ClimberF1

Main partner

• Vote Climber of the year in F1-rules
• News from Formula 1
• GP Calendars F1 2021
• F1 circuits 2021
• Constructors Championship F1 2020
• F1 Championship Classification 2022

• Our recommendations
• Contact us
• Wrote about us
• Interesting links"
• Archiv

Tune in to live broadcasting
on OK9FER Ham radio

Before the GP of Great Britain/ Exclusive from Petr Minarik/ photo J.Křenek

The end of the next week will take Formula 1 to the place where the World Championship opened its eyes in May 1950. The Silverstone circuit, about 50 km from Northampton, which  lays on the border of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire. And because the British GP, similar the Italian GP, hasn't had a break in the F1 calendar, it will be the 63^rd this year. The truth is though, that not always this GP was at Silverstone, which was originally an army airport, where the car racing started in 1948. A dozen of British Gps were held also near London (at Brands Hatch) and five close to Liverpool (Aintree track). And two years ago it almost seemed the role of the host of the British GP would be lost also for Silverstone, where the racing has been taking place since 1987 without break. It was because of the disagreement between Bernie Ecclestone and the British Car Racing Driver's Club, the owner of the circuit, then lead by Damon Hill, and the GP was about to be moved to Donington Park. In the end it turned out that Donington doesn't have and won't have money for the reconstruction. So it is sure that Silverstone will see the British GP at least till 2014.

Today's home of the British GP was, of course, modified many times in its long years of service. Last time in 2010 and last year even the start and finish positions were changed: instead of the traditional straight between Woodcote and Copse corners the start and finish moved to the straight before Abbey. And so the circuit, which is the home of Force India and from where it is about seven kilemetres to Breckley, the home of Mercedes, is now 5,891m.  It has 18 corners (10 right), it allows 77 per cent full gas and the drivers change gears about 40 times each lap. The fastest place is the Hangar Straight, at its end the speeds over 310 kph are reached, on the contrary the slowest is the Vale corner, taken in the second gear (95 kph). The drivers experience the biggest g-force in the Maggots, taken at 303 kph. And in one lap on the circuit - where two F1 drivers found their death (Harry Schell and Bob Andreson) and which saw the first interrupted race (1973) - the drivers loose 3.1 litres of fuel. The race that lasts 52 laps (306.227 km) was won by Alonso last year before Vettel and Webber, however, from the statistics point of view the British GP is still the domain of the legends. The most victories belongs to Jim Clark and Alain Prost (5), the most fastest laps Nigel Mansell (7), before Stirling Moss and the most pole positions belongs to Jim Clark (5). The most points (69) has been collected by the man, who visited Prague for three hours recently - Michael Schumacher, who also had his hardest crash in the Stowe corner in 1999. As far as the cars are concerned the British GP is pure Ferrari turf. They got most victories (16) as well as pole positions (14), took the most fastest laps, they reached the most podium positions (49) and points (395.5) and took the most kilometres in the lead (4,830). And what about the other current teams? For example Williams hasn't won for a long time (last time Jacques Villeneuve 1997), Mercedes (Stirling Moss 1955) and Lotus (Emerson Fittipaldi 1972). Sauber had its most interesting race in 2001 (Kimi  Räikkönen fifth), for Force India the best place came in 2010 (Adrian Sutil eight), whereas Toro Rosso (Jaime Alguersuari 10^th) and Hispania Racing (Vittantonio Liuzzi 18^th) last year.

And what does the statistics say when we take a look at the British GP, which had five different winners in the last five years, about the last three years? In these years Vettel won the pole position twice, while the fastest lap was taken twice by Alonso. We saw six drivers on the podium. Most often the Red Bull's Mark Webber (3x) and Sebastian Vettel (2x). They were also the most laps in the lead (Vettel 84, Webber 55) and won most points (Vettel 49, Webber 48), while the home favourite Hamilton only 30. It is clear that Red Bulls were dominant in Silverstone, whose drivers won five out of nine podium positions. The situation is the same also this year and the rates only prove it. The bookmakers set one week before the race: Vettel 4/1, Hamilton 9/2, Alonso 6/1, Grosjean 11/1,  Räikkönen 12/1 and Webber 15/1. However, what will be the outcome of the British GP we will have to see for ourselves the first weekend in July...