than the probability of us hearing another âGet in there Lewis!â before the sun sets on Sunday. Itâs very high.
Have a fantastic race weekend F1 fans!
