2018 British Grand Prix, Silverstone, July 6-8

[F1Krof]

@atanatizante, yes it seems so. They look pretty handy on long runs. If the weather stays hot as it was yesterday, I believe Ferrari will break their Silverstone drought this year. Mercedes usually liked these kind of tracks, but judging by yesterdays form, now Ferrari is even with them, if not ahead. If you compare their performance from France to now, this upgrade they've brought seems to have worked pretty well for them.

[atanatizante]

The FP2 qualy sim runs:

- Kimi did a 4-lap run with his best time of 1.28.045 set on his last run;
- Vettel did also a 4-lap run setting the best FP2 time with 1.27.552 in his 2nd run;
- Bottas did a 4-lap run being quickest at his 2nd run: 1.27.909;
- Lewis did a 6-lap run and set his best time at the last lap with 1.27.739;
- Ricci did a 4-lap run with the best time 1.27.403 in his 2nd run.

Then the actually qualy runs went into play:

- Lewis started a 13-lap stint on 7 laps old softs having times between 1.32.6 to 1.33.5, then went for 7 laps old medium doing a short 4 lap-run from 1.32.8 to 1.32.4! …

- Bottas on 6 laps old softs went for 7-lap stint run starting with 1.33.0 and finished with a 1.34.0. Then went for a 6-lap stint on 7 laps old hards doing times between 1.33.5 to 1.33.2!

- Vettel started a 16-lap stint on 9 laps old medium tyres with laps between 1.32.8 and 1.33.5 until 14th lap and the last 2 ones he was dropping with a 1.34.2 and 1.34.8 lap at the end … then switch to 6 laps old soft doing a 4 lap-run from 1.31.2 to 1.31.7

- Kimi started a 12-lap stint on 9 laps old soft tyres with times from 1.33.3 to 1.33.8, then went for 7 laps old medium doing a short 3 lap run with a time of 1.31.4 at the 2nd lap

- Ricci started a 6-lap stint on 7 old softs starting with a time of 1.34.4 and ending with 1.33.8! then switch to 10 laps mediums doing 6-lap stint between 1.33.5 to 1.33.3!

If someone dares to make a conclusion from the above facts feel free to do so ….

Now regarding tyre management, C.Horner said on Sky that at the moment there are no signs of tyre blistering but this scenario was the same in Austria and here there`s a higher probability to be in the race due to having more high-speed corners …

I can`t draw a conclusion about the pace between the top 3 teams but as I`ve read Vettel did quite a drop off on that 25 laps old medium used in his 16-lap stint ...

So, bearing in mind last race in Austria here must be a 2 stop race and it seems that Ferrari would do an M(S)-S(M)-S strategy for being blistering fast on that short sim stint on S tyres at the end of FP2. And we should have a better picture after FP3 upon their tyre allocation and strategy in the race ...

Those teams that would dare to take a 1 stop should do an M-H or vice-versa at least ...

[JonoNic]

It's great to see that tracks are not seen as Mercedes or Ferrari tracks this season. This is what we wanted as all the drivers cannot drive the same machinery. The front group and mid pack are all close

[johnny vee]

It's great to see that tracks are not seen as Mercedes or Ferrari tracks this season. This is what we wanted as all the drivers cannot drive the same machinery. The front group and mid pack are all close

Agreed, this is turning out to be a very good season.

[JonoNic]

Why is this track so bumpy if it has just been recently resurfaced? Was the whole track done or just patches? I heard it was a dryish summer so what's making it bumpy. Engineered bumps maybe?

[johnny vee]

Why is this track so bumpy if it has just been recently resurfaced? Was the whole track done or just patches? I heard it was a dryish summer so what's making it bumpy. Engineered bumps maybe?

https://www.racefans.net/2018/07/06/sai ... -bumps-f1/
The high downforce produced by the current generation of Formula 1 cars has created bumps on several tracks which it shares with Moto GP, such as Silverstone, leading riders to ask for tracks to be resurfaced.

-So was Silverstone bumpy last year...?

http://kwese.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/240 ... t-job-ever
"The bad is that, one, I always think countries seem to waste money when they resurface the tracks. They wasted money which they could have gone to better use. And, two, the people they hired did the worst job ever.

- Just Hamilton's opinion but it could just be bad workmanship...

[Big Tea]

Re surfacing is not the same as re-laying. Resurfacing only replaces the top couple of inches, the 'bumps' are much deeper than that.

[saviour stivala]

AMuS long run analysis https://www.auto-motor-und-sport.de/for ... land-2018/

Merc slightly ahead on race pace and Ferrari with higher tyre degradation than Merc and RB. Ferrari might be looking more for one lap pace hoping to take pole position and trying to defend that position in the race.

Honestly, unless it's translated incorrectly it says Ferrari are ahead on the long runs.

Could be that is why Bottas was reported as saying today that "Mercedes needs to deal with tyre overheating issues". and this when using the tyres they requested from Pirelli.

[MtthsMlw]

That was a big and weird one.

[zgred]

[MtthsMlw]

[F1Krof]

Last year's pole lap was 1:26.600. Judging how bumby and hot this track is now, I don't believe we'll see this time broken.

[Big Tea]

That looked lucky he did not roll

[Just_a_fan]

Good to see they have added a new kerb on the outside of Vale/Club to stop the drivers taking the mickey and going well off track there.

Everyone seems to be flat in Copse - 8th gear and about 295kmh.

[Manfer]

I love how crofty sounds all voiceless now that it looks like Hamilton is not dominating.