Round 10: British Grand Prix

frostie500

This weekend’s British Grand Prix marks the midpoint of the 2010 Formula 1 season.

The race will take place on the heavily redesigned Silverstone circuit that should prove to be one of the seasons fastest and most challenging races. Silverstone is, like most British circuits, built on the site of a Second World War airfield and straddles two shires-Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire.

Silverstone underwent the mass redevelopment after gaining the long term rights for both Formula 1 and MotoGP, the new circuit is approximately 800 metres longer than the previous layout and features the new reprofiled Abbey Curve which drivers will take almost flat out in sixth gear and which promises to be even faster than Copse Corner.

Last time out in Valencia saw contrasting fortunes for the Red Bull drivers with Sebastian Vettel winning for the first time since April and the previously inform Mark Webber taking all the attention after his crash into the back of Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen resulted in the Red Bull somersaulting along the race track.

The weekend looks prime to be filled with excitement and with only 29 points separating the top five, all of whom have won this season, in the title chase it looks set to be the launch pad of an exciting second half of the season.

The Circuit

The new layout retains the thrilling opening half of the lap with Copse Corner starting the lap with a 185mph entry speed and just a lift of the throttle to take drivers through and onto the start of one of the seasons most thrilling series of corners-Maggots, Beckets and Chapel. This series are entered in top gear at 190mph and sees drivers flick the car left-right-left-right-left in the blink of an eye before they enter the longest straight of the lap. The Hanger straight measures 800m and leads into Stowe corner, where Michael Schumacher crashed in ’99 resulting in a broken leg.

Once drivers exit Stowe they are brought into the new section. Instead of braking down to first gear for the Abbey chicane they now face the right handed Abbey Curve that they will take at 185mph in sixth. This then leads into the Arena section of the lap with the Arrowhead corner and Village developed to offer overtaking opportunities. This however will likely only occur if the lead driver makes a mistake, in the recent MotoGP races here there was little overtaking through this section.

Once released from Village the drivers are then onto the national circuit straight, renamed the Wellington straight which will again see speeds in excess of 180 mph. Brooklands has been opened up by using the Wellington Straight and Luffield is unchanged as drivers exit it and cross the line to start another lap of the fantastic Silverstone circuit.

The weather

The weather is expected to continue to be warm and sunny for the weekend with forecasters expecting a slim 10% chance of rain affecting Sunday’s race.

Facts and figures ahead of the British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix is one of only three that has been ever present on the Formula 1 schedule and hosted the first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1950 when Alfa Romeo’s Giuseppe Farina emerged victorious. The race has been held at three circuits-Brands Hatch, Aintree and this weekend will mark the 44th time that Silverstone plays host.

Twelve British drivers have won this race in the past ranging from Stirling Moss in the 50’s to Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart in the 60’s to James Hunt in the 70’s to Nigel Mansell in the 80’s to Damon Hill in the 90’s and the most recent being Lewis Hamilton in the rain sodden 2008 race. Reigning world champion Jenson Button has yet to win at home but will be confident of a good performance this weekend as McLaren bring an updated car to its home race.

Recent British Grand Prix

The British Grand Prix has seen some true classics down the years with some of the most memorable moments occurring at Silverstone. Each corner has been steeped in history in a manner as only a circuit that has hosted so many races can achieve.

Last season’s race was dominated by the Red Bull’s with Vettel leading home Webber ahead of Barrichello. The German was able to pull away from the Brawn driver at a rate of a second a lap at stages of the race and had a very comfortable win. The 2008 race was held in wet weather and saw Lewis Hamilton emerge from the gloom with one of the greatest drives in the sports history as the McLaren drivers dominated in awful conditions en route to his world title. That race also saw Rubens Barrichello finish second, Honda’s final podium in Formula 1.

2007 saw Kimi Raikkonen win for Ferrari after the Finn’s better fuel strategy had allowed him to emerge after his second pitstop just ahead of the earlier stopping Fernando Alonso and win by just over two seconds. Alonso had won the previous year’s race ahead of Michael Schumacher.

2003 is perhaps the best remembered of recent races but it is remembered for the wrong reasons as Neil Horan entered into Formula 1 folklore when he staged a protest on the circuit. The priest ran along the Hanger straight with banners imploring people to read the bible. Barrichello won that race ahead of Montoya and Raikkonen.

2000 saw the race take place in April. Unsurprisingly it was wet, in fact it was so wet that spectators were unable to park in the car parks and Saturday was closed to fans except those able to walk to the track. The race day did not fare much better with only an estimated 35000 present to see David Coultard win his home race again after battling with Barrichello before the Brazilian suffered a hydraulic failure.

The 1998 race will be remembered for being the first to see a race won by a car in the pitlane as Schumacher took a ten second penalty at the end of the race for overtaking under a yellow flag. 97 should have seen Mika Hakkinen end his long wait for a first win but the Finn suffered a heart breaking engine failure with seven laps remaining as he challenged Jacques Villeneuve for the win.

1992 saw Nigel Mansell famously overtake Nelson Piquet down the Hanger Straight before comfortably winning for Williams. The race is also remembered for Ayrton Senna running out of fuel and “hitching” a lift back to the pits with the victorious Mansell.

This weekend’s race promises to continue the excitement of the current season where after the opening race of the season there was a fear for processional racing. With half the season gone the next three weeks before the summer break could be imperative to the outcome of the championship with McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all aggressive in recent developments and keen to add to their victory tallies thus far.

TV Coverage
Friday 9 July
Practice one: 0955-1105, BBC Red Button/online
Practice two: 1355-1535, BBC Red Button/online
Saturday 10 July
Practice three: 1055-1205, BBC Red Button/online
Qualifying: 1210-1430, BBC One/online and BBC Radio 5 live sport extra/online
Sunday 11 July
Race: 1210-1530, BBC One/online and BBC Radio 5 live/online

Cookie_Monster

W00t best race of the year. Nearly always country miles better than most, pity little chance of rain though.

though I'll have to listen to it in Italian this year

Cookie_Monster

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Plenty of tickets still remaining for the GP apparently.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

though I'll have to listen to it in Italian this year

on holiday in Tuscany this weekend

De Hipster

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

on holiday in Tuscany this weekend

No me interesso un cazzo...B*stard!











Me, jealous much ...HELL no!

Vegeta

Really looking forward to this weekend.

Any predictions? From Frostie's track description there are a few places where the cars make over 180mph will this favour the McLaren cars with their straight line speed advantage??

If Red Bull qualify out front again is it possible to pass them during the race?

I find this one very difficult to call.

frostie500

I think this weekend is really important to the title chase. On paper you'd have to say that the track should still suit the Red Bull-numerous fast corners where their car has clearly had an advantage this season-but with the high speed straights and McLaren's new package it could be close. If McLaren can beat Red Bull here they are in great shape to win the title. If they are close but Red Bull can win then the battle for the title could be immense.

The weekend is crucial for Ferrari also, the Valencia upgrade didn't perform to expectations last time out but if Alonso and Massa are fast this weekend it bodes well for the season. Massa said something along the lines of "the car was poor in Turkey which is a similar circuit to Silverstone, so we should get a clear picture of how effective the upgrades are by this weekend. If we are closer to the front we are well placed for the rest of the year" I can't see them being right at the sharp end but Alonso has always gone well at Silverstone so it's tough to rule him out

EvilMonkey

Bruno Senna just got ****ed over by HRT

Senna out Yamamoto in for Silverstone.

http://www.manipef1.com/news/articles/11241/

It has been rumoured for a while that HRT would drop Senna because his deal was with Campos and was a pay deal.

Superbus

EvilMonkey wrote: »

Bruno Senna just got ****ed over by HRT

Senna out Yamamoto in for Silverstone.

http://www.manipef1.com/news/articles/11241/

It has been rumoured for a while that HRT would drop Senna because his deal was with Campos and was a pay deal.

If a team can't make sufficient money out of the name Senna then they really need to take a good look at themselves.

Frank Bullitt

They should have put Klien in the car instead of that Kamakazi, he was brutal at best.

Poor Bruno.

Myrddin

Great post as always Frostie, thank you

Frosties posts now mark the start of a GP weekend for me

The circuit looks brilliant - can't wait for the race!

Frank Bullitt

Apparently its nothing to do with money as to why Bruno is not driving.

amacachi

Am I right in thinking that Superleague Formula used the old layout yet the Formula 1 cars have already gone over 2 seconds a lap faster? :pac:

Superbus

Turns out Senna is just being 'rested', or something along those lines, for Silverstone, and will be back in the seat for the next race.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85110

Probably money related, some Japanese company probably promised a financial injection if Yamamoto got a race.

TheChrisD

amacachi wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that Superleague Formula used the old layout yet the Formula 1 cars have already gone over 2 seconds a lap faster? :pac:

Yup, SF did use the old layout and only did at best 1:32's.

Since F1 is the first open-wheel series to use the Arena layout, we may have to wait until next year to see comparative lap times.

Frank Bullitt

McLaren aren't using the blown diffuser for the rest of the weekend,they seem to have issues with it.

Ghost Train

The new safety car delta time is a bit wierd. Cars have to slow to the speed of the safety car when it is deployed unless near the end of the lap. Wonder will it take ages for all the cars to catch up on the safety car if the delta time is much slower

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85072

BaZmO*

Just looking at the build up to Qually on BBC, God, how dangerously exposed does the driver look in that Alfa! :eek:

Oblomov

RD10: British GP - Friday practice 2 results E-mail

2010 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX - Friday practice 2

Date: Friday 09 July

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:31.234 15
2 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:31.626 0.392 26
3 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:31.875 0.641 25
4 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:32.099 0.865 25
5 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:32.166 0.932 29
6 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:32.660 1.426 28
7 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:32.745 1.511 29
8 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.757 1.523 22
9 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:32.787 1.553 27
10 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:32.967 1.733 33
11 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1:33.019 1.785 30
12 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:33.164 1.930 29
13 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:33.200 1.966 24
14 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:33.402 2.168 23
15 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:33.728 2.494 27
16 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:33.836 2.602 36
17 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:34.051 2.817 29
18 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:34.643 3.409 36
19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:35.465 4.231 25
20 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.237 5.003 24
21 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:36.553 5.319 21
22 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:37.019 5.785 27
23 21 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:38.303 7.069 32
24 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:42.901 11.667 3

Sparks43

Vettel is a complete asshole laughing about webber getting stuck with his cast off chassis :mad:

thegen

What is Eddie Jordan like in his purple trousers???? Good bit of banter now with Mansell

De Hipster

thegen wrote: »

What is Eddie Jordan like in his purple trousers????

...and matching shoes! Quite the trend deviator.

amacachi

Ghost Train wrote: »

The new safety car delta time is a bit wierd. Cars have to slow to the speed of the safety car when it is deployed unless near the end of the lap. Wonder will it take ages for all the cars to catch up on the safety car if the delta time is much slower

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85072

FFS, I can think of two better ways to do it;
1) Close the pitlane or
2) JUST DEPLOY THE MOTHER****ING SAFETY CAR SO THAT IT PICKS UP THE LEADER AND DOESN'T JUST GO OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ****ING PACK!

amacachi

Don't think it was mentioned but if anyone's wondering Yamamoto is a little more than 0.2 inside the 107% time.

TheChrisD

amacachi wrote: »

FFS, I can think of two better ways to do it;
1) Close the pitlane

I really wish they would just close the pit lane. It's much easier and plus, cars in F1 aren't likely to be risking running out of fuel when the safety car comes out, so they don't even need to bring in a special rule stating that you can pit for fuel if you absolutely need it, and then come back in the next time around for tyres and other changes.

amacachi

TheChrisD wrote: »

I really wish they would just close the pit lane. It's much easier and plus, cars in F1 aren't likely to be risking running out of fuel when the safety car comes out, so they don't even need to bring in a special rule stating that you can pit for fuel if you absolutely need it, and then come back in the next time around for tyres and other changes.

If they're running out of fuel while the SC is on track this season they want a good slapping. :pac:

amacachi

Is it drizzling? Why are they all a few seconds slow? :S

lord lucan

LOL @ Button.:D

BaZmO*

Ouch! 14th for Button

dor83

So it looks like Red Bull will dominate this one but we should get a good battle between the Ferrari's, the Merc's and maybe Hamilton. Rubens looks fast too.

lord lucan

Just watching the replay of Buttons last lap and the car seemed to be vibrating at the rear excessively,particularly in the non-bumpy sections.

amacachi

lord lucan wrote: »

Just watching the replay of Buttons last lap and the car seemed to be vibrating at the rear excessively,particularly in the non-bumpy sections.

Sounds like he's not setting it up too well, unless Hamilton is just handling it better.

amacachi

Under 90 seconds for Webber, nice!

lord lucan

RB's look bulletproof for pace,gonna take a technical failure to stop them tomorrow. Good to see Alonso up there,should shake it up a bit.

De Hipster

Vettel on pole with RB front row...shaping up nicely!

Sparks43

usual bs from horner

why doesnt he just admit that webber is the number 2 in that team


hope vettel has a dnf tommorow

come on mark show the git whos boss

De Hipster

Sparks43 wrote: »

usual bs from horner

why doesnt he just admit that webber is the number 2 in that team


hope vettel has a dnf tommorow

come on mark show the git whos boss

Webber has well & truely earned his second place in the RB imo

RayM

I don't understand why Red Bull re-signed Webber for next year. He's clearly their second favourite driver - and very clearly not happy with that either. He might not be quite as fast as Vettel, but he's fast enough to occasionally take points from him. Surely, as they're proving themselves incapable of running two championship contenders, they would have been better off signing a definite Number 2 driver (like Irvine at Ferrari). Someone like Kovalainen or Glock, maybe.

I can see Red Bull imploding at some point this year...

Oblomov

RD10: British GP- Qualifying results

2010 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX - Qualifying

Date: Saturday 10 July

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:30.841 1:30.480 1:29.615 18
2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:30.858 1:30.114 1:29.758 18
3 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:30.997 1:30.700 1:30.426 23
4 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.297 1:31.118 1:30.556 17
5 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 1:31.626 1:31.085 1:30.625 23
6 11 Robert Kubica Renault 1:31.680 1:31.344 1:31.040 22
7 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.313 1:31.010 1:31.172 26
8 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:31.424 1:31.126 1:31.175 20
9 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.533 1:31.327 1:31.274 16
10 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 1:32.058 1:31.022 1:31.430 20
11 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:31.109 1:31.399 15
12 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.851 1:31.421 14
13 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:32.144 1:31.635 17
14 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.435 1:31.699 17
15 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:32.226 1:31.708 14
16 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:31.638 1:31.796 14
17 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:31.901 1:32.012 14
18 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:32.430 7
19 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:34.405 9
20 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:34.775 10
21 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:34.864 10
22 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:35.212 10
23 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:36.576 7
24 21 Sakon Yamamoto HRT-Cosworth 1:36.968 9

Sparks43

liuzzi hit by a 5 place penalty for blocking the hulk

Slutmonkey57b

Utterly brainless management from Red Bull again. Gave Vettel a tiny speed advantage at the cost of confirming to the world that Webber is #2. The weaselling about "championship position" at this stage, when their drivers are 3 and 4, not 1 and 2 in the standings, is nonsensical, when they're at the halfway point and there's nothing in it.

Vettel's personal management should be on the lookout at this stage, this behaviour is robbing a lot of the public goodwill that their driver has built up.

amacachi

Has Vettel new parts for this weekend that Webber hasn't??

Ghost Train

amacachi wrote: »

Has Vettel new parts for this weekend that Webber hasn't??

they only had one new front wing, decided to give it to Vettel as he's leading championship
http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/6255132/Horner-denies-Bulls-favour-Vettel

amacachi

I've heard of worse favoritism. :P

EvilMonkey

amacachi wrote: »

Has Vettel new parts for this weekend that Webber hasn't??

They had 2 new front wings Vettel's broke in the morning practice so they took Webber's off his car and gave it to Vettel for qualifying :pac:

Another thing i noticed about Red Bull last race.
They kicked up a fuss about Alonso driving one handed using the f-duct in Spain Horner was bull****ting about it being unsafe etc. Ferrari weren't too happy about it either and now use an elbow(i think) to activate it.
Guess how Red Bull are activating their F-duct

amacachi

EvilMonkey wrote: »

They had 2 new front wings Vettel's broke in the morning practice so they took Webber's off his car and gave it to Vettel for qualifying :pac:

Another thing i noticed about Red Bull last race.
They kicked up a fuss about Alonso driving one handed using the f-duct in Spain Horner was bull****ting about it being unsafe etc. Ferrari weren't too happy about it either and now use an elbow(i think) to activate it.
Guess how Red Bull are activating their F-duct

Ah, thought they just had the one, that's more bitchy than anything else of RB.

Aye, noticed Vettel in quali today with his left hand against the side, assumed they'd all be stopping that by now.

Grim.

dont see how its unsafe at all tbh they were doing it even more when the cars had manual boxs

amacachi

Grim. wrote: »

dont see how its unsafe at all tbh they were doing it even more when the cars had manual boxs

Teams getting outsmarted in pointing fingers shocker! :pac:

lord lucan

So much for the new front wing!:pac::pac:

amacachi

Delighted if one of the Red Bulls messed up it was Vettel. Seems Vettel has ****ed his car somehow. A quick Safety Car and Vettel could be brought right back into this.

ctrl-alt-delete

Vettel making a mess of it again, making a beeline for Webber from the start,

Picked up some dirt or something when he went wide, which i think made him loose control then, he was lucky not to hit that advertisement sign.

Massa and Alonso come together too costing Massa with a puncture.

I wasn't expecting Hamilton to be holding on as much as he is.

amacachi

Great battle with Kubica, Rosberg and Alonso. Alonso will be kicking himself. The Renault not looking great in race trim.

Good ol' Hamilton, cutting down Vettel's tyre. :pac: