Red Bull’s Silverstone form makes them favourites

2013 British Grand Prix preview

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For all bar three of F1’s eleven teams the route to round eight of the world championship is a straightforward one. Silverstone is practically on the doorstep of most F1 teams – almost literally so for Force India, whose factory is opposite the track.

But getting to the circuit was a far from straightforward affair for many spectators last year. Incessant rain in the run-up to the race weekend and during most of it turned fields into swamps. Several thousand had to be kept away on Saturday so the organisation could be sorted out for race day.

That may be part of the reason why ticket sales are down for this year’s race. Alternatively, some have suggested the performance of the local entries in the opening races might have something to do with it.

But a large crowd greeted F1 in Montreal despite the lack of a single Canadian driver or team. Those heading to Silverstone looking for local entries to cheer on are spoiled for choice, even if several of the British teams are registered to foreign owners (Austrian Red Bull, Russian Marussia, Malaysian Caterham and, obviously, Force India) and most of the home drivers long left the British Isles to live in tax havens.

The cost of going to the race may have more to do with it. Silverstone has always been one of the dearer races in terms of ticket price, a fact some broadcasters and newspapers have picked up on in recent weeks.

But a healthy crowd is still expected which is fitting for a race that takes place on one of F1’s best circuits. The British Racing Drivers’ Club have tried to retain Silverstone’s identity as a quick and challenging track. The 2010 changes may have added a couple of slow turns but it also created some new quick bends and deleted the fiddly Abbey chicane.

Silverstone circuit information

Lap length5.891km (3.66 miles)
Distance52 laps (306.3km/190.3 miles)
Lap record*1’30.874 (Fernando Alonso, 2010)
Fastest lap1’29.615 (Sebastian Vettel, 2010)
TyresHard and Medium

*Fastest lap set during a Grand Prix

Silverstone track data in full

Sauber’s head of track engineering Tom McCullough calls it “one of the most challenging circuits, with a bias towards high speed corners and relatively short straights compared to the more modern circuits”.

“The layout favours high-speed stability and a good change of direction, whereas the demand on the braking system is low. The track is also quite bumpy in some areas so the ride performance is important too.”

The track gets a lot of use and the surface is quite abrasive, causing high tyre wear and necessitate Pirelli bringing their hardest compounds. The is the next toughest track for tyres after the pit stop frenzy that was the Spanish Grand Prix, and a key question on Sunday will be whether drivers need to make four stops for fresh rubber.

Britain Grand Prix team-by-team preview

Red Bull

Fernando Alonso’s 2011 win, scored on a weekend when the rules on exhaust-blown diffusers had been temporarily tweaked, is the only reason why Red Bull don’t have four consecutive wins at this track.

They’ve taken seven from a potential eight podiums at this track in the last four years and six out of eight front row places. Their rivals’ best hope seems to be that the RB9’s sheer levels of downforce prove too much for Pirelli’s tyres – a limitation the team have not kept quiet about.

Ferrari

Stefano Domenicali says Ferrari need to do some catching up before the summer break: “I think we will be competitive in Silverstone, as we have been in the recent past at this track, but there are so many factors to take into account,” he said.

Alonso won in 2011 and was on course for victory last year before being caught and passed by Mark Webber. The F138 flies in race trim but qualifying outside the top two rows, as Alonso has in the last three races, is hurting him.

McLaren

McLaren tested new parts with straight-line aero runs at Idiada in Spain ahead of their home event.

Jenson Button says their point-less Canadian race weekend “wasn’t a fully accurate reflection of where we are as a team”. More pessimistically, he warned against raising expectations, adding: “I think the fans know what to expect”.

Surprisingly he’s never been on the podium at home – to finally do so this weekend would be a considerable relief for him and his team.

Lotus

Two poor results have taken the wind out of Kimi Raikkonen’s sails, knocking him and his team back in their championships.

He was let down by his team somewhat during the Canadian race. Providing there is no repeat of that he expects to be more competitive this weekend. “Silverstone is a more normal circuit and we’ve been okay at every other permanent circuit so far this year,” he said. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be back to the positions we should be with this package.”

Mercedes

Arguably Mercedes’ just had their second win of the 2013 season at the FIA International Tribunal in Paris. They can expect further questions over how much they got out of their test with Pirelli over the weekend.

That will be particularly so if they show improved performance on just the kind of track where they struggled previously: in Spain they turned a one-two on the grid into sixth and twelfth at the flag.

Sauber

Sauber are having a horrible season and have now been out of the points for four races in a row. Silverstone’s relative lack of low-speed corners may give some respite from the high rear tyre degradation that’s blighted them so far this year.

Force India

James Rossiter, Force India’s simulator driver who tested for the team in the off-season while they prevaricated over their race line-up, will make his F1 race weekend debut on Friday when he gets behind the wheel of one of their cars during first practice.

Williams

The team will have some special stickers on their car commemorating their 600th Grand Prix start. Their first points of the year would be some way to toast it, though still a disappointment after the highs of last season.

Toro Rosso

The contest for supremacy at Toro Rosso is getting very interesting. Daniel Ricciardo held the upper hand in the opening races but Jean-Eric Vergne hit back with good points finishes in Monaco and Canada.

Caterham

Giedo van der Garde carries a ten-place grid penalty into this weekend after his dreadful race in Canada culminated in a collision with Nico Hulkenberg when the Sauber driver was lapping him. Given which you have to wonder if it’s worth sending him out to qualify at all when they could just save him some fresh tyres before he starts from an inevitable 22nd.

Marussia

The final home driver on the grid is Max Chilton who remains yet to out-qualify his team mate on merit so far this year – a distinction he shares with fellow rookie Esteban Gutierrez along with Romain Grosjean and Mark Webber.

2013 driver form

DriverG avgR avgR bestR worstClassifiedForm guide
Sebastian Vettel2.862.29147/7Form guide
Mark Webber7.434.5276/7Form guide
Fernando Alonso4.433.5186/7Form guide
Felipe Massa8.716.833156/7Form guide
Jenson Button10.299.575177/7Form guide
Sergio Perez10.7110.436167/7Form guide
Kimi Raikkonen6.574.711107/7Form guide
Romain Grosjean118.23135/7Form guide
Nico Rosberg3.295195/7Form guide
Lewis Hamilton3.2953127/7Form guide
Nico Hulkenberg11.7111.28155/6Form guide
Esteban Gutierrez17.7114.511206/7Form guide
Paul di Resta127.17496/7Form guide
Adrian Sutil9.719.65135/7Form guide
Pastor Maldonado15.7113.7511164/7Form guide
Valtteri Bottas1413.4311167/7Form guide
Jean-Eric Vergne12.869.66125/7Form guide
Daniel Ricciardo11.5713.27185/7Form guide
Charles Pic19.7116.3314186/7Form guide
Giedo van der Garde19.7117.415215/7Form guide
Jules Bianchi19.1416.1713196/7Form guide
Max Chilton20.5717.4314207/7Form guide

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Images © Red Bull/Getty, McLaren/Hoch Zwei, Force India

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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12 comments on “Red Bull’s Silverstone form makes them favourites”

  1. Obviously Mercedes is to have an eye on too…

  2. I think Lotus might struggle once again with the cold weather, especially in qualifying, which will make it difficult for them to challenge for the victory.

    Recently someone commented in the predictions championship that he didn’t like the way the races were going, being too easy to predict. Mercedes for pole and Vettel/Alonso for the win looks a safe bet once again, but perhaps the big update packages teams are bringing can make a difference to the running order. Provided these upgrades can be put on the car, of course, in case Friday is a wash-out. I guess that was also the reason that McLaren already trialed their upgrade in Spain, in anticipation of the English weather.

  3. Red Bull will be fast but so too will the wear of the tyres probably and I think that will play against Red Bull and into the hands of Ferrari and Lotus
    In Qualifying teams to beat are defiantly Red Bull and Mercedes but in the race I think it will come down to Fernando and Kimi with Lewis, Nico, Seb & Mark fighting over 3rd

  4. I think the cold weather is going to hurt Ferrari and Lotus somewhat, and given their form, it’s hard to see anyone but Red Bull taking the victory really. I think Mercedes will still be effected by worse tyre wear, though the colder weather may help them out a little, possibly putting them in the fight with Massa and the two Lotus drivers. Force India are probably a good one to watch as well, given their decent aero efficiency.

    1. @jamiefranklinf1
      I don’t know about Lotus, but as we saw in China, the Ferrari F138 is just as capable in the cold as it is in the heat (Spain). The cars only weakness is a wet or green track.

      1. @Kingshark – Good point! And given their success at Silverstone prior to the Red Bull era, perhaps I have written them off a little too soon.

    2. It’s Alonso or Vettel for the win for me as it has been so many times before this year and I agree Force India have a decent chance of some good points (perhaps Di Resta could make it onto the podium in front of his home crowd)?

  5. Vettel’s stats are hugely impressive: grid average 2.86, race average 2.29 and with a “worst” performance of 4th. If he continues at that finishing rate, scoring an average of 17.13 points/race, he’ll end the season with 325 points. Excluding 2011 (as of course he won that anyway), that amount of points will have won him every world championship (2005-2009 scoring corrected to the modern point’s system) from 2005-2012. Looking good if he can keep that up!

    1. @vettel1
      I think it is even more impressive when you consider that RB is still trying to get to the bottom of the tire issues – this is what the RB/Vettel combination can do when they are struggling. Imagine what the performance will look like if they can have the same development curve that they had last year… I think we might be in for another series of dominating performances in the late season fly-away races.

  6. Arguably Mercedes’ just had their second win of the 2013 season at the FIA International Tribunal in Paris.

    Nice one @keith

  7. Michael Brown (@)
    27th June 2013, 17:55

    Here’s hoping Mark Webber can take a win here in his last season in F1 – or at least in this season.

  8. It was said that Canada was not Red bull’s race to win and in my opinion Red Bull was the way to go. I don’t believe this is Red Bull race to win, I think it’s going to be Ferrari but that said the cool condition and the rain should shake the order up. If it rains it’s Red Bull from Mercedes if it’s dry it’s Ferrari from Red Bull hopefully Lotus.

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