Formula One British Grand Prix preview
Copse, Maggots, Becketts, the fast Hangar straight, Abbey. These are just some of the famous corner names making up part of the Silverstone circuit that has been hosting British Grands Prix since 1950, alternating with Aintree and Brands Hatch.
As the sole host of Britain’s race for 23 years, the track this year has had a major facelift, with a new section coming in at the end of sector two carrying through to sector three, making the track one of the fastest on the calendar.
The Silverstone of 2010 is set to witness one of the closest-fought championships for many years, as the two British drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, are one and two in the drivers’ standings, with Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso in hot pursuit.
Hamilton has a six-point advantage over the reigning world champion Button, and there has been a lot of talk this week about their good relationship. The two were even seen playing on a Scalextric set which was modelled on the new track layout.
Red Bull have been playing mind games with McLaren, saying that both drivers will have a collision one day, insisting their relationship is all “smoke and mirrors.” Damon Hill has also said Button is the better driver of the two, comparing him to Alain Prost and Hamilton to Ayrton Senna.
Button admitted to “wetting himself” when he saw what was written in the press. “I always love the lead-up to the British Grand Prix. It is always exciting. I wet myself when I read the quotes in the papers the other day,” he said.
“The great thing is, it is great that the weekend is here as we will have something good to talk about hopefully, on Formula One as a whole, as we are always looking for a story leading up to the British Grand Prix and it is all over now which is good and we can concentrate on the important bit,” added the 30-year-old.
Hamilton is predicting his home grand prix will be a belter. “I think it's going to be an interesting weekend. It's an exciting one for me and Jenson because we know we have so much support here, not only here at the circuit, but also watching throughout the country, and we just want to make the country proud. I think it's going to be one of the most exciting British Grands Prix for quite some time, at least I hope so, and I hope Jenson and I are at the forefront of that,” he said.
Vettel won the last grand prix in Valencia and put Red Bull back in the hunt for both championships. He won last year’s grand prix here from pole position, and once again he will be challenging for the race win. Vettel is aware of the new updates McLaren will have this weekend.
“McLaren are quite confident that they have made a very big step so it will be crucial for them, having that many expectations going into this race and it is important for us to see how big their step is going to be.
"Probably then we can make out how the rest of the season, or the next five races, will look. It will be an important one definitely, also because I think here you are able to read the changes you make to the car quite well,” said Vettel.
Vettel’s teammate Webber is looking to bounce back after his spectacular crash at the European Grand Prix two weeks ago in Valencia. He has lost some momentum after winning back-to-back races in Spain and Monaco. The crash has put him 24 points off the lead. “It’s definitely an unusual situation for a single-seater to go into the sky like that. For sure I was concerned what might happen. It’s a freakish crash and I was a bit worried about some of the bridges,” said Webber.
The Australian knows the fight for the title is not over for anyone. “We know it’s changing event by event. The new points system is pretty interesting in that sense. There’s going to be some more tears before the year’s out in terms of some reliability, some mistakes, some pit stops, that’s grand prix racing, and that’s why we’re all here and that’s why we all watch it, so looking forward to it. There are some great opportunities in the future, clearly, for all of us to do well.”
Alonso surprised the media when he was asked in the press conference about relationships with teammates. Having finished asking Webber about his relationship with Vettel, a journalist switched to Alonso, who said: “Very good as always,” to which the journalist replied “As always?”
It was well publicised that Hamilton and Alonso didn’t get along with each other at McLaren in 2007, and as the by-now confused journalist continued to ask Alonso the question, the Spaniard kept on replying "yes." Once again the journalist asked another driver about teammates, this time Hamilton, to which he replied “About what? I have had great team-mates and great relationships.”
Alonso could easily have won the last two races. In Canada, he suffered from traffic caused by the slower cars, while in Valencia the untimely appearance of a safety car moved him from third to finishing in eighth. He was unlucky in both of those races.
The double world champion feels he can recover this bad luck, and still maintains Ferrari can continue to challenge for the championships. “I am quite optimistic for this weekend. We have had two unlucky weekends, so very soon we will arrive at a lucky weekend.
“I think we can do it after all that happened to us in the first part - the problems we faced. We can do a better job in the second half. I think it is enough to be in the fight for the championship hopefully, that is all,” he said.
Today, Red Bull topped the timesheets in both practice sessions. In first practice, Vettel sent a warning to his championship rivals by setting the fastest time (1:32.280seconds), ahead of Hamilton (1:32.614s) and Robert Kubica (1:32.725s).
In second practice, Webber (1:31.234s) came ahead of Alonso (1:31.626s) and Vettel (1:31.875s)
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