[akash_v12]

After the nail-biting finish which had some of us falling off the edge of our seats, Silverstone is back with the F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. The race is a commemoration to the the 70th Anniversary of the 1st Championship race, hosted on the same track in 1950.

Even after Hamilton, Bottas & Sainz had tyre failures last race, Pirelli has decided to stick with the compounds which they had selected earlier (C2,C3 and C4) for this race. Also, for the first 30 minutes of FP2, the cars will be running on prototype 13 inch wheels with 18 inch rubber as testing for the 2021 Season.

Stream On:- Star Sports Select HD | Hotstar

Schedule



Circuit





Tyre Compounds

[Aditya]

On pure pace, I think Hamilton will be difficult to match. However, after seeing what can happen with the tyres, Red Bull and Verstappen will smell blood. Mercedes and its drivers will have the tyre failures at the back of their minds.

Horner & Co. will just need to be a little patient and with a little bit of luck, we might get to see a much closer race for the top spot than what we have been seeing so far.

As for the WDC, Bottas has to do better than last weekend. Otherwise, there is barely any chance of Hamilton being challenged this season.

[akash_v12]

Originally Posted by Aditya

On pure pace, I think Hamilton will be difficult to match. However, after seeing what can happen with the tyres, Red Bull and Verstappen will smell blood. Mercedes and its drivers will have the tyre failures at the back of their minds.

Horner & Co. will just need to be a little patient and with a little bit of luck, we might get to see a much closer race for the top spot than what we have been seeing so far.

As for the WDC, Bottas has to do better than last weekend. Otherwise, there is barely any chance of Hamilton being challenged this season.

Completely agree.
Infact I feel Bottas would've had a chance of winning if it weren't for the tyre failure which prompted him to have an additional pitstop. The Mercedes cars seem to be becoming quicker by the season and that too by a huge gap.
Norris, Ricciado & Verstappen all seem to be in great form.

As for Sainz & Albon, well, let's just say they were having a bad day last week.

Edit: UPDATE

Sergio Perez has taken a step closer to returning to his Racing Point cockpit, with confirmation he has completed his isolation, as per the UK's Public Health guidelines. Should he test negative in a PCR Covid-19 test, the Mexican will be cleared to race, his team said on Thursday.

More information here

[Kingston]

Originally Posted by akash_v12

Sergio Perez has taken a step closer to returning to his Racing Point cockpit, with confirmation he has completed his isolation, as per the UK's Public Health guidelines. Should he test negative in a PCR Covid-19 test, the Mexican will be cleared to race, his team said on Thursday.

More information here

As much as we all would like Racing Point to gain points with 'Checo', I really want to see Nico 'The Hulk' race again and perhaps get a podium. Would be a fitting fairytale end to his long, painful yet strong career.

[ds.raikkonen]

This weekend's race will definitely be a 2 stopper, so expecting some chaos up front. Pirelli engineers will be biting their nails as the unforgiving circuit will be even tougher on their softer compounds slated for this weekend. I am hoping people with smooth driving style like Albon should go one better than last weekend, not sure his Red Bull will complement that very well though as it is more used to 'rotating' through both front and rear end as per Max's specifications. Should be fun though!

The long run pace in FP2 will be interesting. I was actually hoping they will keep just 1 practice session but probably need all 3 due to change in tyre availability.

Here are some fun facts, interesting photos and videos about the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix:

1950 British GP pole sitter:
Giuseppe Farina (Alfa Romeo) - 1:50.8

1950 British GP winner:
Giuseppe Farina for the Alfa Romeo team, after starting from pole position, with a race time of 2:13:23.6 and an average speed of 146.378 km/h

1950 British GP highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys5u...c#action=share

[ds.raikkonen]

Originally Posted by akash_v12

Also, for the first 30 minutes of FP2, the cars will be running on prototype 13 inch wheels with 18 inch rubber as testing for the 2021 Season.

You mean testing 18 inch wheels for 2021 right, currently they are using 13 inch wheels. I feel this will significantly reduce their mechanical grip through fast corners. Current wheels and tyres almost look like balloons! But provide insane grip, especially through transmitting the gargantuan torque of the F1 PU to the ground through twisting the tyre wall.

Here is an amazing video from 'driver61' channel on the tyres used on top fuel dragster cars which are quite similar and even softer than the softest C6 compounds used in F1 currently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HsCB8gdV3c

[shibujp]

Riccardo gets his Renault into P3 in both free practices. Pleasantly surprised! Time that the Honey Badger has a nice race. Is the Renault now close to the Honda in pace and power?

Vettel suffering from engine failure not once but in both sessions. Quite surprising, this!

Drive on,
Shibu.

[Agarwal_Aayush]

The qualifying clearly displayed the that the whole outfit has to bring a trick out of the hat to beat the Mercedes.
They are really in a league of there own. A difference of nearly a second is huge.

Really happy to see Hulk starting 3rd tomorrow, hope he gets a permanent seat for next year.

Ferrari are in a real mess right now and Vettel seems to have lost all confidence in the team and not just the car.

Lets see whats instore for tomorrow, will there be another last lap drama or just another boring race to see Mercedes lapping all the cars.

-Aayush

[shibujp]

Edge of the seat stuff from Bottas and Hamilton. However I think Hamilton left something on the table...and he said as much.

However one man eclipsed the shenanigans of the Merc duo. The HULK! Given a capable car he just put it in P3 on just the second weekend. Just hopes he builds on that performance to put in a podium worthy drive.

Lest we forget - Riccardo. Great to see him in P5 just pipped to P4 by Max Verstappen. However he has got a chance seeing that Verstappen is starting on the harder compound (I've got to keep reminding myself that this was the medium just last week) and may have to manage his tyres to ensure he can play with the strategy a bit.

Red Bull with Max starting on the hard compound has some interesting strategy options up their sleeve. Red Bull somehow does not look comfortable at all in races compared to where they were last year.

The engine problem in FP2 seems to have cost Vettel dear in terms of setup. Looked like the a driver in a completely different car compared to his team-mate.

Norris has again brought his car into Q3 after a stonking drive in Q2. And Russel again pushing the Williams into Q2. Awesome talent no doubt!

Drive on,
Shibu

Drive on,
Shibu.

[guru_max]

Mclarens does not seem to be particularly strong in this track. With Alpha Tuari going very strong, the midfield looks quite close with Racing point, Mclaren, Renault, AT and Ferrari being weaker. With Albon not having a good time, some podium places are up for grabs over the course of the season.

[tazmaan]

Wow just wow what a drive by Max and brilliant strategy by red bull. Hamilton still gains on Bottas due to botched up strategy by Mercedes but they were hoping to take on Max which did not work out.

And LeClerc with the same car it shows how much Vettel is off.

I want these tyres for next race as well.

[motorworks]

That was epic! Finally someone takes the fight to Mercedes this year! I think Mercedes will be in trouble when the track temperature is very high and probably in circuits with continuous high speed corners, such as Silverstone, which seemingly damages their tyres more than the others.

Great call from Redbull today to start on the Hard compounds, I was sort of surprised many teams in the top 10 did not do this especially since these Hards were actually the Mediums of last week, which anyway lot of teams used as the starting tyre in the previous race.

The only silver lining for Ferrari this season seems to be that their car is not very hard on its tyres. Leclerc drove a very mature race, managed his tyres well, I think he would have overtaken the Racing Point cars on track even if he had stopped the 2nd time. And another dismal race for Seb, he had a chance to be in the top 10,but he lost his car on the very first lap, and then from thereon he could not do better. He must be thankful that this is not a full season and would be hoping that there are no more races being added to the Calendar. Just look at the driver points, Leclerc is on 45 and Vettel is on 10. That says it all.

[fz_rider]

Before the race, I had a gut feeling that RedBull will have a great day. As the race was about to start, RedBull rookie No. 33 Brad Binder won a MotoGp race. Max was on a alternate strategy, and if he could keep it clean and behind Mercedes on first stint, he'll have a good chance of win. That's what exactly happened.
Poor Bottas, despite being lead Mercedes, was put on a wrong strategy.
Great driving by Leclerc, period.

[KPR]

Excellent racing from Max and not to forget Albon. Albon should be in top 5 while qualifying to make such races more interesting. What was that HAM mentioned about MAX's tyre pressure over radio? Has RedBull filled air at low pressures than what Pirelli specified? Any investigation will be made on this?

[neo_narender]

What a drive by Verstappen, top work with his 9th career win. With Hamilton being P2, I feel bad for Bottas as he did his first pit stop way too soon, Team orders maybe? Also Leclerc has been lucky yet again with no pace from the infamous SF1000, P8 to P4. And credits where credits are due, even Albon had a wonderful drive from P9 to P5 with good wheel to wheel racing. Stroll & Hulkenberg at P6 & P7 respectively, I am glad to see Hulk back in action. I just wish he had at least a podium finish. Ocon in P8, besting his teammate. Norris P9, no more last lap wonders sadly from him & Kvyat finishing P10 in points for AlphaTauri Honda.

I wonder what is going on with the Mercedes' tires, is it the weight management of the fuel or something entirely different at play?
Also why did Vettel spin in the first lap all on his own & later his radio with the engineer stating "This time you messed up"? Any ideas?

Neo