Silverstone and Formula 1 are inextricably linked. The former airfield hosted the first world championship Grand prix in 1950 and it has been a regular fixture on the F1 calendar ever since. It’s been re-profiled several times, but it hasn’t lost its high-speed character. The fast corners demand the same respect today as they did 67 years ago.
“Silverstone is a flowing circuit, quite different to what we have seen so far this season, so it will be an interesting benchmark”, Renault’s chief technical officer Bob Bell explains.
“As a circuit, it’s fast with numerous high-speed corners. It’s not the smoothest circuit, but it doesn’t have particularly nasty kerbs like Austria which gave us bodywork damage. It’s not as hard on brakes as Austria, but it puts a lot of energy on the tyres, especially the left-hand side so you usually get left-front graining amidst other issues.”
“It will be interesting to see how the Medium compound goes around Silverstone. Sometimes drivers don’t like the softer compounds, they prefer the more robust tyre for the high-speed turns, so we will have to wait and see. The layout will test our car’s balance as it has shown a propensity to be a bit nervous in the high-speed corners, so that’s something we’ll be monitoring.”
#BGPbuild update: The #F1 paddock is almost ready! #BritishGP?? pic.twitter.com/u6jH3G3Hqx
— Silverstone (@SilverstoneUK) July 12, 2017
The track
Track length 5.891km/3.660 miles (fourth longest track of the year – longest: Spa-Francorchamps, shortest: Monaco)
2016 pole position Lewis Hamilton, 1m29.287s
2016 fastest lap Nico Rosberg, 1m35.548s (lap 44)
Lap record 1:33.401s (Mark Webber, 2013)
Tyre choice Red Supersoft, yellow Soft and white Medium – the third time this combination has been used in 2017
Distance to Turn One 420m/0.261 miles (longest of season: Barcelona 730m/0.454 miles)
Longest straight 780m/0.485 miles, on the approach to Turn 15 (longest of the season: China, 1.17km/0.727 miles)
Top speed 320km/h/199mph, on the approach to Turn 15 (fastest of season: Monza, 350km/h/217mph)
Full throttle 66 per cent (highest of the season: Monza, 75 percent)
Brake wear Medium. There are three major braking points around the lap, into Turn Three (Village), Turn Six (Brooklands) and Turn 16 (Vale). One of the biggest challenges for the drivers is getting the brakes to perform when cold, particularly under braking for Vale, when they haven’t been used for the previous 45s
Fuel consumption 2.4kg per lap, which is high
ERS demands Medium. It’s a long lap, with high speeds. But the three major braking areas aid energy recovery
Gear changes 48 per lap/2496 per race
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— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 12, 2017
The British Grand prix
Laps 66 laps
Start time 13:00hrs local/14:00hrs CET
Grid advantage Pole position is on the left, the clean side of the grid. It also gives the pole-sitter the racing line into Turn One, a right-hander, which will be taken flat-out at the start if it’s dry
DRS There are two DRS zones, on the approaches to Turns Six (Brooklands) and 16 (Stowe)
Don’t put the kettle on… Tyre life will be affected by the increased cornering forces this year, brought about the new technical regulations. But taking last year’s race as a reference, Pirelli advised a maximum of 28 laps on the medium tyre and 14 of the 17 finishers comfortably exceeded that. If this year’s harder compounds hold up as expected, a one-stop strategy could be possible, on about lap 20
Pitlane length/Pitstops 489m/0.304 miles (longest of the season). Estimated time loss for a pitstop is 23s, which is relatively long
Safety Car likelihood There is a 60 percent chance of a Safety Car. The wide run-off areas give the marshals room to deal with stricken cars. Accidents are usually high-speed, producing lots of debris
Watch out for… Turn Nine, Copse. It’s a surprisingly tight right-hander that opens up at the exit, allowing the drivers to carry phenomenal amounts of speed at the apex. Apex speed will probably be 190mph (306km/h), flat-in-eighth gear – due to the extra downforce produced by the 2017 cars
Today… ? #F1LiveLondon pic.twitter.com/WUH4ROdKSi
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 12, 2017
