Jolly good show this time round folks, as the season descends to the green and pleasant land that is our country. Even though at the moment the place isn't so green any more, it is mostly underwater since the significant amount of storm rainfall that that assaulted the little northern part of this land that the blog hides in. But despite that minor technicality, this is a world governed by tea, scones and moaning about all manner of things. It is this power of moaning that keeps this part of the internet running, as most of the time I do end up moaning about one thing or the other - last time out moaning was the sole component of all pre-race communications. This weekend however there is something else festering to drain all the venting cynicism I have an abundance of, considering I can't fire it all at Valencia this time; and that is the disgraceful infection of the 'prom'. A concept born out of pure evil, fuelling the ever depressing and persistent plague of aesthetic dependency - makes a person want to set fire to things in blind fury. Sadly a large quantity of fiery vengeance is not allowed any more; which is a shame as complete incineration is the only solution to this hideous abomination. It is so appalling that it even makes the pseudo track in Valencia seem like the greatest thing in the history of the world. I would assign penalty points to the monstrosity but the amount of penalty points it deserves would bring the entire of the internet to critical mass plunging the entire solar system into a quantum singularity. Ending all life as we know it.... and it probably would be worth it.
Anyway that's my rant over for the weekend, at least this part of the weekend anyway, can't really promise there will be no more ranting, it just sort of happens from time to time. So before another set of literary rage cascades onwards I shall turn attentions back to the actual reason I sit at the keyboard every other week or so and that is grand event that is the British GP, one of the traditional points of interest remaining on the modern calendar. Held down south at Silverstone despite recent ideas from Bernie to have a race around central London encompassing the Olympic stadium. Something that the Australians have done with the Olympic park in Sydney - where they user the roads around the area to host the finale of the V8 Supercar season. The thing is compact street races like that can work for touring car series' but not so much for a Formula one car - if it wasn't for tradition and historical connections the Monaco GP probably wouldn't make it onto the calendar. On balance leaving the race at Silverstone is the best idea, the lap has so much value to it, but like so many others, is certainly not without it's flaws, so lets examine the venue for this weekend.
The Track
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| circuit graphic by the FIA. |
The track has sections and corners that are famed on an international scale, to those in the know anyway, and the run all the way from Woodcote down to Stowe corner is one of the most enjoyable pieces of road to drive along. At least in the simulator, up there with the first sector of Suzuka and the majority of Spa, that sequence once was also joined by the nifty chicane at Abby and the greatness of the Bridge corner. But there was a little update since then and those corners no longer exist which is a shame - as we replaced one stadium section with another in an attempt to improve racing and attract overtaking. To an extent the use of the national straight has seen some passing, because a track that is fast flowing and entertaining to drive does tend to veer more towards processional racing. Because the fastest line is often only a single file route around the track, and high speed corners in cars with the amount of downforce they have now cars can't run that closely behind each other due to the aero wake.
So that's why a section with two awkward hairpins has been introduced into the layout, that and that there has always been pressure on the race to improve the facilities for some reason. When tracks like Canada can have older pit buildings and amenities and no-one has been imposing all sorts of developments there, it could be said that the over importance the powers that be put on the pit buildings means that the track can suffer. Spa and Silverstone have been examples of that - where the refurbishment of the Belgian pit area cost the world the original bus stop chicane instead replacing it with the appalling replacement, and now there is this arena section here. At least, like Spa there are enough redeeming features to make the track well worth visiting - outside the mammoth amount of money that it took to build the new pit lane buildings, which in all fairness do look really cool.
It is that time of the post again, we've had the obligatory rant, complained about a section of a track and global design principles which means it should be the part of the entry where a video comes along. In lieu of anything more intelligent to post, it shall indeed be the video, and because this is the British GP I thought it was good cause to make another special longer edition. That and there is some dark sense of satisfying justice in irritating windows movie maker for making all my videos really pants and limited. But this one, like Monaco contains a slight historical element including some track footage from the first ever race-track at Brooklands driven in an 1937 Auto Union car. So here it is.
What to expect
Changes, lots and lots of changes - perhaps not to the running order as these things do tend to cancel each other out - each team bringing an upgrade so the entire grid moves forwards in unison no-one gains and no-one really loses out. At least that is how it used to play out but this season has seen different cars at different places on the grid from race to race and that is even without an event that comes with many modifications as the British GP. Because most of the teams are based in England this race is one of the easiest of the season to transport new parts and upgrades from the factory to the car. The Force India team have their factory just outside the grounds of the Silverstone circuit so they just have to walk through the gates with a new wing if someone puts it in the fence one too many times.
At the front however it is likely to be the same competitors looking to claim the front row and ultimately the top place on the Podium come Sunday - but it is difficult to ignore the pace that Vettel had in Valencia before the car broke down. Additionally it could be considered that in Silvertstone that the team would be just as fast given their tendency in previous years to do rather well on aero grip dependant circuits. However it is impossible to count out the other teams towards the front in the form of McLaren and now Ferrari, this time Mercedes can be in that division this weekend as well methinks. But it might be Lotus who could lose out as their car tends to be more effective in warmer climates... Britain isn't really known for it's warm climate. If we were to look at the recent weather the race will need to be completed in little rubber dinghies instead after the amount of rain and flooding we've had to deal with.
It would be that degree of mad conditions that would play into the midfield excellently, bringing teams like Sauber and Williams a chance at scoring major points this weekend some of them points that may come with some podium silverware. For example in Malaysia when the rains fell Perez almost claimed a win so anything is possible from that part of the grid - and it could make the qualifying session rather interesting if the forecast is anything to go by.
Even a monsoon might be a little too much to bring one of the teams from the very back of the grid up into the points, but not entirely impossible - for a brief moment Petrov was running in 10th place only two weeks ago. That was a mad race so if the similar events took place under a layer of rain then who knows - except for you HRT there is no hope for you.
Blog Predictions
Speaking of no hope, this is the time once more to make a complete fool of myself, but because this is a lonely corner of the internet no-one really sees how badly wrong the predictions often go.
- Webber
- Hamilton
- Vettel
- Alonso
- Schumacher
- Raikkonen
- Rosberg
- Button
- Massa
- Senna
Qualifying
- Red Bull: Vettel
- McLaren: Hamilton
- Ferrari: Alonso
- Mercedes: Rosberg
- Lotus: Raikkonen
- Sauber: Perez
- Williams: Senna
- Force India: Di Resta
- Torro Rosso: Ricciardo
- Caterham: Kovalainen
- Marussia; Glock
- HRT: De La Rosa
So there we go everything has been covered, before the storms that are hovering once more above not only this corner of the internet, but also I would assume above the track itself which will unleash themselves over the coming days. The calendar has timed this rather well, arriving in the country just as the weather goes almost Malaysian, and we all know how well that went. But this does mean we have another excuse to bring out the Ice Creams for Kimi who does like a little visit to the freezer once the rain descends, maybe we should have brought over some Valencian Orange Juice so both Kimi and Kamui had interval nutrients. And that is my call to go and make some tea, it does seem a little counter intuitive in the sweltering humidity in blog HQ at the moment but I frankly don't care. So until next time this is farewell from the blog.
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