So we arrive in Northamptonshire for the next installment of the 2013 season and back in Europe for the next few months following the early season trip over the pond to Canada, an event that saw Sebastian Vettel ominously stretch his championship lead over Fernando Alonso and Kim Räikkönen to 36 points after an utterly dominant victory in Montreal.
A track steeped in history, Silverstone has been in use since the very beginning of the Formula One. Indeed, the former airfield hosted it's first British Grand Prix in 1948. Recent years have seen this historic race track come under threat of being dropped from the calendar but problems at Donington and the renovations first used in 2010 helped to secure a 17 year deal between the BRDC and Ecclestone for Silverstone's future.
Vettel has himself won here in 2009 and will seek to further increase the pressure on his title rivals. However, it has been Red Bull team mate Mark Webber who has had the upper hand over the triple world champion in Britain, having taken four straight podiums, including two wins. Red Bull maestro Adrian Newey has himself had 12 wins here as a designer since 1991 (possibly 13 if you include 1997) but he should perhaps let his pilots do the driving here at Silverstone
Alonso, who has shared the podium with the Red Bulls in the last two years, has also traditionally ran well round Silverstone, with wins in 2006 and 2011 and three second places in 2005, 2007 and 2012. He will not want to ruin this record and, following his strong damage-limitation race in Canada, fall further behind Vettel in the championship. His Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa has, by contrast, never finished in the top 3 here and has often struggled, particularly his 5 spin nightmare in 2008.
Following the storm of controversy over 'Pirelli-gate'/'secret-tyre-test-gate', Mercedes followed up their victory in Monaco with a solid 3rd and 5th in Canada. Lewis Hamilton keeps picking up the points to stay distantly in touch with Vettel and will be hoping for another strong performance at his home Grand Prix. Perhaps his most dominant victory was here in 2008 with podiums in 2007 and 2010 but he has struggled in the last couple of years. Nico Rosberg has only finished on the podium once here in 2010. Silverstone will certainly test whether Mercedes have gained anything from Barcelona.
After a promising start to the season, Lotus have found themselves struggling of late. Worryingly, Räikkönen has only scored 3 points in the last two races, one due to a collision and the other due to poor strategy choice but he can break the points streak record here at Silverstone. Kimi won here in 2007 and has scored four other podiums so he also has a good record in Britain. His Lotus partner, Romain Grosjean has to start performing (and not mounting other cars!) or his race seat could be under threat. His only outing here was last year but he scored a solid 6th place despite an early front wing change following contact with Paul di Resta.
2013's surprise package Force India continue to rack up the points. Di Resta himself has been in cracking form and his one stop race to 7th in Canada suggests that there is no wane on the horizon. He has had little in the way of luck at home having had problems in 2011 and the aforementioned early clash last year that led to his retirement from the race. Speaking of luck, his team mate Adrian Sutil has yet to find much this year (isn't that right Brogan?) although his actions in Canada were stupid at best. He has only scored once at Silverstone.
As for the rest -
Mclaren's woes continued in Canada with their long points streak coming to an end. Jenson Button has surprisingly never scored a podium here and this doesn't look like changing. Perez had a collision last year but was 7th in 2011.
Toro Rosso have looked quite racy this season and JEV coasted to a comfortable sixth place in Canada whilst Ricciardo is also showing potential. Neither finished in the points last year but have performed well in junior races.
Sauber have yet to rediscover their 2012 form and only two points finishes all season - both for Hulkenberg - is a cause for concern. The Hulk was in the points in 2010. Gutierrez has won four races at Silverstone in junior formulae (twice in 2008 Formula BMW, 2010 GP3, 2012 GP2) to suggest he could be on for his first points of the season.
Williams have yet to score this season. Maldonado has not had a good season and his F1 form at Silverstone leaves much to be desired. Despite a stunning qualifying performance by Valtteri Bottas at Canada, he simply went backwards in the race. He won a Formula Renault race here in 2008 but the 2013 Williams is just too poor.
Marussia seem to have a slight advantage over Caterham, and in both teams the Frenchmen appear to have the measure over their teammates.
The typical British weather could see some spanners thrown in but the safe money appears to be on another Red Bull victory. Hopefully we have race to make both championships a bit exciting. So what do you guys think? And whoever is going - have a great weekend!
A track steeped in history, Silverstone has been in use since the very beginning of the Formula One. Indeed, the former airfield hosted it's first British Grand Prix in 1948. Recent years have seen this historic race track come under threat of being dropped from the calendar but problems at Donington and the renovations first used in 2010 helped to secure a 17 year deal between the BRDC and Ecclestone for Silverstone's future.
Vettel has himself won here in 2009 and will seek to further increase the pressure on his title rivals. However, it has been Red Bull team mate Mark Webber who has had the upper hand over the triple world champion in Britain, having taken four straight podiums, including two wins. Red Bull maestro Adrian Newey has himself had 12 wins here as a designer since 1991 (possibly 13 if you include 1997) but he should perhaps let his pilots do the driving here at Silverstone
Alonso, who has shared the podium with the Red Bulls in the last two years, has also traditionally ran well round Silverstone, with wins in 2006 and 2011 and three second places in 2005, 2007 and 2012. He will not want to ruin this record and, following his strong damage-limitation race in Canada, fall further behind Vettel in the championship. His Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa has, by contrast, never finished in the top 3 here and has often struggled, particularly his 5 spin nightmare in 2008.
Following the storm of controversy over 'Pirelli-gate'/'secret-tyre-test-gate', Mercedes followed up their victory in Monaco with a solid 3rd and 5th in Canada. Lewis Hamilton keeps picking up the points to stay distantly in touch with Vettel and will be hoping for another strong performance at his home Grand Prix. Perhaps his most dominant victory was here in 2008 with podiums in 2007 and 2010 but he has struggled in the last couple of years. Nico Rosberg has only finished on the podium once here in 2010. Silverstone will certainly test whether Mercedes have gained anything from Barcelona.
After a promising start to the season, Lotus have found themselves struggling of late. Worryingly, Räikkönen has only scored 3 points in the last two races, one due to a collision and the other due to poor strategy choice but he can break the points streak record here at Silverstone. Kimi won here in 2007 and has scored four other podiums so he also has a good record in Britain. His Lotus partner, Romain Grosjean has to start performing (and not mounting other cars!) or his race seat could be under threat. His only outing here was last year but he scored a solid 6th place despite an early front wing change following contact with Paul di Resta.
2013's surprise package Force India continue to rack up the points. Di Resta himself has been in cracking form and his one stop race to 7th in Canada suggests that there is no wane on the horizon. He has had little in the way of luck at home having had problems in 2011 and the aforementioned early clash last year that led to his retirement from the race. Speaking of luck, his team mate Adrian Sutil has yet to find much this year (isn't that right Brogan?) although his actions in Canada were stupid at best. He has only scored once at Silverstone.
As for the rest -
Mclaren's woes continued in Canada with their long points streak coming to an end. Jenson Button has surprisingly never scored a podium here and this doesn't look like changing. Perez had a collision last year but was 7th in 2011.
Toro Rosso have looked quite racy this season and JEV coasted to a comfortable sixth place in Canada whilst Ricciardo is also showing potential. Neither finished in the points last year but have performed well in junior races.
Sauber have yet to rediscover their 2012 form and only two points finishes all season - both for Hulkenberg - is a cause for concern. The Hulk was in the points in 2010. Gutierrez has won four races at Silverstone in junior formulae (twice in 2008 Formula BMW, 2010 GP3, 2012 GP2) to suggest he could be on for his first points of the season.
Williams have yet to score this season. Maldonado has not had a good season and his F1 form at Silverstone leaves much to be desired. Despite a stunning qualifying performance by Valtteri Bottas at Canada, he simply went backwards in the race. He won a Formula Renault race here in 2008 but the 2013 Williams is just too poor.
Marussia seem to have a slight advantage over Caterham, and in both teams the Frenchmen appear to have the measure over their teammates.
The typical British weather could see some spanners thrown in but the safe money appears to be on another Red Bull victory. Hopefully we have race to make both championships a bit exciting. So what do you guys think? And whoever is going - have a great weekend!
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