HAMILTON SET FOR A NEW HIGH
Reigning Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton ripped up another record book last season when he took his sixth F1 victory at Silverstone. Who is to say that he won’t have stretched that record to eight after the back-to-back grands prix at the Northamptonshire venue? It is going to be odd to see Silverstone playing host to the world’s leading drivers but without any fans in the grandstands. The passion is clear among the hundreds of thousands who usually go. Standing on the banks, as I have done for the past few seasons, is a really good indication of how well-informed and partisan the UK crowd is. It is a pleasure to mingle and be part of that, and it’s something that we will all miss this weekend. But this is now our new normal and we have to get used to it.
The opening three grands prix of the season have given us some pointers to likely form, but Silverstone will flex the high-speed muscles of the cars. That hasn’t happened in
Austria or Hungary, so there could be a slightly different order this weekend. Our preview is on page 16.
Elsewhere in this issue, we have the news that forest rallying in the UK is hanging by a thread at the moment, and fans and competitors are relying on a decision from the government as to whether the engines can be fired up again. If the decision goes against mass gatherings is it hard to see how any significant events can function for the remainder of 2020. These will be tense times indeed for those who love throwing themselves between the trees.
While rallying is still in something of a crisis, some of the UK’S major championships will be waking up from their enforced hibernation this weekend.
The subject of our Motorsport News readers’ Q&A this week is Matt Neal. The three-time British Touring Car Championship title winner will be getting his show on the road at Donington
Park and he will be one of the many who will be out to halt the march of Colin Turkington, who is aiming to land a recordbusting fifth title.
Factory BMW driver Turkington himself knows that the reworked nature of the 2020 competition will throw unknowns at him, and he assesses his prospects with us on page 18.
As well as the BTCC, there is British GT action to look forward to as the rumbling monsters get their first event of the season underway at Oulton Park always a great place for a motor race. Deputy editor Graham Keilloh looks ahead on page 19.