The Times Sport - UK (2020-08-01)

1. L Hamilton GB Mercedes 63


2. V Bottas Fin Mercedes 58


3. M Verstappen Neth Red Bull 33


4. L Norris GB McLaren 26


5. A Albon Thai Red Bull 22

How they stand Constructors

6. S Pérez Mex McLaren 22


7. C Leclerc Mon Ferrari 18


8. L Stroll Can Racing Point 18


9. C Sainz Sp McLaren 15


10. S Vettel Ger Ferrari 9
    
    
    1. Mercedes 121
    
    
    2. Red Bull 55
    
    
    3. McLaren 41
    
    
    4. Racing Point 40
    
    
    5. Ferrari 27
    
    
    
    

Race 4 (out of 13)

Circuit length 5.891km

Laps 52

Race distance 306.198km

Lap record

1min 27.369sec

L Hamilton (2019)

GREAT BRITAIN SILVERSTONE

Porsche

centre

Stowe complex

The Silverstone Wing

Old pit lane DRS

activation

zone 1

DRS

activation

zone 2

Speed

trap

Pit

lane

Turn 1 Abbey

2 Farm

Curve

9 Copse

10 Maggotts

12 Becketts^14 Chapel Curve

7 Luffield

8 Woodcote

4 The Loop

15 Stowe

16 Vale

18 Club

5 Aintree

Wellington

Straight

Hangar Straight

3 Village

6 Brooklands

Today Tomorrow

Qualifying

2pm

23C 21C

Race

2.10pm

Winner 2019

L Hamilton

(Mercedes)

Lewis Hamilton has won six times at

Silverstone and I think he probably

needs to have a meltdown not to win

again this weekend. He’s in the form of

his life, he’s got the team behind him

and he’s on an absolute roll. He’s made

himself extremely hard to beat, there’s

a lot of years of hard work gone into

becoming the driver he is today.

What helps him to thrive at Silver-

stone is that he’s not intimidated by the

rear of the car moving around. He likes

to position the front of the car aggres-

sively, much more so than many driv-

ers, but at Silverstone you need to be

able to catch when the rear of the car is

a bit unstable. Some guys may struggle

with that and look for reassurance,

maybe resetting the throttle or not

being quite as brave. But Lewis isn’t in-

timidated, he just straps that thing on to

his back. He’s fearless and that’s why

he’s had so much success on this circuit.

the circuit

I remember landing at Heathrow from

Australia in 1996 and I went pretty

much straight to Silverstone. This is our

Lord’s, our Wimbledon, this is the track.

Around the world, Silverstone has a

huge attraction for drivers. I went on to

have a lot of success there, winning the

British Grand Prix for Red Bull in 2010

and 2012.

Silverstone is an old airfield, with

wide open spaces, and it can be windy,

so the cars can be tricky to handle when

the wind gets up. The average speed is

very high at Silverstone, something for

which Budapest and Austria, where

they have raced so far this season, aren’t

necessarily renowned.

The G-forces are so high, your

breathing is heavily disturbed. Suzuka

in Japan is similar, but at Silverstone

Hamilton’s bravery sets him

apart round high-speed track

your breathing is challenged by the

G-forces. It’s an exhilarating ride.

copse corner

Copse is one of the quickest corners in

F1 and drivers could be coming into this

at about 180mph. When you go into

those high-speed corners, it’s like two

speedboats following each other, the

water behind the front boat will be

challenging and the faster you go, the

choppier the water gets.

At Silverstone, the air behind gets

very disturbed, which is exhilarating for

the driver and beautiful if you’re lead-

ing, but it can be a tough track to follow

on if you’re trying to create pressure.

And the guy in front knows that; he

knows it’s hard for you to crack him and

to get a move done.

maggotts and becketts

There are opportunities for the brave,

because the old part of the track gives

plenty of chances to make a move. After

Copse, you go into the bends at Mag-

gotts and Becketts, down towards Stowe,

and that is the business end of the lap.

It’s a really special drive through there.

Normally, you’re driving past a

grandstand full of fans, but that will

obviously be empty this weekend.

You’ve got to be extremely precise on

this section of the track. Then you’re

out into Hangar Straight, where you

may go up above 200mph.

club and vale

Braking into the corners at Vale and

Club is important. The previous 30

seconds have been at such high speeds,

then you’ve got to make sure you don’t

make small errors in a more technical

section. It’s like going from big-wave

surfing to a kids’ paddling pool, but

there’s a lot of lap-time available there,

so you can’t be blasé with those corners,

before you turn towards the finish and

go again.

Mark Webber will be part of Channel 4’s

live coverage of the British Grand Prix,

beginning at 1pm tomorrow

Mark

Webber

Winner of two

British Grands Prix

Hamilton’s fearlessness has brought

him plenty of success at Silverstone

6

British Grand Prix victories for Lewis

Hamilton — the most of any driver. Jim

Clark and Alain Prost both have five

4

Consecutive victories at Silverstone for

Hamilton from 2014 to 2017

1min 27.369sec

Hamilton’s lap record at Silverstone,

which he set last year

Happy homecoming

‘a warning for paddock’

dise the remainder of the F1 calendar.
“In hindsight, perhaps we should look
at that, change the code and say,
‘Throughout the season you stay within
your bubble’,” Szafnauer said yesterday.
“That’s something for the FIA to
consider. I don’t think Checo [Pérez] did
anything wrong going back to his
family. He travelled privately, he takes
all the precautions. It’s no different
from Ferrari going back to Italy.”
Mexico has experienced a surge in
coronavirus cases in recent weeks and
F1 announced last week that there
would be no Mexican Grand Prix this
year. Pérez, who has been replaced by
Nico Hülkenberg this weekend, is
isolating and waiting to hear whether
he will be available for the second race
at Silverstone a week tomorrow.
“He’s asymptomatic, he was sur-
prised he tested positive, he feels com-
pletely fine,” Szafnauer said. “We need
to now forensically look back and
ascertain how Checo became infected.”
Pérez returned the only positive

result among 3,909 tests of F1 person-

nel over the past week Two colleagues

who travelled with Pérez — his physio

and personal assistant — are also

isolating but have tested negative.

Three further Racing Point team mem-

bers who were at a simulator session

with Pérez have also tested negative.

Christian Horner, the Red Bull team

principal, said Pérez’s test should serve

as a warning to the whole paddock. “It’s

a stark reminder that these procedures

are here for a reason,” Horner said.

“This thing hasn’t gone away yet and

we’re going to be travelling to countries

where there are second waves and

peaks. That’s where we, as a group, do

need to keep that discipline.”

Horner’s Red Bull team are expected

to provide the sternest challenge to

Mercedes, who have won all three races

this season, but Horner fears that the

dominant team are yet to peak. “I think

they have a lot in hand,” Horner said.

“Lewis [Hamilton] has been pacing

himself so as not to stress his car.”

dad’s advice

Sport

the times | Saturday August 1 2020 2GS 11

lessons from his father, Jos, inset, stood him in good stead for his racing career

MARK THOMPSON/GETTY IMAGES