@F1 @Rolex #BritishGP 2019 Preview – #F1

After Max Verstappen pinched the victory from Charles Leclerc in a thrilling Austrian Grand Prix to give Red Bull a back-to-back victory at their home race, round 10 of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the fast and historic Silverstone Circuit this weekend for the Formula 1 Rolex British Grand Prix 2019. This marks the 73^rd running of the British Grand Prix, the 70^th time as part of a World Championship event and the 54^th time that the British Grand Prix has been held at Silverstone.

 

 

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.

 

Lewis Hamilton holds the fastest lap record of the current circuit layout set in 2017 with a 1:30.621 in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W08 EQ Power+.

 

Four-time World Champion’s Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost and the late great two-time World Champion Jim Clark both share the most victories at the British Grand Prix with five each.

 

Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful Constructor at the British Grand Prix with 16 victories.

 

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 Lewis Hamilton’s onboard blistering pole position lap of a 1:25.892 in his Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport F1 W09 EQ Power+ around his home Grand Prix circuit at the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heKgXtigPhs

 

The Last Five Winners

 

 

2018: Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari. 2017: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1. 2016: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1. 2015: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1. 2014: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1.

 

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.

 

Renault have opted for a most aggressive approach in Britain, choosing ten sets of the red-branded C3 soft compounds for both Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg.

 

No other team in the field have gone with as many of the softs, although most of them including frontrunners Ferrari and Red Bull – will have nine sets of the faster rubber.

 

Mercedes and McLaren have selected eight sets of the softs, with Williams taking on seven and none of the teams were opting to choose different amounts for their two respective drivers.

 

Renault’s soft-heavy selection comes as a consequence with Daniel Ricciardo only having one set of the yellow side-walled C2 medium at his disposal, while team-mate Nico Hulkenberg will have an additional set of medium at the expense of an extra set of C1 white-marked hard compounds.

 

Only Ricciardo, ROKiT Williams Racing’s Robert Kubica and Racing Point pairing Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll will have more than one set of the C1 hard available.

 

The Silverstone circuit underwent resurfacing ahead of this year’s Formula 1 and MotoGP races.

 

DRS Zones

 

There will be two DRS Zones at Silverstone. The first detection point is 25 metres before turn three (Village) with the activation zone 30 metres after turn five (Aintree). The second detection point is at turn 11 (Maggots) with the activation zone at the exit of turn 14 (Chapel).

 

Pitlane Speed Limits

Pitlane speeds will be 80km/h during practice, qualifying and the race.

 

ICYMI: Austrian GP Rewind – Verstappen snatches epic victory from Leclerc

 

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc to win a classic Austrian Grand Prix and give Honda its first victory since returning to the sport.

 

Verstappen dropped the eighth after suffering anti-stall on the opening lap but came through the field and caught Leclerc in the later stages before winning a side-by-side battle to snatch the victory.

 

However, the Dutchman’s race winning move, which resulted in minor contact is currently investigated by the stewards for pushing Leclerc into the turn three run-off area and denying the Monegasque-youngster his maiden victory in Formula 1.

 

Leclerc came home second with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas rounding out the top three as the Silver Arrow’s 100%-win record since the 2019 championship season began ended.

 

Pole-sitter Leclerc lead from the start despite running a risky strategy, but the Ferrari driver managed to stay ahead of Mercedes’ Bottas at a comfortable length throughout the race.

 

He then resisted pressure from a late push by Verstappen, who dropped from second to eighth on lap one but charged back to take the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s best result of the season with Honda.

 

Leclerc kept his pole advantage, which was aided by anti-stall hampering Verstappen’s Red Bull RB15 racer and the Dutchman fell to seventh at turn one.

 

Verstappen then fell behind Red Bull team-mate Pierre Gasly as the latter passed him around the outside at turn three, but he reclaimed the position back at the penultimate corner.

 

While Leclerc started to build a small gap over Bottas at the front, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen made their way through the field.

 

Vettel started ninth after a pneumatic air-line pressure issue to the engine in qualifying but jumped up to fourth by the sixth lap and Verstappen made his way to fifth place three laps later.

 

Despite being on the white-branded C2 hard compounds that Mercedes believed would be an advantage to Leclerc’s soft rubber, Bottas was the first of the leading runners to pit on lap 21, with Vettel stopping on the same lap.

 

Vettel lost a significant amount of time due to a radio problem for Ferrari’s mechanics meant they could not receive the instruction that the German was pitting.

 

Leclerc covered Bottas’ stop one lap after his chaser, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton released into the lead as the other F1 W10 EQ Power+ racer and Verstappen extended their first stint.

 

Hamilton finally came in on lap 30 after rapidly losing a lot of time over the last couple of laps of his initial stint after suffering front wing damage that was picked up by running over the sausage kerbs at Lauda Curve.

 

The time lost in the pits after the front wing change meant the Briton emerged eight seconds behind Vettel despite the Ferrari also having a slow stop and when Verstappen pitted one lap later, the Dutchman rejoined ahead of Hamilton as well.

 

While Leclerc held a comfortable four second gap at the front, Verstappen was 12.9 seconds off the lead in fourth after stopping and began his push.

 

It took the Dutchman 17 laps to eat into Vettel’s deficit but once the Red Bull got within DRS range, he started to attack.

 

Vettel continued to struggle making the apex of the turn three right-hand corner at the top of the crest, and on the 50^th lap, Verstappen got a good run out of the corner and with DRS assistance, moved ahead of the Ferrari into the braking zone and passed Vettel on the outside into turn four.

 

After clearing the Ferrari, which immediately stopped for the second time switching to a fresh set of softs and emerged behind Hamilton, Verstappen rapidly caught Bottas.

 

The two Mercedes’ pace was reduced due to temperature management, and Verstappen flew passed Bottas on the second run to the third corner on the 56^th lap – with the Dutchman reporting a brief loss of power.

 

This released Verstappen to hunt down Leclerc, who was six seconds in-front with 15 laps remaining.

 

With five laps remaining, Verstappen was right on the Ferrari’s tail and attacked the SF90 racer on the outside of turns three and four, but Leclerc held on.

 

The following lap, Verstappen divebombed Leclerc with an excellent move into turn three, but Leclerc managed to hold on around the outside and the Ferrari’s straight-line advantage out-dragged the Honda-powered Red Bull on the rundown to turn four.

 

With three laps left, Leclerc half-covered the inside but Verstappen went right to the edge of the track, which forced the Ferrari wide – and the two touched wheels as Leclerc tried to keep wheel-to-wheel again on the outside.

 

Leclerc took to the run-off area and complained over the radio, while Verstappen accused the Monegasque-youngster of turning in on him.

 

Verstappen was told to keep pushing and came across the finish line 2.724 seconds ahead of Leclerc to give Honda it’s first victory since the 2006 Hungarian Grand Prix and Bottas completed the top three.

 

Behind the top three, Vettel used his fresher softs to his advantage to catch and pass Hamilton for fourth.

 

Championship leader Hamilton had to settle for fifth but only lost five points in the title fight to Mercedes team-mate Bottas.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris put the heartbreak of last weekend’s French Grand Prix behind him to come home best of the rest in sixth place for the Woking-based squad.

 

The young Briton managed to comfortably keep the other Red Bull RB15 of Pierre Gasly at bay to take his best result of the 2019 campaign.

 

The other Renault-powered MCL34 McLaren of Carlos Sainz executed a long first stint after starting at the back of the grid to finish an impressive eighth while both Alfa Romeo Racing C38’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi completed the top ten with the latter scoring his first point of the season.

 

The Racing Point of Sergio Perez finished in 11^th and ahead of the two Renault’s of Daniel Ricciardo who were 12^th and 13^th respectively.

 

The other Racing Point of Lance Stroll was 14^th and finished in-front of Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon who took 15^th and Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean who ended the Grand Prix in 16^th.

 

The second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat came home 17^th and ahead of ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell who took 18^th.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and ROKiT Williams Racing’s Robert Kubica brought up the rear.

 

The Situation

 

 

Reigning champion Lewis Hamilton comes to Silverstone sitting on top of the Driver’s Championship with 197 points and a 31-point advantage over team-mate Valtteri Bottas who is second on 166 while Max Verstappen is a further 71 behind the Briton in third on 126 points.

 

Mercedes returns to Great Britain comfortably on top of the Constructor’s Championship with 363 points and a 135-point lead over nearest rivals Ferrari who are second on 228 while Red Bull Racing are third and a further 194 behind the Silver Arrows in third on 169 points.

 

F1 2020 Season News – Australian Grand Prix to kick off Sunday March 15

 

 

Formula One announced on Saturday that the next FIA Formula 1 World Championship season will begin at the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2020. The famous Albert Park Street Circuit in Melbourne will host the season-opening event from Thursday March 12 to Sunday March 15.

 

2020 marks the 70^th Anniversary of the sport of Formula 1 and will also be the 25^th year of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, which has hosted the pinnacle of motorsport at the Albert Park street circuit every year since 1996. Like this year’s event, the Grand Prix will run on the weekend following the Labour Day long weekend in Victoria, which is also the week before the start of the Australian Football League season.

 

Rolex, a global partner of Formula 1, will sponsor the event for the eighth consecutive time.

 

“We are pleased to announce that, as has been the case for many years now, the next FIA Formula 1 World Championship season will get underway in Melbourne,” explained Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey. “The Albert Park circuit is one of the most popular venues on the calendar, much appreciated by everyone who works in Formula 1.”

 

“The enthusiastic reception from the Australian fans makes this round really unique and special. There can be no better place to start the 2020 season, which will be significant as the sport will celebrate its 70th anniversary. We are also pleased that Rolex, who have been one of our Global Partners for many years, will continue to be the title sponsor of the 2020 Australian Grand Prix.” Carey concluded.

 

“Hosting Melbourne’s 25th Formula 1 race conjures excitement and interest, and as they said back in 1996, ‘Melbourne – what a great place for the race!’ Australian Grand Prix CEO Andrew Westacott added. “We’ve got the largest on-track program of any Formula 1 event in the world and combined with the amount and quality of off-track entertainment, there’s something for all and it’s an event that simply must be experienced.”

 

“The date confirmation provides the opportunity for interstate and overseas visitors to plan a lengthy stay in Victoria.” Westacott concluded.

 

McLaren confirm Norris and Sainz for 2020

 

 

McLaren confirmed the news that it has retained Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris for the 2020 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season. The duo have integrated well into the Woking-based outfit over the nine months as they progress on their road to returning to the front. Retaining both drivers for the 2020 campaign echoes McLaren’s commitment to consistency and continuity, which are the team’s key pillars to become more competitive.

 

“Today’s announcement provides the team with the continuity to keep pushing forward,” explained McLaren Racing Team Principal Andreas Seidl. “The performance of both Carlos and Lando have been a key part of the team’s progress. Their feedback has enabled our engineers to develop the MCL34 and look ahead to the MCL35.”

 

“Carlos has played a key role in developing the car using his experience, while Lando has got up to speed with the demands of Formula 1 incredibly quickly and is growing in confidence every weekend. This is welcome news for the whole McLaren team and we look forward to continuing our partnership together.” Seidl concluded.

 

“I’m delighted we’re able to announce our 2020 driver line-up ahead of the team’s home race at the British Grand Prix this weekend,” added McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown. “Both Carlos and Lando are proving themselves as racers and are integral to our path to recovery. They have made a real contribution to the positive momentum and morale within the team, both at the track and back at the factory.”

 

“The reception they’ve received from our fans has been outstanding and they are superb ambassadors for the McLaren brand, personifying our Fearlessly Forward mentality.” Brown concluded.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Driver’s Championship Standings – Top 10

1. Lewis Hamilton – 197 Points.
2. Valtteri Bottas – 166 Points.
3. Max Verstappen – 126 Points.
4. Sebastian Vettel – 123 Points.
5. Charles Leclerc – 105 Points.
6. Pierre Gasly – 43 Points.
7. Carlos Sainz – 30 Points.
8. Lando Norris – 22 Points.
9. Kimi Raikkonen – 21 Points.
10. Daniel Ricciardo – 16 Points.

 

Formula 1 2019 World Constructors Championship Standings

1. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – 363 Points.
2. Scuderia Ferrari – 228 Points.
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing-Honda – 169 Points.
4. McLaren-Renault F1 Team – 52 Points.
5. Renault F1 Team – 32 Points.
6. Alfa Romeo Racing – 22 Points.
7. SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team – 19 Points.
8. Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – 17 Points.
9. Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – 16 Points.
10. ROKiT Williams Racing – 0 Points.

 

The Formula 1 Rolex British Grand Prix 2019 weekend begins Friday July 12 with Free Practice 1 and 2, followed by Free Practice 3 and Qualifying Saturday July 13 along with the 52 lap Race Sunday July 14.