British Grand Prix Archives

F1/Round 10: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 British Grand Prix

With Max Verstappen winning the inaugural Sprint Race yesterday, the pole position was taken by the Dutchman of Red Bull Racing, Lewis Hamilton had been on pole after qualifying on Friday but had to settle for second place today as the outcome of the Sprint Race decided the grid for this race.

Verstappen got a good start and sped ahead of Hamilton but even before the first lap was completed, contact between the two cars saw the Red Bull Racing driver bouncing off into the barriers. Out came the Safety Car while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc managed to slip into the lead. A red flag was out as the barriers needed to be repaired, so the cars could pit for tyres and repairs (Hamilton’s car needed a new front wing). lthough Verstappen had seemed unhurt and got out of the car, he had later to be taken to a hospital for additional examination.

The blame game started almost immediately with Red Bull boss Christian Horner furiously suggesting to officials it was Hamilton’s fault, and the British champ saying he had given enough space but the contact had occurred. Horner’s anger was understandable, of course, since Verstappen’s race was over. Toto Wolff, Horner’s counterpart in Mercedes-AMG also put up a defence of his driver.

The restart (after about 40 minutes of Safety Car and red flag) saw Leclerc at the front, the Ferrari driver having passed Valtteri Bottas early and able to slip past the Hamilton-Verstappen incident. As the race had been suspended, it was just the fourth lap, with another 48 to go. Sebastian Vettel, who had slipped all the way to the back, was eager to move up but spun as he started off.

As the race got underway, the Stewards decided that Hamilton was at fault and informed his team that he would have a 10-second penalty, which he could serve during a pit stop. Needless to say, the home crowd was very unhappy when news of the penalty started to be known in the stands.

Track temperatures were high and apart from the effect on the tyres, the brakes were also worrying, so teams had to think of revising strategies.

On lap 16, Leclerc, who had just managed to stay ahead of Hamilton, began to have power loss and was trying to find out if some settings were off. Hamilton began to close in and further back (5 seconds), Lando Norris was watching from third place after having passed Bottas.

The cars began coming into the pits for new tyres at lap 20, and as Norris pulled in, Bottas pulled ahead into third place but some 7 seconds behind his team mate. Bottas came in on lap 23 and with a 2.2-second stop, he lost just one position which was taken by Carlos Sainz.

At the halfway point, it was still Leclerc in the lead but still having occasional engine problems. Hamilton was safe enough to just trail him and not take chances as Sainz was some 18 seconds behind. However, by lap 28, Hamilton had to come in for new tyres and do the 10-second penalty, slipping down behind Bottas and Norris as he rejoined the race. He was about half a minute behind Leclerc.

Although Leclerc seemed to be comfortable continuing a bit more, his team brought him in on lap 30 for a change of tyres to hards. He was in and out in less than 3 seconds and still kept his lead, with a gap of 6 seconds to Bottas. Meanwhile, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was trying hard to hold on to his fifth place as the red Ferrari of Carlos Sainz kept appearing in his mirrors.

With 11 laps remaining. Bottas was requested to let his team mate pass by and he did so again, as he did before. The pass out the reigning champion within 7 seconds of Leclerc. Bottas was pretty assured of a place on the podium anyway, with Norris some 10 seconds behind. The battle between Ricciardo and Sainz continued for fifth place.

With 2 laps to go, Leclerc was readying for the chequered flag but then his car went wide and it was the moment Hamilton was waiting for, and he swept past to take the lead. It was close but he was more cautious to avoid another incident like what happened with Verstappen. And then it was a straight run to the finish line and finally, a win for Hamilton at Silverstone again – on home ground.

Vaccination does not make you immune to COVID-19 infection. You can still get infected and you may not show symptoms but spread the coronavirus. Do not stop taking protective measures such as wearing a facemask, washing hands frequently and social distancing.

F1/Round 10: Preview & Sprint Race Starting Grid For 2021 British Grand Prix


Sprint Qualifying Race starts today at 4:30 pm in England/11:30 pm in Malaysia

As the pandemic seems to be easing, health authorities in the UK are willing to allow spectators at events again and this will be the case for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend. 140,000 spectators will be allowed into the circuit to watch the 10^th round of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship and to see if their countryman, Sir Lewis Hamilton, can improve his position in the championship.

For this round, there is something extra in the form of a sprint race which will offer additional excitement for spectators and also a different challenge for the teams. The Sprint Qualifying Race is 100 kms long which is 17 laps of the Silverstone circuit. Being run over a shorter distance, drivers will be flat out from start to finish, with no pit stops needed. The best effort will be necessary as the finishing order will determine the starting positions for the main race, so there is a chance to improve on the position gained in Qualifying. There are also points for the top three finishers of the race.

The starting grid for the Sprint Race has already been determined by a qualifying session yesterday in which Hamilton took pole position with Max Verstappen alongside. With the running of this extra race, the normal schedule has been changed and there is less practice time for the teams to fine-tune the cars’ set-up. They had one free practice session yesterday and there will be another one today before the Sprint Race. This will place more pressure on the mechanics and engineers who have less time to work.

“The start and first lap is one of the riskiest moments for a driver and sets the driver up for the race they have to come, so having two standing starts to contend with, firstly in the Sprint Qualifying Race and then the standard Sunday event, will add extra drama and pressure. Losing out in the Sprint Qualifying Race will have a big impact on the main race, and could make your Sunday very tricky,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.

Drivers love racing and the Sprint Qualifying format means some extra racing. “The usual format has been pretty standard apart from a couple of weekends where there has been less practice, so it will be nice to try something different and see if it is going to really mix up the weekend,” said Valtteri Bottas. “I guess it can go really against you or for you, but we will find out.”

Red Bull stays ahead
With 5 consecutive victories, Red Bull Racing has a strong hold in the leading position of the championship. Better results in recent races by the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team have kept the gap to 44 points, though. It’s the same thing in the Drivers Championship where Max Verstappen remains at the top with Hamilton 32 points behind and surely eager to change that as soon as possible.

Where the F1 championship began
This will be the 72^nd British Grand Prix and it is one of the two events that has been consistently a part of each year’s championship. In fact, the current Formula 1 World Championship had its start at Silverstone in 1950 but the former airbase runway was not always used. In some years, the Aintree circuit in Liverpool was used and between 164 and 1986, the Brands Hatch circuit hosted F1 races.

Lewis Hamilton has been the most successful driver in the history of the British GP, having won his home race on 7 occasions, the first win with McLaren in 2008. However, among the teams, Ferrari has the most – 17 wins since their first one in 1950 at the first F1 race.

*Scuderia Ferrari’s first F1 win was at Silverstone in 1950, the year the world championship series began.*

Vaccination does not make you immune to COVID-19 infection. but it may help reduce the severity of the effects. You can still get infected and you may not show symptoms but spread the coronavirus. Do not stop taking protective measures such as wearing a facemask, washing hands frequently and social distancing. #kitakagakita

F1 – 2019 British Grand Prix Preview

Race starts at 2:10 pm UK time/9:10 pm Malaysian time

Round 10 of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship sees teams and drivers travel to the English Midlands and Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix. This year’s event marks the 70th F1 World Championship British Grand Prix. Silverstone has hosted the event the most times (53, including 2019) with Brands Hatch and Aintree being the other venues in earlier years. Silverstone and the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) have announces that the British Grand Prix will continue to be held at the venue until at least the end of 2024. The agreement between Formula 1, the BRDC and Silverstone Circuit was signed yesterday in London.

A true power circuit, more than 60% of a 5.891-km lap of Silverstone is taken at full throttle. A strong favourite with drivers and fans, its popularity, however, does not solely rest on the speeds reached. Instead, it’s the circuit sequences of fast and flowing corners that thrill both competitors and spectators alike.

The track is also famous for being demanding on tyres which, in the past, has led Pirelli to bring its hardest compounds to cope with wear rates. The tyre supplier has maintained that practice this year, choosing it C1 compound as the hard tyre, the C2 compound as its medium compound and the C3 compound as the soft option.

*The Silverstone circuit was the reference circuit for the layout of the Batu Tiga Circuit in Malaysia which was opened in 1968.*

Resurfaced track adds complications
Complicating matters for teams and drivers, however, is the fact that the entire track has been resurfaced for the second time in two years following issues during last year’s MotoGP event here. Understanding the new surface will be one of the major tasks of the weekend as teams build towards an ideal race set-up.

This is Lewis Hamilton’s home race and he once again goes into today’s race bidding to take the outright record for most British Grand Prix wins. The 34-year old Mercedes-AMG driver currently shares the record of five with Jim Clark and Alain Prost.

Where constructors are concerned, Ferrari has collected the most wins in the British GP. Including last year’s victory by Sebastian Vettel, they have 17 wins, three more than McLaren, with Williams in third place on 10. Alfa Romeo, having a presence in F1 again, won the inaugural championship event in 1950.

Championship positions before Round 10
Approaching the mid-point of the 2019 season, Hamilton has a 31-point lead in the Drivers’ standings over team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Victory at the last race in Austria moved Max Verstappen up to third place. The young Red Bull Racing star now has 126 points, three ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Although the 25 points won by Mercedes-AMG in Austria represented the team’s lowest single-race points haul of the season, they still hold a commanding lead in the Constructors’ Championship. The team starts the race today with 363 points in hand, 135 ahead of Ferrari. Meanwhile, victory for Red Bull Racing at their home race in Austria edged the team slightly closer to Ferrari and they now lie 59 points behind the Italian outfit. McLaren is in fourth place with a healthy 20-point gap to fifth-placed Renault.

Piston.my