What to expect from the 2018 British GP?
The British Grand Prix which is the last race of the first ever triple-header in Formula 1, will be driven this Sunday on the legendary Silverstone circuit n Northamptonshire.
This Formula One race in Britain is the home race for a lot teams and drivers. After years with more than one British driver, we now only have 1, but it's one of the best ever seen in F1: Lewis Hamilton. Teams that have their factory in Britain are: Williams, Haas, McLaren, Renault, Mercedes, Force India and Red Bull.
Until now the 2018 F1 season is very exciting. We already had 4 different race winners this season and we have 6 drivers who are battling out the drivers and constructors championship.
Sebastian Vettel took over the lead from Hamilton by 1 point in Austria again and Hamilton retired for the first time in 34 races. Both drivers won three races and it's all hands on deck for Mercedes after their horrible weekend in Austria.
Kimi Raikkonen who stands 3rd in the championship, scored P2 in Austria and scored 5 podiums this season, but hasn't won a race yet. Will he win again in Silverstone just like in 2007?
Daniel Ricciardo who won in China and Monaco and is 4th in the standings, was maybe lucky because Max Verstappen made a few (big) mistakes in those race weekends. When Verstappen (who is 5th in the standings) doesn't make mistakes it seems that he is untouchable for Ricciardo.
6th place in the 2018 drivers championship is occupied by Valtteri Bottas. He was extremely unlucky in Azerbaijan and Austria and could have won both races and even could have been leading the championship if he had more luck.
Race number 10 in Britain will be very interesting, because of the slump that Mercedes seems to be in. They even can receive a grid penalty, when after inspection Mercedes deside to replace sealed items.
At the same time Ferrari and Red Bull are getting stronger by the week...
2018 British GP Facts & Figures
The track that's used for the British Grand Prix is still the good old Silverstone circuit. From time to time we get messages that the circuit cannot host the race money wise, but until now we still see the circuit is being used every season.
The Silverstone circuit was the first track that hosted a Formula One race back in 1950 and therefor is being called the home of motor racing. The circuit use to be an airbase back in World war 2.
This year it's the 52nd time that an Formula One race is held on the legendary circuit. The British GP is held for the 69th time.
Silverstone nowadays has 18 corners and all have their own name. The circuit is driven clock-wise and 10 turns are right-handed and 8 are left-handed.
The loop (turn 14) is the slowest corner. Cars drive at 90 km/h there. The fastest corner is Copse (turn 9). With a whopping speed of 290 km/h the drivers will get over 5G of force on their body.
The lap record on the old British track is set last year by Lewis Hamilton to 1:30.621 min in the Mercedes W08. He drove a lap of Silverstone with a blistering average speed of 234.025 km/h. Because of the softer tyre compounds and never ending car development, It's obvious that the lap record will be broken again this year.
Of the current drivers, Leiws Hamilton won the most races on Silverstone. He won 5 times and 4 of them are consecutive wins of the last 4 seasons! Jim Clark and Alain Prost also won the British GP 5 times.
Hamilton can set a new record again this weekend if he wins the race for the 6th time and will probably be keen to get a 5th consecutive win Sunday. Other current drivers that won the British Grand Prix on Silverstone are Fernando Alonso (2x), Sebastian Vettel (1x) and Kimi Raikkonen (1x).
The Ferrari team has won here the most races overall. They won here 16 times, 2 more than McLaren. It's also the circuit that gave Ferrari their first ever F1 victory. José Frolián Gonzáez won here in 1951.
British GP 2018 Tyres
The Pirelli Ice Blue hard tyre makes its season debut at the rapid Silverstone circuit. While the Ice Blue hard is new for this season, it is the equivalent of last year’s medium, which means that effectively the nomination (together with the medium and the soft) is similar to last year.
The British Grand Prix ends the first-ever triple-header in Formula 1 history, but the Pirelli team will stay on afterwards for a tyre development test aimed at 2019.
Silverstone is one of the most demanding circuits of the year when it comes to tyres, mainly because of the series of long and fast corners that puts plenty of energy through them.
The track has been completely resurfaced this year, resulting in faster asphalt with high grip but low degradation.
Consequently tyres with a tread depth reduced by 0.4 mm will be used for the final time this season to reduce overheating (as was the case in Spain and France).
Despite the softest tyre selection made to date at Silverstone last year, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton still won the race using a one-stop strategy.
The track is quite heavily used during the year, so it tends to rubber in reasonably quickly.
Last Years 2018 British GP
Lewis Hamilton & Valtteri Bottas Mercedes on podium of British GP F1 2017
In last years 2017 edition of the British F1 GP it was Jolyon Palmer who had to retire his Renault In the warmup lap of his home race.
Hamilton who started from pole and got away clean. Behind hijm there was a fears battle between both Ferrari drivers and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. Verstappen made an unbelievable move on the outside of Vettel in the Loop and almost passed Raikkonen on the Woodlands straight.
Both Toro Rosso drivers Sainz and "the torpedo" Kvyat collided and Sainz had to retire his car in the 2nd lap.
In lap 12 Ricciardo, who had to start from the back get P13 from Fernando Alonso's McLaren. A lap later Vettel and Verstappen had a great fight for P3, but Vettel couldn't get passed the 19 year old...
Then Vettel tried an undercut pitstop on Verstappen. The Dutchman's pitstop wasn't flawless and he came out behind Vettel.
Fernando Alonso again had to retire his McLaren with engine problems and Ricciardo steamed up to 7th place. In lap 43 Vettel then had a tough fight with the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas.
At the end of the race both Ferrari drivers lost places because of a left-front tyre puncture. Fortunately for Raikkonen he could hang-on to the podium and finish as 3rd while Hamilton won the race with Bottas scoring a 1-2 finish for Mercedes.
Silverstone Weather Forecast
British weather is famous for its unpredictability, but this weekend seems to be the hottest British Grand Prix ever!
On Friday we will see early low cloud soon clearing to leave a dry, sunny and very warm day. Warmest inland, with an onshore breeze keeping temperatures a little lower near the coast. Maximum temperature 27°C.
Mainly dry through the period with some clouds and sunny spells and temperatures around 29°C for Saturday and Sunday.
Who will be on the 2018 British F1 GP podium?
While getting to half way the season it seems to get harder to predict who will be on the podium each race.
We've seen 4 different race winners in the last 4 races. The drivers championship is very close and the 6 drivers who drive at the top 3 teams are batteling out who will be on top at the end of the season.
Passing cars should not be a big problem on Silverstone. Mercedes has to look into their reliability issues of last race and might have to replace sealed items that will give them a penalty.
The powerful Ferrari is having a hard time with the very quick cornering speeds of the Red Bull. The Silverstone track layout has a similarity with the Catalunya circuit in Spain. Except the tyre wear is much higher on Silverstone because of the new tarmac.
In Spain Mercedes was unbeatable with the lighter spec tyres. In Silverstone they won't have that "advantage". Hamilton will fight till the end for his 50th pole for Mercedes and his 5th consecutive win at Silverstone, while Max Verstappen is flying high after his win in Austria in the best handeling car on the grid.
Our bets are: 1. Vettel, 2. Verstappen, 3. Hamilton
Below you'll find the tyre choices for the 2018 British F1 Grand Prix weekend done by each driver:
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