Formula One Vault

PRIXVIEW – British Grand Prix 2024

Round twelve marks the halfway point of the season at the place where F1 began Silverstone, on the Northamptonshire / Buckinghamshire border. The 3.6-mile circuit based on the old runways of the WWII airfield has become the anchor for seven of the ten teams with them being based within the 50-mile motorsport valley. Making this the defacto home race for most teams as well as F1 itself which is based in the UK.

Silverstone is an airfield circuit, which means unpredictable weather and wind can blow around the circuit.  The long straights, largely based on taxiways, means drivers need high downforce and straight-line speed, the corners are quite open which creates opportunities for overtaking.

This is another circuit which is similar to Barcelona and Spielberg, an old-school grassy circuit which punishes big mistakes and where unpredictable weather can play a huge role. 2008 showed the unpredictability of Silverstone, with Lewis Hamilton taking the first of eight wins in the pouring rain and a race full of accidents and drama.]

According to folk law, the first race at Silverstone was organised by locals with a sheep being ran over by Maurice Geoghegan, informally known as the ‘Mutton Grand Prix.’ The circuit has held the third most Grands Prix after Monza and Monaco and is one of two races which has featured in every Grand Prix or F1 season since 1948.

Silverstone has evolved rapidly over the last seventy-five years while still based on the old airfield, this makes the straight line speed and good cornering key as it’s a fast-flowing circuit which creates good opportunities for overtaking. However, it’s hard on the tyres and brakes given the big braking points at the end of the straights. As well as the fast-flowing sections like Maggots and Becketts.

The current arena circuit was built in stages between 2009 and 2011, with the paddock moving counties in 2011 when the wing pit complex was built and this has been expanded in recent years to include a hotel and museum with further developments around the circuit are planned. Many of the British and Commonwealth drivers are members of the owners of the circuit, operators and organisers of the race, the RAC and the BRDC.

Between 1955-62 the race alternated between Aintree and Silverstone, the Aintree Circuit was built within the horse racing circuit. The first race at Aintree, Mercedes drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and home favourite Stirling Moss arrived at Aintree expecting to win.

While Silverstone is the home of British motorsport and has been the home of the race continuously since 1987, other circuits have held the race including Brooklands one of the first purpose-built circuits in the world, Aintree in Liverpool and Brands Hatch. Despite being made up of three countries and one province the race has never been held in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Like many in the 1980s and early 1990s, this race was dominated by Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell, with their races becoming intertwined. Prost won in 1989, Mansell finishing second. The 1990 Grand Prix was the last motor race on the high-speed circuit, and Mansell drove hard and led a lot of the race; but gearbox problems eventually forced him to retire, where he threw his gloves into the crowd and announced that he was going to retire.

Mansell would later go on to win the next two events, Damon Hill looked on course for victory in 1993 however it was Prost who took victory after an engine failure. Hill took victory in the following years’ race on a temporary layout following Senna and Roland Ratzenberger’s deaths at Imola.

Perhaps one of the most drama-filled races was in 2008, when Lewis Hamilton took the first of his eight victories in the pouring rain. Hamilton rose from fourth on the grid to second overtaking Webber and Räikkönen. Hamilton shadowed Kovalainen for the early stages of the race, until he took the lead on lap five, from then on he controlled the race in one of the best-wet weather drives in the sport’s history.

Red Bull dominated this race with Sebastian Vettel and Webber both taking victories between 2009 and 2013

Hamilton is the most successful drivers with the change in regulations in 2014, this has seen him win six more times. That season he was catching his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg before the German retired with a gearbox failure halfway through the race

There were attempts to bring the British GP back to Brands Hatch for 2002 and Donnington Park for 2010, but this never materialised. This ultimately led to the redevelopment of the circuit between 2009 and 2011, as well as more recent developments of the Silverstone Experience. The Arena Grand Prix circuit saw speeds increase to an average of 145mph one of the highest speeds.

In the hybrid era it has been dominated by Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, this circuit rewards drivers who are able to attack and push to brake late and overtake. It’s also a circuit which is hard on tyres and previously power units, recent history have seen tyre failures often pushes this to a two-stop race.

The 2020 race titled ‘British Grand Prix’ saw Hamilton limp home and take a record-equalling seventh win to equal Schumacher. the following would see Hamilton collide with polesitter and championship leader Verstappen at Copse corner, sending the Red Bull driver into the wall at 290 km/h (180 mph).

The 2022 race saw yet more first-lap drama when Guanyu Zhou launched over the barriers at Abbey. Russell moved to the left too late to close the gap causing his left rear tyre to make contact with Gasly’s right front. Gasly backed out but the impact pointed Russell’s car to the left shooting him across the track and directly into the side of Zhou’s car. The impact launched Zhou’s car into the air.

Race & Circuit Guide

Fast facts

• At 5.891km, Silverstone is the third longest F1 circuit on the current calendar. Only Spa Francorchamps in Belgium (7.004km) and Baku City Circuit (6.003km) are longer.
• Together with Italy, Britain is the only country to have held a Grand Prix in every year of the World Championship since 1950.
• In both 1963 and 1965, the British Grand Prix podium at Silverstone was comprised exclusively of British drivers. Jim Clark won both events, and he was joined on the rostrum by John Surtees and Graham Hill both times.
• Only two British Grand Prix have been held later than August in 1926 and 2020 when the race was postponed by a few weeks because of the pandemic. It one of three circuits to have hosted two championship races in a single year along with the Red Bull Ring and Bahrain.
• Silverstone has always maintained its essential character as one of the fastest tracks on the F1 calendar, while historic corners like Maggots and Becketts, and Abbey provide some of the biggest challenges for racing drivers anywhere in the world.

Event timetable

What happened in 2023?

Max Verstappen has beaten Lando Norris by two-tenths of a second to take his fifth pole in a row. The Red Bull driver beat the Englishmen in changeable conditions to secure pole with the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri two tenths behind Norris. It looked difficult to stop the Verstappen express, on his final attempt the Dutchman improved by two-tenths.

Charles Leclerc was fourth going just over a hundredth faster than teammate Carlos Sainz, Ferrari looking unable to capitalise on Aston Martin’s slip from the front. Ferrari’s lack of pace this weekend was expected as they have struggled in high-speed corners. George Russell was sixth half a tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and Alex Albon made sure all four Brits made it through to Q3 going eighth.

Verstappen when on to win but it wasn’t one of his dominant wins as he beat Norris by four seconds, despite a poor start when he lost the lead he soon retook the lead overtaking Norris on the Wellington Straight a lap later. Then Verstappen steadily built an advantage while taking good care of his tyres.

But it always looked unlikely that the Englishman could have taken a maiden win and after Verstappen passed him five laps later showed huge progress for McLaren as he then was able to hold Lewis Hamilton behind scoring his first podium at Silverstone. The first time in twenty-four years two British drivers have been on the podium.

Hamilton benefited from a well-timed stop after Kevin Magnussen brought out the safety car stopping on track, to gain four places. But at the start, he had dropped back two places, before the safety car and the following round of stops saw Hamilton gain four places. Albon making sure all British-born drivers scored points as Williams continued to show the pace and step forwards which has been one of the surprises this weekend.

What to watch for?

Silverstone marks the halfway point in the season, one of the big questions I think has been answered Red Bull is not going to be able to, unless there is a big step or Max Verstappen returns to the crushing dominance after the summer break going to be able to just cruise to victory. But Verstappen will be fired up and things like what happened in Spielberg with Lando Norris almost fires him up, Norris its yet to be clear how he has learned not to be as hard on himself.

We could again have an eight-car fight as the gap has closed between Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes joined the winners club on Sunday. I feel however that beating Red Bull will be challenging as we know this circuit rewards high speed and downforce because we have long straights and fast corners. Red Bull I think can be confident, but they can’t be certain anymore of victory.

McLaren, I think are Red Bull’s closest consistent challengers at the moment, they should be again as it was this race last year that we saw the beginning of the revival of them fighting for best of the rest. I think that battle will resume between McLaren and Red Bull as they look to be fighting for possibly for this championship, but I think it more critical what happens after the summer.

Ferrari, I feel hasn’t able to be in the fight recently, it’s like they’re not grabbing the headlines at the moment, but the way the fight with McLaren and Mercedes is appearing to be slightly ahead. As we saw in Spielberg anything can happen, but any team in that leading pack can be in the mix and take victory this weekend.

Like the recent races, Silverstone is a circuit of variables, grass, gravel and weather can make strategy difficult this weekend. Overtaking and action seems to always happen at this race as the long straights and hard braking zones can create battles across the field, this race always defines the season.

Qualifying could again be tight here given the factors above, and we have seen even the bigger teams on the edge of being knocked out. It is close, as we saw very close times in both qualifying sessions last weekend, while the Red Bull Ring magnifies that gap, we know that teams at the front are needing to be careful

2023 Lap time comparison

2023 vs 2022 Race Data

Tyres