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.
 
Dry Silverstone will be dull. Unless you're actually there, in which case it will be less dull.

I far prefer Donnington as a track, and not just because I live near it!
 
Silverstone pull the 'we're going to have to stop running the GP because we Don't have enough cash' trick every few years just to knock the price down. It will all be resolved. Although, as I'm 30 mins away from Donnington, I like sobriety would be chuffed if it went there.

Race wise I think we could be set for a Hill/Schumacher or Mansell/Senna type duel round Silverstone. Hamilton cast as the hero with his people power and Vettel as the panto villain being Boo'd wherever he goes. Word of warning for both of them though - Silverstone, like Sochi and Austria, is one of Bottas favoured tracks. Maybe he is the Johnny Herbert of the piece.

I predict Verstappen will be back in the pitlane by lap 15.....and will be the youngest driver ever to do that.
 
For two guys who live near the place, aren't you aware that it only has 3 'n's ? Donington! Donington! Donington!

(Sorry - pet peeve)
 
As much as I think Brands Hatch is the best circuit in the UK it's just too narrow for modern F1 and all the nimby's who live around the circuit would stop them changing it. That said, if they were to change it it wouldn't be Brands any more.

I always look forward to Silverstone in the same way I relish a visit to the dentist. Even when it was ultra-fast it was still dull but it is, realistically, the only place in the UK with the facilities to run a modern F1 race so let's hope their posturing with Liberty Media have an effect. There will be a French race next year (probably) which is the home of motor racing, perhaps Liberty realise that there are some countries which need a Grand Prix for historical reasons?

It will be interesting to see if Hamilton's head is in a better place for his home race as I'm pretty sure his lack of pace in Austria was far more psychological than to do with the car. Has the decision of the FIA not to mete out any additional punishment to Vettel for the incident in Baku got to him? Who knows.
 
The only way to have another track host the British GP would be to build a new one from scratch.

As FB pointed out, there is no other circuit in the UK that is capable of hosting the race.
 
As much as I think Brands Hatch is the best circuit in the UK it's just too narrow for modern F1.

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It's not that narrow?.... Certainly way wider than some of the tracks on the modern calendar. About twice the width of Baku for a start. To the eye it looks about the same as the current Hockenheimring.
 
The GP loop is very narrow with little runoff. At Dingle Dell there's a housing estate on the outside where the runoff would undoubtedly be needed.

Maybe one day someone will build a decent GP circuit - in Derbyshire perhaps, or even Scotland. I envy any future British fans who'll be spared Silverstone.
 
teabagyokel funny you should say that because we've just had the Austrian GP and that was precisely what sounded the death knell to the Austrian GP at the Osterreichring. The GP organisers had already been under pressure for a number of yeears due to how narrow the-then much longer pit straight was and the steep hill at the end of it made moving the grandstands borering the track a practic impossibilty. There was some talk of moving the starting grid to another part of circuit but there were just ravines and ditches everywhere all along the track. The three attempts it took to finally get the race started in 1987 after the repeated starting grid pile-ups was the last straw.

Don't know what they did to but they found a way eventually didn't they. Once again we have GP starts taking place at the same location - even though the straight is only half its original length.
 
Incubus - The difference being that the Österreichring is in the middle of nowhere, while Brands would have to have one heck of a bun-fight attempting to get planning permission for any changes to be made.

I suspect the circuit will forever be stymied by the neighbours.
 
I LOVE Silverstone! and I live about 15 minutes from Donnnnnninnnngtonnnn. :D

I guess its cos I've gone there since the 90's, just love the whole weekend. I'd like sunny Thursday evening, to pitch tent and for concert; sunny quali. Then showers and sun I'll accept on the Sunday.

I watched MotoGP at Donington but the facilities were way way off being acceptable for an F1 GP. And that was before they messed the track up. I guess they've repaired the track now. But it's not F1 standard, nowhere near.
 
They still want to hold the race in 2020, they just Don't want to pay as much. Putting this whole 'grand Prix in doubt' thing about is actually very much a Bernie tactic. How many times have we heard Monza is dropping off the calendar?
 
well I just don't see how London can do a grand prix for a weekend in July but then you can't do it earlier than June because of the football season and policing and security is already stretched

Its just sad again money rears its ugly head
 
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