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Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2024 Race Start, Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Towcester Northampton, England. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. 2025 British GP Preview, British Grand Prix Preview, F1 British GP Preview, 2025 Silverstone GP Preview, Formula 1 Silverstone Preview.
2025 British GP Preview – After Lando Norris fended off team-mate and championship leader Oscar Piastri to lead home a McLaren one-two at the Red Bull Ring, round 12 of the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the fast and historic Silverstone Circuit this weekend for the Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2025. This marks the 79th running of the British Grand Prix, the 76th time as part of a World Championship event and the 60th time that the British Grand Prix has been held at Silverstone.
2025 British GP Preview – A look at the Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone Circuit is a permanent racing circuit in England next to the Northamptonshire Villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit sits on the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side. The Northamptonshire towns of Towcester, Brackley and Buckinghamshire town of Buckingham are close by, and the nearest large towns are Northampton and Milton Keynes.
Silverstone is the current home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted in 1948. The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race in the newly created Formula One World Championship. The race rotated between Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch from 1955 to 1986, but relocated permanently to Silverstone in 1987.
The circuit is built on the site of a World War II Royal Air Force bomber station, RAF Silverstone which opened in 1943. The airfield’s three runways in classic WWII triangle format lie within the outline of the current track.
Giuseppe Farina was the inaugural winner of the British Grand Prix which was the first round of the championship in 1950 when the Formula One World Championship was formed and was also the first driver to win the inaugural Formula One World Championship with Alfa Romeo.
The circuit layout has changed many times throughout its history on the Formula One calendar with the current front straight featuring the Silverstone Wing pit building which is located in between Club and Abbey Corner has been used since 2011. The current front straight was also used in 2010 while the Silverstone Wing building was being built but the front straight was located at the old pit straight in between Luffield, Woodcote and Copse corner.
The current Arena Grand Prix Circuit layout currently being used runs in a clockwise direction and is 5.891km (3.661mi) in length and has 18 corners.
Race distance is 306.198km (190.163 mi) with 52 laps in total.
Max Verstappen holds the fastest lap record of the current circuit layout set last at the 2020 event with a 1:27.097 in his Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16.
Seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton has the most British Grand Prix victories with nine to his name.
Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful Constructor at the British Grand Prix with 17 victories.
2025 British GP Preview – A lap of the Silverstone Circuit
The start of the track begins between Club and Abbey corner. Almost flat out, the right-hander of Abbey leads immediately into the left-hander of Farm before cars heavily brake into the second gear, right-handed turn 3 Village corner. The even slower left-hander of The Loop comes immediately after, and leads into the flat-out left-hander of Aintree, before cars head down the first DRS zone of the Wellington Straight, designed in 2010 to promote overtaking. Turn 6, the left hander of Brooklands, is taken by drivers in second gear and leads immediately into Luffield, another second gear curve; a right-hand hairpin. The right-handed kink of Woodcote leads cars down the old pit straight, before the difficult sixth gear right hand Copse corner, with a minimum speed of 281 kph in the dry for Formula One cars.
Then, the equally tricky complex of Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel – a left-right-left-right-left complex with a minimum speed of 209 kph, leads cars down the Hangar Straight with the fifth gear right-hander of Stowe lurking at the end. The fifteenth turn of the track, Stowe, has a minimum speed of 201 kph and precedes a short straight, named Vale, which leads cars downhill towards the Club complex. Heavy braking is required for the left-hander of turn 16, and understeer can be an issue for the next right-handers of turns 17 and 18, as cars tentatively accelerate round to the start-finish straight. You can watch George Russell’s pole position lap from last season’s British Grand Prix Qualifying session of a 1:25.819 in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team F1 W15 racer at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06XagbM8J6I
2025 British GP Preview – The Last Five Winners
2024: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2023: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing. 2022: Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari. 2021: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2020: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1.
2025 British GP Preview – Tyres
Pirelli will be bringing with them to Silverstone, the white side-walled C1 Hard tyres along with the yellow-branded C2 Medium compounds and the red-marked C3 Soft rubber as well as the Intermediate (green) and Wet (blue) compounds to the event in case of rain.
All drivers will have the same allocation of tyres, eight sets of the softs, three of the mediums and two of the hards.
2025 British GP Preview – DRS Zones
There will be two DRS Zones at Silverstone. The first detection point is 25 metres before turn three (Village) with the activation point 30 metres after turn five (Aintree) on the Wellington Straight. The second detection point is at turn 11 (Maggots) with the activation point 55 metres after the exit turn 14 (Chapel).
2025 British GP Preview – Pitlane Speed Limits
Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.
ICYMI: Norris fends off Piastri to clinch Austrian GP victory
Norris Austrian GP Victory – Lando Norris fended off a fast-charging championship-leading McLaren team-mate of Oscar Piastri to claim his third victory of the season at the Austrian GP as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top three.
This was Norris’s seventh-career win and in terms of the World Driver’s Championship battle, the Briton brings the gap down to his team-mate Piastri at 15 points as they head to McLaren’s home Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend.
This was also McLaren’s first victory at the Austrian Grand Prix since 2001.
When the 71-lap Austrian GP began – on the formation lap Williams’ Carlos Sainz was stuck on the grid and in first gear, meaning the start will be aborted for another formation lap.
The Spaniard finally got going, but the race will re-start in another ten minutes.
Sainz returned to the end of the pit-lane as his FW47’s rear brakes caught fire as the team rushed over to put the fire out.
Race control stated that the race would start at 3:15pm local time.
Sainz was told by his team to retire the car due to the brake fire – the FW47 was still billowing smoke and overheating as it was wheeled back into the Williams garage.
With one lap less and the 70-lap Austrian GP began, pole-sitter Norris got a solid start into turn one as Leclerc had a brief look- but Piastri breezed past Leclerc to snatch P2.
On the rundown into turn four, further back in the field there was a multi-car incident, as Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli locked up and Verstappen spun, and both were out of the race. Verstappen and Antonelli were chatting and having a little debrief as the Dutchman waved to the crowd.
The safety car was deployed to clear the Mercedes and Red Bull.
When the race resumed on lap four, race leader Norris charged away from team-mate Piastri with Leclerc third, Hamilton fourth, Russell fifth, Gasly sixth, Albon seventh, Bortoleto eighth, Lawson ninth as Alonso rounded out the top ten runners.
In the fight for fourth, Russell had a look around the outside of Hamilton into turn four, but the former covered his former team-mate.
Race leader Norris held a 0.350 second gap over team-mate Piastri with the latter keeping in DRS range.
Russell was not happy about some of the moves Hamilton pulled on the last tour – saying he had the door shut on him a bit later.
Piastri on the sixth tour had a look on team-mate Norris into turn four, but the Briton shut the door on his race leading team-mate.
The two MCL39 entries were disappearing from the field – Piastri was already over two seconds behind Leclerc on the seventh tour. The gaps were starting to appear at this stage of proceedings as cars dropped back to create some fresh air to save some tyre life amongst the sweltering 50+ degrees at the Red Bull Ring. Piastri was told he is free to race his team-mate out-front.
On lap 10, race leader Norris’s lead over Piastri was at 0.686 with Leclerc a further 4.372 off in third, Hamilton fourth, Russell fifth as Albon made his way past Gasly on the inside of turn four to take sixth place as the Frenchman’s softer tyres began to degrade.
The incident between Antonelli and Verstappen was currently investigated by the race stewards.
On lap 11, Piastri had a look on Norris into turn three and got ahead – but the Briton got the switch-back and made his way back in-front of the Australian on the rundown into turn four as Norris just kept ahead.
On the 12th lap Bortoleto, overtook Gasly into turn four for seventh place as the latter came in to get rid of his softs immediately.
Gasly emerged with his fresh set of hards down in 15th place but was overtaken by Bearman on the charge to turn four.
Albon pitted from sixth on the 14th tour to swap his mediums for hards and rejoined in 13th place behind RB’s Isack Hadjar.
Piastri’s MCL39 and tyres were screaming at him – and indeed, the Australian was warned about his gearbox, that is overheating. He was nine tenths back from team-mate Norris.
Piastri thought about it into the opening corner but thought better of it. But Norris got a better exit out of turns 3 and 4. Nothing doing here for the Australian, but he got DRS again on the main straight.
On the 17th lap Albon became the fourth retiree of the Grand Prix making it a double DNF for Williams.
Cat and mouse stuff for the two McLaren drivers as Norris was placing his car perfectly. No lock- ups. With not an inch off the racing line. Piastri was trying to push his team mate into a mistake. But nothing is happening right now as Norris was keeping his cool from the threat behind him.
On the 19th tour, Russell pitted from sixth to remove his degrading mediums for his fresh set of hards and came out in 11th place ahead of Gasly.
Lap 20 saw race leader Norris’s gap over team-mate Piastri at half-a-second with Leclerc holding third, Hamilton holding fourth, Bortoleto fifth, Lawson sixth as Alonso rounded out the top seven.
Piastri attempted an overtake on Norris into turn four – but the former suffered a massive lock-up almost taking him and his leading team-mate out.
Norris was told to box, and the Briton made his first stop on lap 21 – the McLaren driver had a slow front-left and came out in fourth in clear air on his fresh set of the C3 hards.
Bortoleto then stopped from fourth for his fresh set of the harder compound and emerged in 13th behind Bearman’s VF-25 entry.
Piastri told his race engineer Tom Stallard he had a flat-spot. He was told the flat-spit is okay to continue. “Yeah, it is not pleasant, but it is okay,” Piastri said.
Piastri then pitted from the lead for his fresh set of hards – but the Australian also suffered a slow 3.4 seconds stop due to a front-left issue and came out 5.725 seconds behind team-mate Norris in fourth.
Leclerc came in for his initial stop for his C3’s on lap 26 and slotted into sixth place behind Alonso’s Aston Martin who was battling with RB’s Liam Lawson.
Hamilton was told to box on the beginning of lap 27 to relinquish his lead to Norris and emerged on his fresh set of hards in sixth place behind team-mate Leclerc.
Leclerc with a late lunge into the uphill turn three right hander made his way in-front of Alonso to jump into fourth.
Leclerc a tour later made short-work of Lawson in the same spot to move back up into third place.
Piastri was told that his lock up from earlier was “marginal” and he could not do that again. Papaya rules then, nothing that jeopardises the win, but clean fighting is okay.
On lap 29, Hamilton overtook Alonso on the inside into turn one and then around the outside of Lawson into turn six.
The lap 30 mark saw Norris’s lead over Piastri at 6.5 seconds with Leclerc third, Hamilton fourth, Lawson fifth as Alonso rounded out the top six runners.
Further back, Red Bull’s sole driver Yuki Tsunoda sent Alpine’s Franco Colapinto into a spin hitting the back of the Alpine at turn four.
The Japanese driver immediately pitted for a new front wing and medium tyres, emerging at the rear of the field.
Piastri was starting to close the gap on lap 32 – he was just 5.9s back. Leclerc was back up to third, ahead of Hamilton and Lawson. Alonso still had not pitted, and he was running ahead of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg.
Lawson finally made his stop on lap 33 and re-joined down in 12th place behind Bearman as Tsunoda was hit with a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Colapinto at turn four.
Alonso then stopped on lap 34 for his fresh set of harder rubber and came out in 11th place behind Lawson.
At half race distance, Norris’s lead over Piastri was down to 5.533 seconds as the Australian was slowly starting to close down his race leading team-mate. Piastri had tyres that are four laps fresher than Norris. Leclerc was looking good for a podium at this stage of proceedings and was three seconds in-front of team-mate Hamilton.
The battle at the front was going to play out later on after the second round of stops, when the tyre delta eventually played out. As it stood on lap 38, Norris lead by 5.2 seconds over Piastri.
With 30 tours left, Norris’s gap was continuing to be eaten as Piastri brought it down to 4.348 seconds with Leclerc in third, Hamilton fourth, Russell fifth, Bortoleto sixth, Hulkenberg seventh, Ocon eighth as Lawson passed Alonso for ninth.
The gap at the front was at three seconds between Norris and Piastri. Norris had just picked off Stroll as the leaders began to negotiate their way through traffic, Piastri was yet to do so at this stage.
Hulkenberg then stopped on lap 44 from seventh for his fresh set of medium tyres and came out in 11th place behind Hadjar’s VCARB02 entry.
Up front, it appeared that it isn’t just the traffic that is costing Norris time. He asked if Piastri was just quicker everywhere on track. The gap was back up to 3.5 seconds on lap 44.
Russell came in for his second stop on lap 46 for his fresh set of hards and returned in 10th place behind Hadjar. The Mercedes driver on his new rubber, stormed ahead of the Frenchman to jump into ninth after his overtake on the inside into turn four.
The gap out-front was at 3.5 seconds on the 47th tour, and Piastri had stopped reeling Norris in. The Australian needed enough tyre life to push on when Norris does pit for a second time, The championship leader had cleared Hulkenberg, so can get about chasing his team-mate.
Third-placed Leclerc made his second and final stop for his fresh set of the C5 yellow-branded mediums and emerged in fourth behind team-mate Hamilton as Bortoleto also stopped for Sauber.
The Brazilian came out in tenth behind Hadjar on his set of mediums.
Hamilton then boxed on lap 51 for his C5’s and released team-mate Leclerc back into third.
Ocon pitted from eighth on lap 52 to emerge in 11th place behind Hulkenberg’s Sauber.
Race leader Norris made his final stop on lap 53 for his new set of mediums as his team-mate Piastri was told to box a tour later.
A quick two second stop and a .5 second gain for Piastri on team-mate Norris as The Australian came out side by side with Colapinto and was almost pushed onto the grass by the Alpine driver.
Colapinto was quickly under investigation by the race stewards for his incident with second-placed Piastri.
On the 56th tour – Norris was leading the Grand Prix by 3.4 seconds. Piastri holding second, with his medium tyres one lap fresher than Norris. Leclerc was third and 12 seconds back and Hamilton was a further 6.9 seconds adrift. Russell was fifth in the order, whilst behind them Lawson and Alonso were trying to hold the rest behind on a one-stop strategy.
With ten laps remaining, Norris’s lead over team-mate Piastri was at 2.458 seconds with Leclerc a further 14.924 seconds off in third, Hamilton fourth, Russell fifth, Lawson sixth, Alonso seventh, the two Sauber’s of Bortoleto and Hulkenberg in eighth and ninth respectively as Ocon rounded out the top ten.
Norris called over his radio: “I need pace, please help.” As Piastri found another half-a-second on Norris on lap 61, the Australian pushing hard for the win. But will he have enough tyre life left to battle with Norris when he gets to within DRS range of his McLaren team-mate.
The fight between Norris versus Piastri was intensifying. The gap was down to 1.6 seconds, but Norris managed to gain a few more tenths and the lead grew again to 1.9 seconds. No DRS for Piastri just yet on the 63rd tour.
On lap 64, Norris was told he had a damaged front wing – and there was nothing the team can do. But Piastri had to pick off Hulkenberg, which costed him some time.
The gap goes up to 2.1 second as Piastri cleared Bortoleto’s Sauber on lap 65.
Norris and Piastri matched lap times in the fight for the lead on lap 66, so there was nothing doing there on that tour.
On lap 68, race leader Norris was encouraged not to overdrive in the first few corners as both the Briton and Piastri cleared Tsunoda, and the gap was down to 1.5 seconds as they began to approach Alonso and Bortoleto fighting ahead.
The penultimate lap saw Bortoleto get the move done, Alonso tried to cut back inside, he snatched the place back – similar to the move Piastri put on Norris earlier in the Grand Prix. Alonso remained in front at that moment. And then Norris was there, and Bortoleto had to yield.
Piastri was just 1.3 seconds back on the final tour but had run out of time with nothing doing between Bortoleto and Alonso still fighting. Those two were nose to tail, with Norris just ahead and Piastri right behind.
Norris crossed the line to take victory at the Austrian GP with a 2.695 second gap over team-mate Piastri in a McLaren one-two as Leclerc crossed the line third and a further 17.725 seconds adrift in third as Ferrari team-mate Hamilton settled for fourth.
Russell followed in fifth and in-front of Lawson who finished an impressive sixth.
Alonso just held on to come home seventh ahead of Bortoleto who took eighth and Hulkenberg who reached the chequered flag ninth to complete a double points haul for Sauber whilst Ocon completed the final points places for Haas.
2025 British GP Preview – The Situation
The halfway point of the 2025 season has arrived and at the legendary Silverstone Circuit this weekend for the British Grand Prix.
Lando Norris’s victory last time out at the Red Bull Ring has set him up perfectly for his home race at Silverstone and another opportunity to bring the gap down to championship-leading McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, which currently sits at 15 points.
The McLaren pairing had a brilliant fight at the Austrian GP, but Norris came out on top, and the Briton will look to win consecutive Grands Prix for the first time in the same season.
Reigning world champion Max Verstappen is 61 points behind Piastri in the world driver’s standings after he was hit by Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap in Austria, so the Dutchman will need to cause a big upset to stand any realistic opportunity to reviving his title aspirations.
All eyes will be on Sir Lewis Hamilton’s initial Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver, a year on after his memorable victory.
Hamilton is on a sensational run at Silverstone with 12 podiums to his name and if he can continue that streak, it would mean that he has scored his first podium for Ferrari also.
Mercedes’ George Russell has encountered plenty of bad luck on his home tarmac, with a best result of fifth in 2023, and hopes the Silver Arrows can return to their victorious form like in Montreal.
Piastri returns to Silverstone on top of the World Driver’s Championship with 216 points and a 15-points lead over Norris who is second on 201 points whilst Verstappen is a further 61 points behind the Australian in third on 155 points.
McLaren Formula 1 Team comes to their home Grand Prix on top of the World Constructor’s Championship with 417 points and a 207-point advantage over nearest rival Scuderia Ferrari who are second on 210 points whilst Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team is third and are a further 208 points behind the Woking based-outfit on 209 points.
Click here for the 2025 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructors Championship Standings
The Formula 1 Qatar Airways British Grand Prix 2025 weekend begins Friday July 4 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday July 5 along with the 52 lap Race Sunday July 6.
