Sven
Norm Smith Medallist
The ninth GP of the year takes us to the home of Bristish motosport for the British Grand Prix at the Silverstone.
As usual here is Mark Webber's lap of the circuit in the Red Bull Simulator:
[youtube]QPmOVYoYZU8[/youtube]
It should be noted that the video above does not feature the track in its current configuration with a new pit complex between Club and Abbey corners and, as a result, the start/finish line is now on the new pit straight.
Drivers Championship
The Sebastian Vettel 2011 tour de force continues with his lead in the Championship now a huge 77 points. No driver in the history of Formaula 1 has ever scored 1st or 2nd in opening 8 races of the season. Even Schumacher at his peak in 2004 couldn't manage the feat, although he did win 12 of the first 13 races. A crash at Monaco (race 6) was his only mistake. Alonso's second and Webber's third at valencia has tightened the battle for 2nd to a dead heat between Button and Webber with Hamilton falling off the pace and Alonso charging to only 22 points off 2nd spot.
1 Sebastian Vettel 186
2 Jenson Button British 109
3 Mark Webber 109
4 Lewis Hamilton 97
5 Fernando Alonso 87
6 Felipe Massa 42
7 Nico Rosberg 32
8 Vitaly Petrov 31
9 Nick Heidfeld 30
10 Michael Schumache 26
11 Kamui Kobayashi 25
12 Adrian Sutil 10
13 Jaime Alguersuari 8
14 Sebastien Buemi 8
15 Rubens Barrichello 4
16 Sergio Perez 2
17 Paul di Resta 2
Constructors Championship
Red Bull continues to build their lead in the Constructors Championship over McLaren and they have a handy 89 point lead. The performance of McLaren at Silverstone will determine if they can mount a challenge for the title. As p[reviously stated Ferrari need a sudden form reversal from Massa to have any chance for the Constructors and that is looking highly unlikely.
1 RBR-Renault 295
2 McLaren-Mercedes 206
3 Ferrari 129
4 Renault 61
5 Mercedes 58
6 Sauber-Ferrari 27
7 STR-Ferrari 16
8 Force India-Mercedes 12
9 Williams-Cosworth 4
2010 Qualifying
Qualifying was once again dominated by Red Bull, but there was a growing controversy over the replacement of a damaged front wing on Vettel's car with the front wing off Webber's car. Red Bull had only brought two new front wings to Silverstone and as a result Webber was forced to use the previous spec wing for qualifying and the race. The decision was made even more contentious when Vettel outqualified Webber by a mere 0.14 of a second with a big margin back to Alonso in third.
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:29.615
2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:29.758
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:30.426
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:30.556
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:30.625
6 Robert Kubica Renault 1:31.040
7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.172
8 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:31.175
9 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.274
10 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:31.430
2010 Race
Last year's race was won by Mark Webber, and following the front wing controversy, he made the infamous statement "Not bad for a number two driver, eh?"
1 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:24:38.200
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +1.360
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +21.307
4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +21.986
5 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +31.456
6 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari +32.171
7 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +36.734
8 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +40.932
9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +41.599
10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +42.012
Silverstone sees a return to the hard and soft compound tyre combination of the early races of the year. This may not be good news for Ferrari who have struggled on the hard tyre in previous races. The Ferrari has been heavily updated since those races and it will be interesting to see if their hard tyre performance has improved. Look for the times in FP1 as a guide to Ferraris hard tyre performance as the prime tyre is only available in FP1, with the option making an appearance in FP2. McLaren should be happy with a return to a relatively high speed circuit
The notable technical change for Silverstone is the bannng of hot and cold blowing of the diffuser, also known as engine overrun. Whether or not this change brings Red Bull back to the pack is one of the crucial questions for 2011, and a dominant Red Bull performance at Silverstone will mean the Championship is all but gone for the rest of the field.
As usual here is Mark Webber's lap of the circuit in the Red Bull Simulator:
[youtube]QPmOVYoYZU8[/youtube]
It should be noted that the video above does not feature the track in its current configuration with a new pit complex between Club and Abbey corners and, as a result, the start/finish line is now on the new pit straight.
Drivers Championship
The Sebastian Vettel 2011 tour de force continues with his lead in the Championship now a huge 77 points. No driver in the history of Formaula 1 has ever scored 1st or 2nd in opening 8 races of the season. Even Schumacher at his peak in 2004 couldn't manage the feat, although he did win 12 of the first 13 races. A crash at Monaco (race 6) was his only mistake. Alonso's second and Webber's third at valencia has tightened the battle for 2nd to a dead heat between Button and Webber with Hamilton falling off the pace and Alonso charging to only 22 points off 2nd spot.
1 Sebastian Vettel 186
2 Jenson Button British 109
3 Mark Webber 109
4 Lewis Hamilton 97
5 Fernando Alonso 87
6 Felipe Massa 42
7 Nico Rosberg 32
8 Vitaly Petrov 31
9 Nick Heidfeld 30
10 Michael Schumache 26
11 Kamui Kobayashi 25
12 Adrian Sutil 10
13 Jaime Alguersuari 8
14 Sebastien Buemi 8
15 Rubens Barrichello 4
16 Sergio Perez 2
17 Paul di Resta 2
Constructors Championship
Red Bull continues to build their lead in the Constructors Championship over McLaren and they have a handy 89 point lead. The performance of McLaren at Silverstone will determine if they can mount a challenge for the title. As p[reviously stated Ferrari need a sudden form reversal from Massa to have any chance for the Constructors and that is looking highly unlikely.
1 RBR-Renault 295
2 McLaren-Mercedes 206
3 Ferrari 129
4 Renault 61
5 Mercedes 58
6 Sauber-Ferrari 27
7 STR-Ferrari 16
8 Force India-Mercedes 12
9 Williams-Cosworth 4
2010 Qualifying
Qualifying was once again dominated by Red Bull, but there was a growing controversy over the replacement of a damaged front wing on Vettel's car with the front wing off Webber's car. Red Bull had only brought two new front wings to Silverstone and as a result Webber was forced to use the previous spec wing for qualifying and the race. The decision was made even more contentious when Vettel outqualified Webber by a mere 0.14 of a second with a big margin back to Alonso in third.
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:29.615
2 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:29.758
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:30.426
4 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:30.556
5 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:30.625
6 Robert Kubica Renault 1:31.040
7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:31.172
8 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:31.175
9 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.274
10 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:31.430
2010 Race
Last year's race was won by Mark Webber, and following the front wing controversy, he made the infamous statement "Not bad for a number two driver, eh?"
1 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:24:38.200
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +1.360
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +21.307
4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +21.986
5 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth +31.456
6 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari +32.171
7 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +36.734
8 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes +40.932
9 Michael Schumacher Mercedes +41.599
10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth +42.012
Silverstone sees a return to the hard and soft compound tyre combination of the early races of the year. This may not be good news for Ferrari who have struggled on the hard tyre in previous races. The Ferrari has been heavily updated since those races and it will be interesting to see if their hard tyre performance has improved. Look for the times in FP1 as a guide to Ferraris hard tyre performance as the prime tyre is only available in FP1, with the option making an appearance in FP2. McLaren should be happy with a return to a relatively high speed circuit
The notable technical change for Silverstone is the bannng of hot and cold blowing of the diffuser, also known as engine overrun. Whether or not this change brings Red Bull back to the pack is one of the crucial questions for 2011, and a dominant Red Bull performance at Silverstone will mean the Championship is all but gone for the rest of the field.
