F1 Preview: Silverstone Signs New Deal Ahead of British GP

After one of the greatest races in recent Formula One history, the British Grand Prix has a lot to live up to. Though with a new contract now announced, seeing racing remain at the venue for another 5 years, the circus will be determined to put on a show for the fully booked grandstands.

When the end of lap 26 is reached, it will mark the halfway point of the 2019 F1 season. So far, Mercedes have won eight of the nine Grand Prix with Red Bull winning last time out in Austria.

Lewis Hamilton has a 31 point lead over teammate Valtteri Bottas with Max Verstappen a further 40 points behind.

Last year, Silverstone produced a brilliant race with Ferrari and Mercedes going toe to toe over the 3.66 miles circuit. Hamilton was spun around by Kimi Raikkonen but a late race safety car set up a fantastic finish.

It was a thrilling Mercedes vs. Ferrari battle with Sebastian Vettel coming out on top as he dived down the inside of Bottas into Brooklands. Hamilton finished a remarkable 2nd with Raikkonen round out the podium. Will Ferrari be able to get their two drivers onto the podium again this year?

Hamilton will be the driver to beat as he is at most of the Grand Prix. The 5-time champion took pole position in his debut season in 2007 and has been on pole position at the last four British GP. He has also won the race five times (2007, 2014-2017) and it would have likely been five consecutive victories at Silverstone had it not been for last year’s first lap incident.

Putting a finger on why Hamilton is so good at Silverstone is inexplainable. Obvious reasons include, it’s down to the home crowd and being on home turf – Nigel Mansell famously and sarcastically said the British crowd gave him a second a lap.

My take is down to the nature of the track. Last time out was Austria, arguably Hamilton’s weakest track on the F1 calendar and corners which don’t follow one another in a sequence and are ‘point and squirt’ turns don’t allow Hamilton to find half a tenth over his rivals. Austria is essentially one corner at a time, as is Bahrain.

Conversely, tracks such as Shanghai, Circuit of the Americas, the Hungaroring and Silverstone have a sequence of corners which follow directly after another. It is easier to find a rhythm in that sense and there are more strategic choices for the driver to vary their line and attack the corner(s) as it suits them.

If we look at Silverstone, the Village and Loop section is a great example of one corner impacting the next, as is Brooklands and Luffield. Maggotts and Becketts (everyone’s favourite section of the track) is a perfect example of how differing your line or taking slightly more speed at a specific part of that sequence can give you a net gain. Finally, the final few turns at Club offer strategic variation for the driver too.

This differentiation in the racing line is why Silverstone always produces entertaining and fantastic racing action – not just in F1 but all motorsport series, whether it’s touring cars, Blancpain GT, British GT, MotoGP or BSB the racing is always thrilling.

I fully expect Ferrari to be strong yet again and if they can just execute the perfect Saturday and Sunday, they have just as much chance of winning as Mercedes do.

In qualifying, the Ferrari power unit is supreme so Charles Leclerc has a chance of making it back to back pole positions. Qualifying will be exciting again and the high-speeds of Silverstone provides a real challenge for the drivers and the cars.

From the exit of Luffield all the way to the braking zone of Stowe, it is nearly full throttle for a solid 35 seconds of the lap. The only bits off throttle is for Becketts where the drivers literally touch the brakes before putting their right foot back down on the accelerator.

Copse and Maggotts have become flat out kinks and with no DRS through sections, nor on the old pit straight, this is where the power unit can make a huge difference.

Ferrari’s achilles heel will be the first sector. Abbey will be no problem as it is flat out but through Village and The Loop they will struggle and it will all be a question of whether the recent upgrades they have brought to the car since Spain has closed the gap to Mercedes in the slower speed turns.

They got slaughtered in the final sector of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya which contains a sequence of slow speed corners and requires excellent traction.

Last year’s British GP was one of three races where this year’s thinner tread compound of tyre was used and we saw Ferrari was able to compete with Mercedes. I expect Ferrari to at least get a car on the front row but for Mercedes to have the upper hand on race day so Ferrari must be ahead after the opening lap to take the race to Mercedes. However, Ferrari themselves have downplayed their chances coming into the weekend.

Where will Red Bull fit into this battle? I suspect they will be in no man’s land as the Honda power unit is still not quite up to the level of the Mercedes and Ferrari engines. Plus, Verstappen ran his engine very hard last time out in Austria to get the win so Red Bull may opt to hold back a little if they feel they cannot win for a track such as Hungary where they should be stronger.

With rain highly unlikely this weekend (according to current forecasts), Red Bull might be in a similar situation to last year’s British GP and simply unable to go with Mercedes and Ferrari due to the reliance on the engine.

McLaren head to their home race in a very good position and they now have a target on their backs as the likes of Alfa Romeo, Renault and Haas look to chase them down. It is amazing to see how far the team have come as they have gone from the back of the midfield to the front of the midfield and only look to be getting stronger.

Lando Norris will receive a lot of support from his home crowd and will look to continue his recent excellent form. The Formula Two runner up seems to be a match for teammate, Carlos Sainz, in qualifying but Sainz is slightly stronger in race-trim. Nevertheless, the young Brit has been impressive and is getting the most out of his McLaren.

On Tuesday, McLaren announced that Sainz and Norris will stay at McLaren for 2020. It is a body blow to Red Bull who may have been interested in signing either of the drivers to replace the lacklustre Pierre Gasly. Sainz-Norris is McLaren’s youngest ever line-up but have both proven quick and consistent, pushing each other on as well as having a great relationship off the track. Its good news for McLaren fans.

Renault should put McLaren under pressure though with the cooler temperatures bringing them back into play. The French manufacturer suffered from a similar issue to Mercedes as the extremely warm temperatures meant they had to open up the car to get more cooling into the engine. This has a major effect on the aerodynamics, hence why the car is not as easy to drive or harder to understand. Expect a tight tussle between McLaren and Renault this weekend.

Silverstone has staged 52 world championship F1 events and will continue to host the British GP until at least 2024 after a new deal was signed yesterday. It’s not the first time there has been talk of Silverstone parting ways with F1 after it nearly did so in both 2005 and 2009. The circuit’s owners; the BRDC, had initially had a contract up to 2026, but was forced to suspend it, after it was going to be too expensive for the circuit.

No other venue can attract over 350,000 people over a race weekend and the circuit is still old school despite undergoing various changes over the years. It remains a high-speed challenge coupled with some of the greatest and most famous corners in motorsport. How could you not keep it on the schedule? You would have to be mad.

F1 chairman Chase Carey told BBC Sport after the announcement that:

“We have always said that, if it is to have a long-term future, our sport must preserve its historic venues and Silverstone and Great Britain represent the cradle of this sport, its starting point back in 1950.” – Chase Carey

And while there had been rumours that the British GP was set to move to London, an agreement between the BRDC and Formula 1 was possible. Hence, the chairman of the BRDC John Grant welcomed the decision adding:

“Silverstone is one of the most iconic Grands Prix on the F1 calendar and with such a rich heritage it would have been disastrous for the sport and fans had we not managed to find a way forward.” – John Grant

This comes after Silverstone’s future has come under continued strain in recent years and has been a bone of contention ever since Silverstone exercised a break clause in their contract that could have run until 2026. But because it contained an escalator clause in the deal which saw the price rise by 5% each year for hosting the Grand Prix made it unaffordable.

This article was written with research from our journalists Nigel Chiu and Nathan Hine.