|
The British
Grand Prix marks the midpoint of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship
and round 12 of 24 takes place where it all began 74 years ago. In 1942, a
Royal Air Force airfield was established in Silverstone, Northamptonshire
and on 13 May 1950 it hosted the first of the 1112 rounds that have taken
place to date. The winner back then was Nino Farina, driving an Alfa Romeo
fitted with Pirelli tyres.
5.861 kilometres long, the track is the fifth longest on the calendar after
Spa-Francorchamps (7.004 km), Jeddah (6.175 km), Las Vegas (6.120 km) and
Baku (6.003 km). It features 18 corners and is one of the most exciting and
also one of the most demanding for the car-tyre package. Some corner
combinations, such as those from 10 to 14 – Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel –
are taken at high speed and generate lateral forces on the tyres and drivers
of over 5g: the average figure at Silverstone is similar to that seen at Spa
and Suzuka. This, along with other technical aspects, means that as is
always the case here, the compounds chosen for this round are the hardest in
the range, the C1 as P Zero hard, the C2 as P Zero medium and the C3 as P
Zero soft. The front axle comes under the greatest strain and the prevalence
of right hand turns means that the left front is the tyre that wears the
most.
The weather in England in the summer can always be very changeable, a
further factor to be taken into consideration, especially as conditions can
change very rapidly. Last year the entire race was run in the dry, with the
Soft a somewhat surprising protagonist, with only two teams not using it.
However, the most used compound was the Medium, which was used to complete
half the overall mileage. The great majority of drivers went for a one-stop
strategy, even if in the past, a two-stop had been a popular choice.
At this race last year, Pirelli introduced a new tyre construction to deal
with the increase in loads seen over the first few races of the season, as
these forces exceeded the average figures seen from simulations provided by
the teams over the previous winter. Without changing tyre performance in any
way, the construction proved its worth and will be used up to the end of the
2024 season, even though there has been an increase of around 10% in the
loads generated by this year’s cars compared to figures seen at the end of
last season.
Only two Grands Prix have been permanent fixtures on the Formula 1 calendar,
this one and the Italian Grand Prix. Silverstone therefore hosts the 75th
British Grand Prix this weekend, the 58th to be held at this track. The race
has also been run twelve times at Brands Hatch and five at Aintree. In 2020,
Silverstone hosted an additional round, celebrating the championship’s 70th
anniversary.
Despite the fact that the majority of Formula 1 teams, past and present, had
or have their headquarters in England, the most successful team at this
Grand Prix is Scuderia Ferrari with 18 wins to its name. Then come McLaren
on 14 and Williams on 10. With 16 pole positions, Ferrari also tops this
list, as it does for fastest race laps (20) and podium finishes (59). The
most successful driver in the UK is Sir Lewis Hamilton who has won eight of
his home Grands Prix, while next up are Jim Clark and Alain Prost with five
wins apiece. The seven-time world champion Mercedes driver also has the most
poles (7) and podium finishes (13) while fellow countryman Nigel Mansell
tops the list for fastest race laps in this event with seven. |
