The number five has plenty of significance this weekend at Silverstone. For a start, my Channel 4 colleague Karun Chandhok is going to be driving Nigel Mansell’s title winning Williams from 1992 on a couple of demo laps, carrying the red 5 proudly in this 40th year of Williams in F1. Meanwhile, at the sharp end of the field Lewis Hamilton will be looking for win number five at the British Grand Prix, a feat that has only been achieved by one other British driver, Jim Clark. Hamilton has made Silverstone his own playground for the duration of the V6 turbo hybrid era which began in 2014, winning from 6th on the grid that first year after missing out in tricky conditions in qualifying, and then winning from pole for the last two years. His first win here in 2008 when at McLaren was also one of his most impressive, as he took victory by over a minute in the wet. He loves racing in front of his home crowd, but he also loves the very nature of Silverstone with its fast, flowing corners that demand total commitment where more than almost any other circuit on the calendar, drivers get a real buzz out of the sheer speed and the G forces that are generated here. Flat out through Copse this year? Sergio Perez reckons some drivers will achieve that at some point this weekend.
The 2017 cars with their extra grip and downforce are a perfect match for the layout and I can’t wait to see them at full tilt through both Copse and the Maggots/Becketts complex. I’d love to see a graphic on screen that gave us a sector time for just that one part of the track, so that we could really determine which chassis is working best through there. Looking at the pogress that has been made by Red Bull in recent events, I wouldn’t be surprised if Daniel Ricciardo or Max Verstappen were among the quickest in that section. Ricciardo is coming off the back of five successive podiums while Max is at the other end of the 5 spectrum with that figure as his total number of non finishes this year, but both of them will be feeling pumped by the race pace in Austria, where Ricciardo was able to fend off Hamilton; we heard his roar of delight as the significance of that sank in during the slow down lap.
Carrying number 5 in current F1 is of course Hamilton’s great rival Sebastian Vettel. He arrives with a 20 point lead but hasn’t won a race since Monaco. His record here is not quite up there with Lewis; just the one victory in 2009 when he was at Red Bull, although there was a strong 3rd place for Ferrari in 2015. Spain this year saw a tremendous duel between the two of them, and there’s every reason to expect the Ferrari to be just as competitive on a track where efficient downforce is the key. Mind you, he’ll need to keep an eye on the other side of the garage as Kimi enjoyed a string of five podiums here in the mid noughties, culminating in victory in 2007 and he outqualified Seb last year. Fernando Alonso is another former winner here; in fact he has finished either first or second on five occasions, but bearing in mind the lack of power from Honda and that he’s suffered five retirements this year, his chances of success some five years since he was last on pole here are remote.
A battle between Ferrari and Mercedes seems the most likely scenario once again and the Silver Arrows have already won five races this year, shared between their two drivers. They have also won the British GP five times, counting back to Sir Stirling Moss’s victory at Aintree in 1955. This is no short circuit, in fact it’s the third longest on the calendar, but Number 5 is Alive (and well) on the sweeps and turns of Silverstone.
The 2017 cars with their extra grip and downforce are a perfect match for the layout and I can’t wait to see them at full tilt through both Copse and the Maggots/Becketts complex. I’d love to see a graphic on screen that gave us a sector time for just that one part of the track, so that we could really determine which chassis is working best through there. Looking at the pogress that has been made by Red Bull in recent events, I wouldn’t be surprised if Daniel Ricciardo or Max Verstappen were among the quickest in that section. Ricciardo is coming off the back of five successive podiums while Max is at the other end of the 5 spectrum with that figure as his total number of non finishes this year, but both of them will be feeling pumped by the race pace in Austria, where Ricciardo was able to fend off Hamilton; we heard his roar of delight as the significance of that sank in during the slow down lap.
Carrying number 5 in current F1 is of course Hamilton’s great rival Sebastian Vettel. He arrives with a 20 point lead but hasn’t won a race since Monaco. His record here is not quite up there with Lewis; just the one victory in 2009 when he was at Red Bull, although there was a strong 3rd place for Ferrari in 2015. Spain this year saw a tremendous duel between the two of them, and there’s every reason to expect the Ferrari to be just as competitive on a track where efficient downforce is the key. Mind you, he’ll need to keep an eye on the other side of the garage as Kimi enjoyed a string of five podiums here in the mid noughties, culminating in victory in 2007 and he outqualified Seb last year. Fernando Alonso is another former winner here; in fact he has finished either first or second on five occasions, but bearing in mind the lack of power from Honda and that he’s suffered five retirements this year, his chances of success some five years since he was last on pole here are remote.
A battle between Ferrari and Mercedes seems the most likely scenario once again and the Silver Arrows have already won five races this year, shared between their two drivers. They have also won the British GP five times, counting back to Sir Stirling Moss’s victory at Aintree in 1955. This is no short circuit, in fact it’s the third longest on the calendar, but Number 5 is Alive (and well) on the sweeps and turns of Silverstone.