2018 British Grand Prix, Silverstone, July 6-8

[MtthsMlw]

Tire Choices


2017 Results
Qualifying


Race




2017 Pole Lap


2017 Race Highlights

[MtthsMlw]

Interesting third DRS zone through Turn 1

[LM10]

I expect a domination by Mercedes on this track. Especially in Qualifying they will get 1-2 with quite a big margin, I'm afraid. High speed circuit with high speed corners. We've seen in Austria how much of a big effect the last sector alone made and Silverstone does have way more of those characteristics.

[FrukostScones]

DRS through turn 1.? Is halo going to save them. Nuts. If someone dares he will crash.

[MtthsMlw]

DRS through turn 1.? Is halo going to save them. Nuts. If someone dares he will crash.

Maybe not, in 2011 they used DRS in Turn 1 and even through Maggotts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5nmfh4boUA

[Juzh]

Here is the pole lap with telemetry:

HQ: https://streamable.com/icbg9


As you can see hamilton wasn't flat trough T1 on his pole lap. I doubt anyone will attempt it with drs open this year. Entry speed will be higher because of DRS, and tires are not a few steps softer than last year, so even less chance of that happening.

The infamous question remains, will copse finally be flat again? I believe it MIGHT happen. Downforce is higher and halo has added enormous amounts of drag, so entry speed will be lower.

Overall laptime will not decrease by much due to above mentioned reasons. 1s at most.

[Juzh]

DRS through turn 1.? Is halo going to save them. Nuts. If someone dares he will crash.

Maybe not, in 2011 they used DRS in Turn 1 and even through Maggotts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5nmfh4boUA

This car had no power. 10 kph slower with DRS open, compared to V6.

[TheGkbrk]

Wondering how those blue hards will be performing

[Vasconia]

Ferrari should be stronger this year because theoretically this car has a greater aero efficiency due to the longer wheelbase. But, facts have shown us until now that Mercedes seems to be clearly stronger, so the Italians need to improve the aero efficiency.

Anyway, this is the perfect race for Mercedes, the track, the tyres, everything suit them. Anything but a victory would be a drama for them.

I also expect a 1-2. Vettel hasn´t been traditionaly very strong here.

[LM10]

Wondering how those blue hards will be performing

I don't know how the weather will be, but a high temperature track would favor blistering on the Hards. The harder the tyre (and therefore less wear) the higher the temperature (especially on tracks like Silverstone where the tyres need to sustain high energies). That's why blistering was an issue primarily on the Softs in Austria.
But due to the thinner tyre depth blistering most probably won't be an issue anyway this time.

I'm curious on how the general performance of the cars on the blue compounds will be.

[MtthsMlw]

Wheather seems to be mostly sunny around 29°C and low/medium chance of rain on all three days.

[falonso81]

Boring 1-2 for Merc. Moving on to next race...

[FrukostScones]

Boring 1-2 for Merc. Moving on to next race...

exactly my thoughts... for Austrian GP.

[Just_a_fan]

Wheather seems to be mostly sunny around 29°C and low/medium chance of rain on all three days.

If it stays like it currently is - and the forecasts I've seen suggest it will - then there will be no rain about at all. We haven't had a drop of rain for quite some time now. I'd expect the track temps to be very high which could play in to Ferrari's hands. A bit of cloud might develop as the day goes on which might mean the temps vary during the race - that could make things interesting as it might move the advantage around.

[dans79]

I don't know how the weather will be, but a high temperature track would favor blistering on the Hards. The harder the tyre (and therefore less wear) the higher the temperature (especially on tracks like Silverstone where the tyres need to sustain high energies). That's why blistering was an issue primarily on the Softs in Austria.
But due to the thinner tyre depth blistering most probably won't be an issue anyway this time.

That's not really correct, track and ambient temps are only part of the equation.

• The hards don't provide as much grip as the softer tires, so you cant push them as hard, and put as much heat in them, as you could a softer tire.
• The working temperature range of the compound also has a big effect.
• The abrasiveness of the track surface also plays a big part, because if the tires wear fast, it sheads heat as it wears.

This is how Pirelli describes the hards.

The second-toughest tyre in Pirelli’s range is designed for the circuits that put the highest energy loadings through the tyres, with fast corners or abrasive surfaces, and are often characterised by high ambient temperatures. The compound takes longer to warm up, but offers maximum durability – which frequently means that it plays a key role in race strategy. This is a high working range compound.

https://www.pirelli.com/tyres/en-ww/mot ... omepage-f1