2024 British Grand Prix 
Silverstone Circuit | Silverstone | England | Sunday, 7 July
2024 F1 Season - Round 12 (Grand Prix 12 of 24)
Mid-point of the season, and the third leg of an epic triple header of races. Silverstone sees the likelihood of another tussle between Championship leaders Verstappen and Norris. The (mainly British, imho) F1 media have been making way too much about the coming together the two of them had in the closing stages in Austria last weekend. I’m sure their friendship can weather a silly clash that both of them regret, and I hope they shoot down any of the pathetic clickbaiting that Sky F1 and the others try. I have no doubt the British “fans” will be sure to let Max know how evil he is for giving a British driver a flat wheel though.
Last year’s British boo boys were already strong when the Dutchman took his first win at Silverstone ahead of the very same Lando Norris, and that other Brit favourite, Lewis Hamilton (who had punted Verstappen off the Silverstone circuit two years earlier.)
A full roster of F1, F2, F3, and Porsche SuperCup racing this weekend will also see three Formula 2 drivers and a Reserve driver taking seats for Free Practice 1, including newly appointed 2025 Haas driver Ollie Bearman who will drive Nico Hulkenberg’s car for the session. Isack Hadjar takes over Checo Perez’s Rell Bull, Franco Colapinto will run in the Williams (in Sargeant’s place?) and Jack Doohan will have another turn behind the wheel of the Alpine where he’ll be hoping for a few more laps than the last time he was in the seat in Canada when the weather scuppered his entire session.
The Stats
Vital Statistics
- First Grand Prix – 1950
- Track Length – 5.891km
- Lap record – 1m 27.097s, Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 2020
- Most pole positions – Lewis Hamilton (7)
- Most wins – Lewis Hamilton (8)
- Pole run to Turn 1 braking point – 239 metres
- Overtakes completed in 2023 – 50
- Safety Car probability – 89%
- Virtual Safety Car probability – 22%
- Pit stop time loss – 19.9 seconds (includes 2.5s stop)
Trivia
- Trivia – Silverstone hosted the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship round on May 13, 1950
Last 5 British GP Poles
- 2023 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- 2022 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- 2021 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- 2020 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- 2019 – Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
Last 5 British GP Winners
- 2023 – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- 2022 – Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- 2021 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- 2020 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- 2019 – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
The Schedule
British Summer Time means just an hours difference between us and them. A decent set of race and event times, in other words.
The Circuit
When was the track built?
Little did those laying the perimeter road to the RAF Silverstone airfield in 1942 know that they were setting down what would become one of the world’s greatest race tracks. But, well, they were! The Silverstone circuit was first used for a proper motor race in 1947 – although sadly, a local sheep lost its life during the proceedings…
When was its first Grand Prix?
Silverstone was the first Grand Prix, hosting the inaugural Formula 1 World Championship round on May 13 1950. Old campaigner Giuseppe Farina, who’d take that year’s title, won the race in his Alfa Romeo 158.
What’s the circuit like?
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 always maintained its essential 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.
Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver:
Silverstone is another drivers’ favourite with fast, flowing sequences and some of the best corners in the world. Copse, Maggots and Becketts are where you feel G-force on your body that is pretty rare in Formula 1.Copse is a big challenge even though there’s run-off – you go so quick that if anything goes wrong there you’re still going to be in trouble. And then the change of direction through Maggots and Becketts is quite a lot of fun.
Slowing it down through the final part of that is the key to make sure you get the exit onto the Hangar Straight as well – it’s about finding a rhythm through those sweeping parts. All of this puts a lot of strain on the front-left tyre and we’ve seen some issues here in the past.
Abbey is the one that is flat-out, but if you’re tucked in behind someone in race conditions it can be on the edge. Overtaking is also very possible with the new loop that’s not very new anymore – Turn 3 if you fancy a lunge, Turn 6 as well.
Maybe the hardest corner on the circuit is Brooklands, a big braking zone where it’s easy to just trail a bit of brake into the apex and snatch a wheel there. It’s so good as an overtaking area but also an easy area to make a little mistake.
The Weather
It’s England. So expect changeable weather. All weekend. Despite it being Summer, the forecasted temperatures (at least on Race Day) are hovering in the mid teens, and rain is expected at times throughout the entire weekend and will almost certainly be a big factor for the race on Sunday.
The Tyres
The British Grand Prix marks the midpoint of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship and round 12 of 24 takes place where it all began 74 years ago. In 1942, a Royal Air Force airfield was established in Silverstone, Northamptonshire and on 13 May 1950 it hosted the first of the 1112 rounds that have taken place to date. The winner back then was Alberto Ascari, driving an Alfa Romeo fitted with Pirelli tyres.
5.861 kilometres long, the track is the fifth longest on the calendar after Spa-Francorchamps (7.004 km), Jeddah (6.175 km), Las Vegas (6.120 km) and Baku (6.003 km). It features 18 corners and is one of the most exciting and also one of the most demanding for the car-tyre package. Some corner combinations, such as those from 10 to 14 – Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel – are taken at high speed and generate lateral forces on the tyres and drivers of over 5g: the average figure at Silverstone is similar to that seen at Spa and Suzuka. This, along with other technical aspects, means that as is always the case here, the compounds chosen for this round are the hardest in the range, the C1 as P Zero hard, the C2 as P Zero medium and the C3 as P Zero soft. The front axle comes under the greatest strain and the prevalence of right hand turns means that the left front is the tyre that wears the most.
The weather in England in the summer can always be very changeable, a further factor to be taken into consideration, especially as conditions can change very rapidly. Last year the entire race was run in the dry, with the Soft a somewhat surprising protagonist, with only two teams not using it. However, the most used compound was the Medium, which was used to complete half the overall mileage. The great majority of drivers went for a one-stop strategy, even if in the past, a two-stop had been a popular choice.
The Programme, News, Updates
Check out the all-new digital race programme for the Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2024, including features on what it’s like to be Lando Norris’s race engineer, and on F1’s latest rising star and Haas 2025 signing, Ollie Bearman – plus stats on all 10 F1 teams…
Download now at linktr.ee/F1raceprogramme
Stay up to date with all the news, live timing, and results over the weekend at
Tally-ho chaps!!
F1 CHAOS: CROWDSTRIKE OUTAGE DISRUPTS HUNGARIAN GP PREP CrowdStrike’s global outage, caused by a Windows update defect, disrupted preparations for the Hungarian GP. Mercedes, Aston Martin, McLaren, and Williams faced significant challenges, impacting their FP1 performance. https://t.co/B86lYCTPGB” / X
