Silverstone ready to roar and go track to the future
ALAS football did not come home, but at least Formula One has and, for the first time in two years, a full-capacity crowd will fill Silverstone’s grandstands to greet it.
Many will be hoping for a record-extending eighth British Grand Prix victory for Stevenage’s most famous son, Lewis Hamilton, while others will cheer for Dutch disrupter Max Verstappen, seeking a second Silverstone win on the trot en route to what he prays will be a first world title.
It comes as former chief Bernie Ecclestone claims Hamilton, who arrived in the paddock yesterday in a psychedelic pink jumper, is ‘not quite the fighter he was. There are lots of occasions this year where he could have done better and he hasn’t’. Lewis currently lags 32 points behind the Red Bull star.
F1 was born 71 years ago at this bil
I really like the car from the front wheels back. It looks more aggressive
liard-table-flat ‘ power circuit’, which straddles Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. The cars had their engines in the front, no wings, no crash protection, and the concept of ‘dirty air’ wasn’t an issue. Yesterday, the sport’s next chapter was revealed in full-scale physical form and the drivers able to kick the tyres on the all-new 2022 car for the first time.
The most striking characteristics, besides the mirrored livery, are the flat nose, 18-inch wheels and lower profile tyres, wheel aero-covers, a vast front wing with tall, curved endplates, and a swooping DRS rear wing concept that looks a little bit retro and maybe even Art Deco. Nevertheless, it is a futuristic-looking package.
Initial reviews were mixed but largely optimistic. ‘ It’s very different to what we’re used to,’ says Verstappen. ‘ The most important is we improve the racing, and if this is the way forward I’m for that... 2022 will be a real challenge with a new era of car,’ says Hamilton, who recently agreed a two-year extension with Mercedes.
‘If we can follow [other cars] like it’s planned to, it’ll be amazing for the fans and the sport.’
Carlos Sainz said: ‘I really like the car from the front wheels back. It looks more aggressive than the current [cars].’ Daniel Ricciardo is a bit unsold on the front too. ‘The front is very different but the more you stare at it, the more normal it will start to look,’ he said.
This is just the FIA’s interpretation of its own rules, of course. The teams will each have their own design approach and one hopes the grid next season will be far from uniform. The aim of the new regulations is to increase overtaking and improve wheel-to-wheel racing.
It features a venturi channel beneath the car which creates ground-effect and much simpler wings to ensure downforce is not affected by the car in front. It is also stronger – the nose can survive a 50 per cent greater impact than the current designs. While the hybrid power unit remains the same, cars will now run on more sustainable fuel.
‘We want the best drivers to win, but we want much closer competition,’ says F1’s managing director Ross Brawn. ‘This is the start of a new journey and a new culture, where the raceability of these cars is going to be vital to the future of F1.’
The next season is eight months away but there is a bold new innovation occurring tomorrow – an F1 sprint race. Silverstone will host the first of its kind; 17 laps with a free choice of tyres and no mandatory pit-stops. The running order will be determined by qualifying today, and the result of tomorrow’s sprint will determine the grid for Sunday’s GP. It is an all-new timetable which will be repeated at two other races this season and, if it is well-received by fans, may become a regular feature.
The spectators will get more for their money but the teams are concerned about more crashes and associated costs. The top three sprint finishers will, for the first time in 35 years, receive laurel wreaths for their efforts. The tradition had died out previously due to sponsors complaining their logos couldn’t be seen.