bigbadbrother
07-04-2014, 06:00 PM
Luke Smith
In many of the team previews and media sessions this week, the drivers have been saying how wonderful the British fans are and how they make Silverstone such a great race.
Frankly, it is very true. Even on Thursday, the grandstands were packed, and Friday saw even more fill the seats to see the practice sessions and support races. After a cloudy start, things soon warmed up at Silverstone to produce a lovely English summer day. Romanticism aside, here’s the latest news and analysis from the F1 paddock.
SESSION REPORTS
Once again, the Mercedes drivers shared the practice sessions on Friday. First blood went to Nico Rosberg at Silverstone, although the session was disrupted by a number of incidents and red flags.
Hamilton bounced back in FP2 to finish first, but he suffered an engine failure that meant he lost some track time.
NEWS FROM THE PADDOCK
Susie Wolff’s practice run-out ended after just four laps thanks to an engine problem.
She admitted that she was disappointed, but has now turned her attention to the German GP at Hockenheim.
Susie also made some very interesting comments about women in motorsport, saying that she does not feel she has been treated differently because she is a woman.
Monisha Kaltenborn said that the fight for the two seats at Sauber next season is wide open, with Sergey Sirotkin and Simona de Silvestro both in the running.
She also questioned the support for standing restarts despite Charlie Whiting saying that the teams were very enthusiastic.
Kimi Raikkonen revealed that he is likely to quit F1 upon the expiration of his Ferrari contract.
Will Buxton brings you the latest behind-the-scenes news from the British GP paddock in Paddock Pass.
Many of the drivers gave their views on standing restarts; some were happy, some felt that the sport should stay as it is.
Lewis Hamilton was upbeat despite his engine problem during FP2.
Pirelli will test an 18-inch tire at Silverstone next week to try and make the sport more road relevant.
THOUGHTS FROM THE TRACK
Great news for those of you not interested in the political side of the sport! This Friday, we didn’t have a team principal press conference, so no great fall-out or extended analysis of how the F1 Strategy Group works as per Austria.
That said, we did have a great chat with Monisha Kaltenborn this morning. She spoke about Sauber’s current position, its driver selection for 2015, and also about the introduction of the standing restarts for next season. The difference between her opinion and that of FIA race director Charlie Whiting is very interesting indeed. Once again, the Strategy Group is the driving force behind this idea.
Looking at the long-run pace, Mercedes is once again the dominant team, but that’s far from surprising. We look set for a great battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton this weekend at Silverstone, and in front of his home fans, Lewis will be keen to impress.
It also wasn’t a bad day for his compatriot, Jenson Button. The 2009 world champion has never finished any higher than fourth at Silverstone, and although he may not better that this weekend, he does look set for some points.
Ferrari and Red Bull should be the teams battling for the final podium position. Fernando Alonso finished third in both sessions, but Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel were never far behind. Kimi Raikkonen did well in FP1, but was less impressive in the second session.
The word at Williams heading into this weekend was “momentum”. After securing its best team result in nine years at the Austrian Grand Prix, many were expecting them to continue to impress. Said momentum lasted just 25 minutes as both Susie Wolff and Felipe Massa hit trouble during FP1. Wolff’s engine failure robbed her of a chance to show what she can really do behind the wheel of an F1 car, but she made history nevertheless. Massa, on the other hand, simply overcooked it and binned his car in a flurry of déjà vu from last year. The team managed to fix the car back up for FP2, though.
All in all, it was a pretty usual Friday – usual in the sense that Mercedes dominated proceedings. It will take something out of the ordinary to stop the Silver Arrows sweeping to a one-two tomorrow in qualifying.
You can watch qualifying for the British Grand Prix live on CNBC from 8am ET tomorrow morning.
In many of the team previews and media sessions this week, the drivers have been saying how wonderful the British fans are and how they make Silverstone such a great race.
Frankly, it is very true. Even on Thursday, the grandstands were packed, and Friday saw even more fill the seats to see the practice sessions and support races. After a cloudy start, things soon warmed up at Silverstone to produce a lovely English summer day. Romanticism aside, here’s the latest news and analysis from the F1 paddock.
SESSION REPORTS
Once again, the Mercedes drivers shared the practice sessions on Friday. First blood went to Nico Rosberg at Silverstone, although the session was disrupted by a number of incidents and red flags.
Hamilton bounced back in FP2 to finish first, but he suffered an engine failure that meant he lost some track time.
NEWS FROM THE PADDOCK
Susie Wolff’s practice run-out ended after just four laps thanks to an engine problem.
She admitted that she was disappointed, but has now turned her attention to the German GP at Hockenheim.
Susie also made some very interesting comments about women in motorsport, saying that she does not feel she has been treated differently because she is a woman.
Monisha Kaltenborn said that the fight for the two seats at Sauber next season is wide open, with Sergey Sirotkin and Simona de Silvestro both in the running.
She also questioned the support for standing restarts despite Charlie Whiting saying that the teams were very enthusiastic.
Kimi Raikkonen revealed that he is likely to quit F1 upon the expiration of his Ferrari contract.
Will Buxton brings you the latest behind-the-scenes news from the British GP paddock in Paddock Pass.
Many of the drivers gave their views on standing restarts; some were happy, some felt that the sport should stay as it is.
Lewis Hamilton was upbeat despite his engine problem during FP2.
Pirelli will test an 18-inch tire at Silverstone next week to try and make the sport more road relevant.
THOUGHTS FROM THE TRACK
Great news for those of you not interested in the political side of the sport! This Friday, we didn’t have a team principal press conference, so no great fall-out or extended analysis of how the F1 Strategy Group works as per Austria.
That said, we did have a great chat with Monisha Kaltenborn this morning. She spoke about Sauber’s current position, its driver selection for 2015, and also about the introduction of the standing restarts for next season. The difference between her opinion and that of FIA race director Charlie Whiting is very interesting indeed. Once again, the Strategy Group is the driving force behind this idea.
Looking at the long-run pace, Mercedes is once again the dominant team, but that’s far from surprising. We look set for a great battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton this weekend at Silverstone, and in front of his home fans, Lewis will be keen to impress.
It also wasn’t a bad day for his compatriot, Jenson Button. The 2009 world champion has never finished any higher than fourth at Silverstone, and although he may not better that this weekend, he does look set for some points.
Ferrari and Red Bull should be the teams battling for the final podium position. Fernando Alonso finished third in both sessions, but Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel were never far behind. Kimi Raikkonen did well in FP1, but was less impressive in the second session.
The word at Williams heading into this weekend was “momentum”. After securing its best team result in nine years at the Austrian Grand Prix, many were expecting them to continue to impress. Said momentum lasted just 25 minutes as both Susie Wolff and Felipe Massa hit trouble during FP1. Wolff’s engine failure robbed her of a chance to show what she can really do behind the wheel of an F1 car, but she made history nevertheless. Massa, on the other hand, simply overcooked it and binned his car in a flurry of déjà vu from last year. The team managed to fix the car back up for FP2, though.
All in all, it was a pretty usual Friday – usual in the sense that Mercedes dominated proceedings. It will take something out of the ordinary to stop the Silver Arrows sweeping to a one-two tomorrow in qualifying.
You can watch qualifying for the British Grand Prix live on CNBC from 8am ET tomorrow morning.