Sundaram Ramaswami
The fourth round of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship will be held in the little village of Silverstone this weekend. A milestone (and bizarre) year for the sport as the Formula 1 bandwagon completes a loop in history when they return to the venue where it all started 70 years ago.
Since its inception in 1950, Britain remains the only country apart from Italy to have a continued presence on the F1 calendar. The Grand Prix has run on three different circuits namely Aintree, Brands Hatch and Silverstone. Since the mid-1950s the race venue has alternated between Silverstone and Aintree/Brands Hatch, but 1987 onwards Silverstone has remained the home of the British GP.
This will also be the first time that the race has been scheduled in August, which otherwise was a July regular.
Qualifying
Ferrari and Williams have been the most successful constructors around this track with 15 and 13 pole positions respectively, but a certain German team is building a legacy of their own. Mercedes has taken each of the last 7 British Grand Prix pole positions, and knowing their competitors are off the pace by at least half-a-second in qualifying this year, we’d be pretty surprised if it wasn’t them for a record 8th successive time. The last team to take 7-straight poles at the British race was Williams between 1991 and 1997.
Finishing in the first 2 rows is of prime importance at Silverstone, with 88% of race victories coming from the top 4 grid positions.
Nico Hulkenberg, the driver who’ll be filling in for Sergio Pérez for the Silverstone races, has made 6 Q3 appearances in 9 attempts with a best grid position of 4th, while Pérez has made it to Q3 only twice.
Race
The British Grand Prix has had 39 different race winners, 12 of whom were British. The likes of Sir Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, David Coulthard, James Hunt have all taken the top step at Silverstone but quite surprisingly, Jenson Button remains the only British champion to not step foot on the rostrum of his home race.
British constructors have won 36 of the 70 races, but over the last 2 decades, they have emerged victorious just 4 times. The turn of the millennium has seen teams like Ferrari and Mercedes state their command over this historic racetrack with the latter having won 6 of the last 7 races. Sebastian Vettel is the only non-Mercedes driver to win the British Grand Prix in the hybrid era, but it’s unlikely he can repeat that feat this year, a fact that was asserted by Ferrari president John Elkann himself last week. But history still lies with Ferrari as the most successful constructor around this track with 17 race wins and 56 podiums.
As Silverstone is a high downforce circuit, one would expect a team like Red Bull Racing to have an envious record at this track. It’s pretty decent if you’d look at the numbers – 8 front-row starts, 9 podiums and 3 victories. But don’t let the numbers fool you since a big percentage of these took place during Red Bull’s dominant phase in F1. Ever since the sport made the switch to hybrid engines, Red Bull have had just one front row start – which came in 2014 when Vettel was still driving for them – and two podiums, the last of which was in 2016. Considering how poorly Red Bull fared at a circuit like Hungaroring, could the next two weekends be a sorrow tale again for the Austrian team?
Kimi Räikkönen has 1 win, 1 pole position, 4 fastest laps and 7 podiums around this track, but his current machinery won’t allow him to push those numbers any higher.
Lewis Hamilton’s Dominance
Surprised to not see a single mention of Lewis Hamilton so far? That’s because his performance at the British Grand Prix warranted a section of its own.
In simple words, Hamilton’s dominance at Silverstone is synonymous to that of Ayrton Senna’s on the streets of Monaco. The Brit just loves driving around this track. With six pole positions and six victories, not only is he the most successful driver at Silverstone, he’s easily the most consistent one as well. In 13 appearances since 2007, he’s clinched 9 podiums at Silverstone – the most by a driver at this particular circuit – and he’s ended up outside the points on only one occasion, back in 2009 when he finished 16th after starting 19th.
Going by his current form, Hamilton is all set to break a few records over the next two weekends. The current record for most pole positions at a home Grand Prix stands tied between Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton with 6 poles, while Alain Prost and Lewis Hamilton share the record for most victories at a home Grand Prix with 6 wins. With Silverstone to host back-to-back races this year, Hamilton gets two shots at claiming both records. Although in terms of fastest laps, Hamilton (4) is still a few races away to match Jim Clark (5) and Nigel Mansell (7). He has also led the most laps around the Silverstone track – 279, well ahead of any of the current drivers with Sebastian Vettel having led 155 laps here.
