Grand Prix 2017 British Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

We can only hope that Silverstone is closer in the action to Baku than to Austria, which is probably in the running for one of the dullest races this year.
The weather may well come to the rescue at Silverstone, it is often, windy, wet and frequently cold. It's also very flat and used to be very fast until the powers that be decided that fast wasn't really what F1 is about. So starting at Woodcote in 1975 started to make changes to slow the track down. In 1990-91 the tracks transformation from super fast to technical was pretty much complete, although they still tinker and tweak it from time to time. Now they may well be taking a break from 2019 until .....? But we shall know by the time the race is run next week-end.
They say that they can't afford to host the race anymore, and when you look at the other races round the world many are government backed, or at least backed by very rich oil countries, it becomes obvious that to keep pace is not easy, Silverstone does not get Government backing. Who does?
There is a suggestion that Liberty Media buy Silverstone, but that is only a suggestion. There is also a suggestion that the British GP should be run around the Docklands area of London, that might be fun. But it should all be clear soon.
As to the racing this weekend, well if it's wet, the driving conditions will be trickier, which is always good. If it's dry it could well be another Austria. Whatever the conditions, it will favour the Mercedes and the Ferrari, well the Ferrari driven by Vettel anyway, if Raikkonen can be bothered it would favour his Ferrari as well. Hamilton needs a win and I'm sure he would be happy if Vettel's car stuttered to a halt mid race. Meanwhile Bottas just goes quietly about the business of being Bottas and collecting a useful hoard of points.
The Red Bulls are getting better, but it would be brilliant if Max Verstappens car held together for a race. Danni R is doing a good job of point collecting, but two Red Bulls stealing points would be better for the championship. The rest of the field are all very close, and that includes the Williams which I was hoping would be closer to the top teams than the mid field this year, but Lance Stroll is developing which can only be a good thing.
As for McLaren, well what can you say ?
For those of you going to Silverstone I hope it's a fabulous race weekend, for those of you camping at Silverstone I hope the rain holds off.
But for the sake of an interesting race, I hope we get lots of "showers" on Sunday afternoon.
 
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Watching FP3 I'm a bit surprised at how many empty seats there are around the track. The stands at Stowe are almost empty.

The wife and I went to Silverstone on a Friday a few years ago and every stand was busy for both sessions.

I'm sure they will be busier for qualifying later but if you're paying the prices F1 charge to see a GP you want to see the cars on track as much as possible.
 
Tyres before race:
Britain - Med - Soft - Super - TOT
HAM - 1 - 2 - 1 - 4
BOT - 1 - 1 - 1 - 3
VET - 0 - 1 - 3 - 4
RAI - 0 - 2 - 1 - 3
VER - 0 - 1 - 2 - 3
RIC - 0 - 1 - 5 - 6
 
Ideal Lap (sum best sectors) in the Qual:
Qual – No – Driver – Qual Result – Ideal Lap – Flaw
1 - 44 - L.HAMILTON - 01:26,600 - 01:26,600 - 0,000
2 - 7 - K.RAIKKONEN - 01:27,147 - 01:27,147 - 0,000
3 - 5 - S.VETTEL - 01:27,356 - 01:27,252 - 0,104
4 - 77 - V.BOTTAS - 01:27,376 - 01:27,330 - 0,046
5 - 33 - M.VERSTAPPEN - 01:28,130 - 01:28,063 - 0,067
6 - 27 - N.HULKENBERG - 01:28,856 - 01:28,739 - 0,117
7 - 11 - S.PEREZ - 01:28,902 - 01:28,821 - 0,081
8 - 31 - E.OCON - 01:29,074 - 01:29,003 - 0,071
10 - 8 - R.GROSJEAN - 01:29,549 - 01:29,078 - 0,471
9 - 2 - S.VANDOORNE - 01:29,418 - 01:29,413 - 0,005
 
It was close, but i don't think he blocked Grosjean.

I wouldn't have mind if he got a penalty, than we had a good race at hand. :)
 
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