Silverstone has a new look but expect the same winner

2011 British Grand Prix preview

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Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Silverstone, 2009

Silverstone will have a very different look when the teams begin the British Grand Prix weekend there tomorrow.

The old pits, considered cramped by modern F1 standards, still stand – but they’ll be used by GP2 teams.

The F1 paddock will be adjacent to the spectacular new Silverstone Wing complete with a new start/finish straight heading into Abbey corner.

On lap one the cars will be flat out through the first two corners before bunching up at the tight Village and The Loop, which could provide some exciting action.

Aside from the new pits, the circuit configuration remains much the same as last year. But the flattening of some bumps should allow the drivers to find a little more speed around what is already one of the fastest tracks on the calendar.

Silverstone’s many high-speed corners will make spectacular viewing for the capacity crowd expected over the weekend – race organisers predict a three-day figure of over 310,000.

Red Bull aim for three-in-a-row

It’s the kind of track where Red Bull have thrived, and the team have won here for the last two years in a row: Sebastian Vettel in 2009, Mark Webber last year.

But at the last race at a circuit similar in style to Silverstone – the Circuit de Catalunya – McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton was able to put Vettel under pressure.

Can he repeat that at home? That depends on whether McLaren’s toothless performance in Valencia really was the “blip” in form that they say it is,

The same goes for Jenson Button who, surprisingly, has never finished on the podium in his home race.

Ferrari’s hard tyre worries

Silverstone also marks a return to the hard tyre for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix, and that’s a concern for Ferrari, who struggled on the revised compound Pirelli introduced at that race. They believe they have made progress with it since then.

There was an air of defeatism among the Ferrari and McLaren drivers after Valencia, and not unjustifiably: Vettel has finished in the top two positions in every race this year.

If they are going to fight back against his ever-growing championship lead, they can’t afford to wait any longer. Silverstone marks the first of three races in four weeks where Vettel could put the destiny of the title beyond any serious doubt.

Aside from the usual package of upgrades, teams also have to contend with further changes to the rules on exhaust-blown diffusers. Red Bull admit it will cost them some performance, but the same surely goes for their nearest rivals as well.

Losing most of their capacity to generate downforce by blowing hot exhaust gasses through the diffuser will affect balance as well as performance. That is likely to be a critical area for the teams during practice.

Ricciardo’s debut

Daniel Ricciardo, HRT, Silverstone, 2011

Daniel Ricciardo will make his Formula 1 race debut for HRT this weekend. Expectation of his performance will be lowered by the fact he’s driving the slowest car in the field.

But Ricciardo, another product of Red Bull’s Driver Development programme, comes highly recommended. He won the 2009 British F3 crown comfortably and came close to winning the World Series by Renault in his rookie season last year.

With several appearances for Red Bull in testing under his belt, plus stints in every first practice session so far this year for Toro Rosso, Ricciardo is about as well-prepared as a rookie can be in 2011.

HRT have been nipping at the heels of Virgin in recent races. Ricciardo will do his reputation plenty of good if he can get on or near the pace of team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi and help propel the team forward.

Who have you got your eye on at the British Grand Prix? Who will win? Have your say in the comments.

Driver form in 2011

Q avgR avgR bestR worstClassifiedForm guide
Sebastian Vettel1.131.25128/8Form guide
Mark Webber4.53.5258/8Form guide
Lewis Hamilton3.883.86187/8Form guide
Jenson Button4.53.88168/8Form guide
Fernando Alonso4.254.14277/8Form guide
Felipe Massa6.636.675116/8Form guide
Michael Schumacher9.389.334176/8Form guide
Nico Rosberg6.258.295127/8Form guide
Nick Heidfeld13.258.573127/8Form guide
Vitaly Petrov8.59.713177/8Form guide
Rubens Barrichello14.6312.59176/8Form guide
Pastor Maldonado13.517.215185/8Form guide
Adrian Sutil13.88117157/8Form guide
Paul di Resta12.6312.4310187/8Form guide
Kamui Kobayashi13.59.295167/8Form guide
Sergio Perez1412.759174/6Form guide
Sebastien Buemi13.2511.388148/8Form guide
Jaime Alguersuari14.6312.178166/8Form guide
Heikki Kovalainen18.2516.614195/8Form guide
Jarno Trulli19.2516.7113207/8Form guide
Narain Karthikeyan2320.517246/7Form guide
Vitantonio Liuzzi21.8619.213235/7Form guide
Timo Glock2118.415215/8Form guide
Jerome D’Ambrosio22.517.8614227/8Form guide
Pedro de la Rosa171212121/1Form guide

2011 British Grand Prix

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    Images © Red Bull/Getty images, Motioncompany

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    114 comments on “Silverstone has a new look but expect the same winner”

    1. Prisoner Monkeys
      7th July 2011, 10:38

      I honestly don’t think the changes to OTBD regulations are going to shake up the running order the way some people are expecting them to. In fact, I think some people have convinced themselves that Red Bull’s achilles heel have been exposed and that it will now be open season on them simply because they want to see a different result. I can’t blame them for wanting it, but I can’t applaud them for constructing the fantasy.

      1. Have to agree with you, yes Red Bull may have gained themselves a bit of quali pace with their engine maps, but they still have a fundamentally fast car, and its not like other teams haven’t been developing those tools as well.

        As for the race itself I really think it depends on the weather, it we get changeable conditions with some combination of wet and dry then I wouldn’t bet against either Jenson or Lewis… but otherwise I suspect its going to be another Red Bull dominated race.

        1. Bigbadderboom
          7th July 2011, 17:26

          I agree, the most I am hoping for is a closing of the performance gap. The Red Bull is quick throughout it’s design, I have drawn hope from some Adrian Neweys comments this week but I don’t think the other teams will draw much of an advantage, unless the weather turns and plays a part in either quali or the race.

      2. Prisoner Monkeys, I can see what you’re saying and I agree with you. But I’m too optimistic to admit that deep down, I too doubt the affects this OTBD ban is going to have.

        At the end of the day, though, you can only praise Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel.

        1. I like that approach Damon!

      3. I think some people have convinced themselves that Red Bull’s achilles heel have been exposed

        Aint that the story of 2010-2011? ;) Especially from Mclaren big mouths. “yeah, we’ve got them now next weekend with this awesome update we’ve got!”

        1. McLaren tend to have been closer to the mark with their updates than Ferrari… especially if you consider where they started this season in pre-testing….

      4. Totally agree. I expect no less than pole and the win for an RB7.

    2. If you say the ‘same’ winner, why is the picture from 2009? I believe Mark is the defending champ.

      I don’t think Keith really rates Webber very highly.

      1. Prisoner Monkeys
        7th July 2011, 10:46

        Because he’s referring to Vettel, not Webber. Webber might be the defending winner of the British Grand Prix, but there have been light years between him and Vettel this season.

      2. Same winner = Red Bull
        Same winner as 2009 = Sebastian Vettel
        Why Vettel and not Webber? Because Vettel is the most probable to win of the two.

        1. I read it as the ‘same winner’ as most of the races so far this season, and the ‘same winner’ of the last race in Valencia.

          Why is everyone so determined to try and find ‘bias’ in today’s posts? It is the same in the daily update – people suggesting that Keith is putting ‘misleading’ headlines up about Hamilton.

      3. Yep, I read it as meaning Red Bull winning rather than Webber or Vettel in particular.

      4. I don’t think Keith really rates Webber very highly.

        He had a good run at Valencia – one of his best this year, after China. But on the strength of his form so far this year I don’t expect him to beat Vettel.

        1. And if you think it’s just me that thinks so, last week 45% of people predicted Vettel would win, 3% picked Webber:

          F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship race-by-race statistics

          1. Why do you feel that Webber has been unable to match Vettel this year at all, when last year he was often out performing him?

            1. “Often” is a considerable over-statement.

              Webber had the upper hand on pace for a few races in the middle of the season, but he also gained a lot of points because he had better reliability than Vettel. Some might also say because Vettel crashed more, but Webber did a fair bit of that too (Valencia, Korea).

            2. @ Keith

              Webber deserves credit for managing his car better, whilst Vettel was constantly breaking his.

              The off throttle EBD ban will also play into Webber’s hands because he is much smoother on the throttle than Vettel.

            3. Webber deserves credit for managing his car better, whilst Vettel was constantly breaking his.

              Any proof for this?

            4. Webber deserves credit for managing his car better, whilst Vettel was constantly breaking his.

              If so, then Webber should be criticised for not managing it well in various sessions and races this year.

            5. Tyre management

            6. @ Keith

              The proof is that Webber never had any reliability issues that ended his races last year. Same goes for 2009. The Red Bull was a perfectly reliable car if driven properly. Unfortunately, young Vettel used too many revs, locked his brakes up, rode the kerbs very hard etc. which led to his failures.

            7. @Sam

              Reliability problems are rarely the driver’s fault. Blaming Vettel for “breaking his car” is in my opinion a bit silly.

              Racing car is “driven properly” when it’s driven insanely fast. Period. If the car can’t cope with that, then it has some deign issues.

            8. @Sam

              If Vettel was indeed abusing his car as much as you suggest, don’t you think the engineers would have smacked it out of him?

            9. @ Mike

              Yes i agree, and it seems like they have smacked it out of him, since he is managing his car much better this season.

        2. A little harsh Keith,you give Vettel a break because of reliability problems early last year but fail to give Webber credit for great drives when his qualifying and/or race have been compromised by reliability problems this year. But yes Vettel will win unless he has car problems, Mark will not be allowed to be the “one” in a RB “one-two”.

          1. Because there is little evidence that Webber would have beaten Vettel without the issues. Vettel was clearly leading in Korea and Australia 10 when his car failed. Webber was 3rd behind Vettel and a slower car in Australia and Valencia before having problems.

            Ok, he drove a good race in China, but why didn’t he turn up on Sunday in Barcelona? He had every chance to be the “one” in a “one two”. That’s why he doesn’t get a break- he doesn’t take opportunities to beat Vettel like Button and Hamilton have (and Alonso may have done in Monaco before the red flag).

            1. Proof David A…l. The difference between Vettel on pole and Webber in 4th in Canada quali was less than the boost from KERS at that track.

              Webber’s pace if KERS was working then would have put him on pole. INstead he started 4th, got hit by Hamilton (not Webbers fault) and had to break through the field several times.

            2. Ok, one case, which is then counter-balanced by Vettel’s lack of KERS in Spanish qualifying, costing him pole.

              Overall, neither case changes the overall trend with Mark- only producing good drives to come back through the field, rather than win a race in normal or even advantageous circumstances.

            3. Because there is little evidence that Webber would have beaten Vettel without the issues.

              Exactly. I wish everyone would stop moaning about Webber’s reliability. I’m a Webber fan; I love him, I cheer for him and all of the rest. But there’s no denying he’s being outclassed this year. Sure, he’s had some bad luck, but I doubt it has affected his results much at all. After all, his team mate is none other than Sebastian Vettel – and no-one can beat him under normal circumstances.

              My point is, stop with all of the “Webber would be beating Sebastian if his KERS weren’t failing nonsense” – because there’s no evidence to suggest he would. There’s much more to suggest that he in fact wouldn’t have. You make me feel embarrassed to be a Webber fan, if I’m honest.

      5. Same winner as 6 of the first 8 races ;)

        1. That’s how I read it!

        2. jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
          7th July 2011, 18:27

          Same here, same winner as the rest of the races this season not anything to do with who won here previously.

        3. Yes, I fear it will be.

      6. Tom – the same winner as nearly every other race this year. Come on man, don’t be obtuse.

      7. I agreed….Mark Webber is the defending champ and he shall win again this year!!

    3. Why is it a surprise jenson has never had a podium at his home GP? He was competitive 1 year out of his first 9 seasons (04) before Brawn. sine he’s had to battle the 2 red bulls, Hamilton and Alonso.. Given normal performance you think he’s finishing ahead of those on a racers circuit?

      1. Because he’s a world champion and he’s won a lot of races.

        1. Let’s eliminate the nonsense here. Button was a very circumstantial winner, only because he happened to have a car that was faster by a full second for most of the season than anyone else’s. Aside from his year w/ Brawn, he has done next to nothing. I agree w/ Sparky, JB not having been on the podium here should not be considered a surprise. The surprise would be if he **had** been on the podium, considering that he is nowhere near the elite of the sport (Alonso, Vettel, Lewis, Nico, Michael, Kubica). Simple as that.

          1. Jenson has achieved “next to nothing” and Kubica is the “elite of the sport”. I’ve heard it all now.

          2. Jenson has achieved “next to nothing” and Kubica/Nico Rosberg are the “elite of the sport”. I’ve heard it all now.

            1. Spot-on, sir.

              Following his championship year with Brawn, Button has won 3 races thus far. Damn good ones too. I’d say that’s something. On top of that he’s fared much better against Hamilton than anybody ever predicted. Credit where credit’s due.

          3. Its amazing isn’t it,despite driving for years in second rate teams driver X is useless and only won the WDC because he had the best car. Whereas driver Y who won the WDC in the best car is still the worlds best driver even if he is not winning any races now he has only the second best car.

          4. Yep! Heard it all now.

            I do think that it’s great that people underestimate Button in this way. He’s currently joint second in the championship, but obviously there just on pure luck.

            I’ve put some money on a certain driver to bin it on the first lap. Didn’t get very good odds, but no surprises for guessing who anyway.

            Vettel, meanwhile…..

            1. He’s currently joint second in the championship, but obviously there just on pure luck.

              I wouldn’t say its only down to luck. We have to give Jenson credit for never making any driver errors. He picks up the pieces when other drivers falter. He is a living example of the Aesop fable between the tortoise and the hare.

              But I can understand f1fan’s point of view, I do not think I will ever consider Jenson a serious championship contender either.

              He had his one year in the sun in 2009, and I’m pretty confident that unless he has Rubens as a teammate again, and a car as dominant as the RB6/7, there is no way in hell that he will win another championship.

            2. Il double your odds that button boy doesn’t beat Hamilton!

            3. I think he tends to slip away from many peoples radar. He generally keeps himself to himself (excluding Canada) but still scores reasonably well. He’s consistent.

          5. Let’s eliminate the nonsense here. Button was a very circumstantial winner, only because he happened to have a car that was faster by a full second for most of the season than anyone else’s.

            So why didn’t Rubens win the WDC in 2009? And why are we all falling over Vettel and proclaiming his genius for walking away with this title in pretty much EXACTLY the same circumstances as you describe above.

            This Button bashing has to stop. The man is quality, and anyone who watched him drag BAR’s far higher uup the grid than they should have been in the early 00’s will recognise that.

            1. Indeed. I remember standing on Hangar straight watching him qualify 5th in the rain in 2000 at the British GP. He’s quality, maybe not as good as Hamilton (IMHO) but pretty close.

            2. I haven’t been much of a fan of his, but some races in 2004, his championship year 2009 and quite a bit of very impressive driving with McLaren have made me a believer.

          6. Nico Rosberg is most definitely not the “elite” of the sport, he’s achieved less than Button. As has Kubica. You could argue that Kubica’s sole win was due to the pitlane incident that wiped out the people in front of him, and Nick Heidfeld not being that good tbh. Jenson Button is a World Champion, and he won it because he drove well, was consistently in the points and only failed to finish once. Yes there was an element of luck, but there has always been luck in F1, just look at last year.

          7. Conrad M. Sathirweth (@)
            7th July 2011, 17:50

            I think you need to rewatch the 2009 season because you are very wrong about it; Button had a car that was MAX 0.5 seconds fastest for only the first 7 races, after that the Red Bull overtook them and by the end of the season Mclaren had also overtaken them.
            Button is a very fast driver and when he is happy with the car’s set up he is as fast as anybody, to quote Martin Brundle “Jenson’s car is in balance, the rest of the field had better take note. He is simply unbeatable at that point.”
            I also think that Button is the best wet weather driver on the grid.
            Button is joint second in the WDC beating his team mate and also Alonso so I do not know in the slightest how you get the idea that he is not near the elite of the sport seeing as he is in the elite of sport.

          8. invisiblekid
            7th July 2011, 18:17

            Define irony,

            A person having the handle of “F1Fan” is knows nothing about F1.

            Nico and Kubica elite!?!? WOW, that’s erm optimistic

        2. Lol! Very straight-forward!

        3. Not to mention he’s had a competitive car more often than some give him credit for. At the very least, he could’ve finished on the podium anytime from 2004 to 2006. He had LOTS of podiums in 2004, started P2 here in 2005, and won a race in 2006.

    4. Being a couple of cards short of a full deck I’m slightly confused as to how the banning of off throttle EBDs can be policed as it’s something (like ‘flexi wings’) which isn’t obvious to look at when the cars are being inspected.
      I would be very greatful if someone could explain how it can be proved that no teams’ EBD is working at more than 10% off throttle. Many thanks..

      ps really looking forward to the race!.

      1. The FIA connect a laptop to the car, download the engine map, then check it to see whether the map is within or outside of the set regulations.

        Just an educated guess.

      2. Chris Goldsmith
        7th July 2011, 11:39

        blowing the diffuser is accomplished using certain types of engine mapping which keep the throttle open during braking. The cars all run a standardised ECU provided by the FIA (actually built by mclaren) and the software on these ECUs is also scrutinised. There’s no way that they should be able to carry on doing it without it being detected by the stewards.

      3. Apart from technical scrutineering, the sound of the engine is a bit of a giveaway….

      4. I was under the impression that the teams now must re-route the exhaust to the top of the car, like we saw in most cars from 2000-2008. So i’d think it would be obvious, visibly, if that exhaust gases won’t be feeding the diffuser.

        1. John Cousins
          8th July 2011, 5:27

          Nope… Periscope exhausts don’t com in ’till next season I think…

    5. The thing I’m really forward to this weekend is how Ricciardo fairs against Liuzzi. I quite like him and he obviously has a lot of talent. If he can match Tonio is will be a good weekend’s work.

      As for who is going to win you can’t really look past Vettel. If he sticks that Red Bull on pole expect once again a 2 second lead by lap 2 and maintaining a consistent pace throughout.

      Ferrari (Fernando’s) and McLaren’s (Lewis’s) best hope is a possible 2nd place if Webber has a bad race. No way they are challenging for the win.

      1. I agree with RIISE.

        Firstly, I’m Australian (hands up for that), but secondly, and more importantly, it would be intriguing to see another major talent enter the sport to compete with Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel in ability (poor Kubica would be included if he was driving atm).

        This obviously won’t be seen either way in concrete form whilst he drives for HRT, but I’m feeling a buzz from the press about him that I haven’t felt since Hamilton and Vettel entered the sport.

        If he can match Liuzzi, even if he “only” gets within 5-10 seconds on track by the end of the race (barring any outside influences), I suspect that we’ll have another exciting and potential future star in Formula One.

        Whether he’s a potential World Champion like Vettel/Hamilton/Alonso, or an excitement machine like Kobayashi, will remain to be seen, but how exciting! :D

    6. If Mark Webber wants to turn his season around it’s got to be here. He showed Vettel up big time last year so if he can use that to his psychological advantage he can pull something out of the bag. Expecting a RBR front row but an interesting first lap with the new layout.

      1. That’s a good point, but unfortunately it’s a chicken and egg situation too. I think Webber needs two or three wins, or much better results than Vettel, to even start believing he could still challenge and take a real interest in this season. Just now he’s not even close to challenging Vettel from second during the race, yet alone qualifying. And worse RBR management appear like that suits them just fine.

        1. Egg came first many years before the first chicken it’s not hard. :) If you’re asking what came first the chicken or the chicken egg then the answer is the chicken. The egg it hatched out of was the egg of the animal that the chicken evolved from, the first chicken egg came after the first chicken laid an egg.

      2. The New Pope
        7th July 2011, 13:55

        Electrolite, you’re outta sight.

      3. The next 3 tracks, Webber is the most recent winner at (Silverstone, Nurburgring, Budapest) so he’s got to start cutting the gap down (I feel) if he’s to have any chance.
        I’d expect Webber to be very strong this weekend, whether he can beat Vettel… only time will tell

        1. I don’t think there will be any chance of Webber being allowed to challenge Vettel if Vettel is on the front row. But I expect that future F1 historians will be discussing Webber as one of the champions that never was, because he was always in the wrong team at the right time or the right team at the wrong time, and because he was the only driver to best 10 times WDC Seb Vettel driving the same car.

          1. 10? Seriously?

            1. 10? Seriously?

              Haha! I wouldn’t put it past him! :P

              But the competition is a bit too good these days for such dominance.

          2. 2. Vettel 84 (4 wins)
            4. Webber 70 (2 wins)

            1. Vettel 256 (5 wins)
            3. Webber 242 (4 wins)

            No, Webber has not bested Vettel in the same car.

            1. I still think Vettel’s the favourite to win guys. It’s just it was around this time last year where Webber was really making his mark (sorry) and although Vettel is well and truly out performing him, it’s an important stage for anyone wanting a shot other than the defending WDC at the moment.

            2. @Electrolite- I agree with your first post about Webber needing to turn it around, and Webber won this race last year to establish himself in the title fight.

              I was responding to hohum saying Mark has bested Sebastian overall ;)

            3. Pray tell DavidA what car was Webber driving , and how can you win if you do not “best” all other entrants. Don’t let your bias blind you to inconvenient facts, I have not said MW is better just that he has on occasion gotten the better of his “best driver ever” team mate.

              Mike-Damon, M.Schumacher, you know that old has-been who only won because he had the best car, won 7 WDC, had some off years when his best car wasn’t and was older than SV when he started winning, want to bet against SV winning 10.

            4. @ hohum, pointing out that driver X “bested” driver driver Y is completely pointless if only done “on occasion”. For every race Webber “bested” Vettel, Vettel “bested” Webber twice. We’re still waiting for Webber to beat Vettel in a single race this year.

              It’s like boasting that you’ve won the first leg of a UEFA Champions League tie 2-1, only to lose the second leg 4-0.

      4. I really wish he could, Electrolite, but deep down, I honestly can’t see it happening. :( (Coming from a sworn Webber fan)

        1. DavidA read again, the word overall never appeared or was alluded to in my post.

          1. Indeed, AS Roma are boasting that they beat Manchester United 2-1 in Rome in 2007, only to lose 7-1 in the second leg and the tie 8-3 on aggregate.

        2. John Cousins
          8th July 2011, 5:36

          I really believe that Mark just can’t quite get his head around these Pirellis. Plus he’s getting on a bit and this year his personality has lost it’s sparkle. He still tells it like it is, but he seems a little… um… flat. Poor guy. I really feel he missed his window. Imagine if he’d taken that Renault contract all those years ago. We may have seen something special. I tell you one thing for sure though, he wouldn’t be good mates with Fernando if that had happened!

    7. Keith, will pole be on the left or the right? (ie inside, or outside of the line into Turn 1 and the Abbey Right hander)

      1. I expect it’ll be on the left, on the racing line, but not seen official confirmation yet.

        I was playing a beta of F1 2011 yesterday (article on the site tomorrow) and pole was on the left on that.

        1. Ah. Given the flat out nature of T1 and T2 (more like kinks, even at the start) I think the first tight right hander (was it called “The Loop” or something?) would be the first exciting corner.

          1. It’s called Village (it’s in the article!)

          2. The Loop is the left hairpin after Village leading onto Wellington.

    8. Also expect the same lame/stupid/boring Santander logo as the prize for all winners. And of course Vettel will get the largest one as always lately.

      1. No. The British GP has a special trophy.

        http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/replicate/EXID6666/images/Webber_trophy.jpg

        The winner doesn’t get to keep it though. :S

        1. Vettel said in an interview he had to give the gold cup back straight after the podium ceremony in 09 and he asked for a replica, which surprised the organisers… he says he still hasn’t got it!

          1. Had to put all their money into the “upgrades”

    9. I think in quali it won’t make too much of a difference but I guess things may be different come raceday.

      1. Qually, in theory and as far as I understand it, should be where it actually has the most effect.

        Not that it will put Red Bull behind mind you… (Which is what you meant anyway)

    10. Somebody needs to remind McLaren that their ‘blips’ over the last few seasons have corresponded to when they win a race.

      It’s difficult to see how Red Bull will emerge from the rule changes worse than their rivals. Having by far the best basic car means they’re more likely to come out stronger if anything.

    11. Mclaren have been told to address the anomaly in their front wing.

      “The slight anomaly you refer to has been investigated and we have told the team improvements need to be made”
      (ScrabsF1)

      Will this hurt them?, I can’t see any reason to look further than RBR but hope Ferrari or Mclaren can give them a run for there money. It would be nice to see Williams and Renault close the gap a bit.

    12. New look, perhaps a new winner but how about a new trophy policy? What’s this story about the Cup not being left in the hands of the winner even just for walking away from the podium and not getting a replica?

      If they tried to pull this “you can look, barely touch” policy when handing out the crowns at those pageant competitions, hell would break loose.

      1. What’s this? Don’t the drivers get to keep the trophies or something? What have I missed?!

        1. Its really golden and you only get presented with it, apparently.

        2. As Bas said, it’s a very valuable trophy and a piece of pure British racing history. The winner is handed it for the podium bit, then it’s snatched from him and locked away.

          Vettel asked for a replica in 2009 when he won and apparently, two years, still hasn’t received it. This is definitely enough to make his blood boil and want Sunday’s win a whole lot more. The British should’ve been smart about this and just sent him the replica. They’re clearly giving away motivation to the competition!

    13. vettel is on topgear this sunday bbc2

    14. Vettel and Alonso are set for good results from this race according to the bookies.

    15. dyslexicbunny
      7th July 2011, 16:41

      I expect nothing to really change at the top. I’m sure Red Bull still has the best car and they’ll laugh about it all weekend.

      I’m most excited about watching Renault, Williams, and Mercedes. I think the changes help them out and should make them closer to competing near the top.

      While I’m not excited about Ricciardo, he’ll at least replace the chronic backmarker of Karthikeyan. Something else that’ll be interesting in the race.

    16. Somehow I can’t get terribly excitedc about the grand prix this weekend. I just think it’s going to be another lights-to-flag walkover from Finger Boy.
      There may be overtaking and other entertainment from those following, but I can’t get Uncle Ron’s words out of my mind “Second is only first of the losers”. All the racing in the world from the rest of the field won’t hide the fact that Vettel is going to win again.
      I didn’t bother to watch Valencia, because I knew that race was going to be a bore and I think Silverstone will go that way too.
      But trying to remain optimistic, I will catch up with the news late Sunday night and hope that someone – anyone – apart from Vettel, has won. I live in hope.

      1. Adrian Morse
        7th July 2011, 17:37

        I don’t share your pessimism. I think all drivers, and most of the fans, are tremendously looking forward to the British GP.

        And why bother participating in internet forums on F1 when you don’t even watch the races anymore. Are you really a fan (let alone a fanatic) if you only watch when they’re racing on Spa in changeable conditions, with the grid in reverse order?

        1. No, I’m a fanatic who happens to be going away with wife ‘n’ kids for the weekend and who will therefore not be watching qualifying or the race live.
          If, if mind, Vettel dopes not win on Sunday and IF the general rating on this site is above say, 5 I’ll watch it on iPlayer.
          But, if Keith is right and we have the same winner and the race is turgid, I’ll do something else.
          I hope your right and that I’m being unnecessarily pessimistic. If I am, I’ll eat my virtual hat.

      2. invisiblekid
        7th July 2011, 18:27

        So even though it could be an outstanding race from 2nd place all the way back, it’s still a sucky race that you wont watch if the leader is Vettel. Vettel was going to win in Canada till 30 seconds from the end.

        I must erase all those races from my memory which Shuey won and I still watched.

        1. See previous answer, invisiblekid.
          I just hate dominance by one team. RB is getting boring, Ferrari and Schumacher were totally boring. Chaos and unpredictability is much more fun.

          1. “Chaos and unpredictability is much more fun”, yet your contributions remain boring and predictable.

            1. Lol.
              There IS a difference between racing and writing! I prefer my contributions to be sensible, unlike some others.

    17. I think I’ve just read the most amazing comments so far on f1fanatic!!..maybe it’s because of all the exciment building up before the Brit GP??

    18. Ha, I could see the new pit lane being so short that the drivers use that as the main track during the race! That would make a drive though penalty interesting! Perhaps a drive though would be go round the normal way!
      I am guessing the FIA will put a lower speed limit on the pit lane or something like that!

    19. There are about 90 or something comments on the news, and I think it’s just as exciting as ever at least I see it and feel it that way. The greatest show on earth really. It will continue to be full of suspense until the end of the season even if Vettel takes it half way through.

    20. I don’t think Vettel will win, He’ll get the pole position sure, but i don’t think this race will go as smoothly for him, i don’t see him being on the podium.

    21. Blah Blah Blah British grand prix this British Grand Prix that. Honestly guys its like every other race.

    22. So disappointed I can’t be there this year, The Wing looks spectacular indeed.

      I really can’t see anything but an RB7 winning here. Let’s hope it’s a little tidier in the Red Bull camp this time round.

      Will be watching Ricciardo closely…and Liuzzi for that matter.

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