And just like that, it's time to go to Silverstone. Despite the UK being in the middle of a heatwave the forecast says that we could have rain at the weekend. Well, it is summer...
Rather than give you some run down of the current World Championship, or a review of the last race, I'm going to take you back to 1981 and my first visit to a Formula One Grand Prix.
Back then the race used to switch between Silverstone and Brands Hatch. 1981 was a Silverstone year and this meant the race was on a Saturday. My dad had got hold of some corporate hospitality tickets and we drove up to Northamptonshire that morning from his house in Walton-on Thames. It was hot and dry, and as Silverstone (then) was flat and VERY fast, the turbo charged Renaults of Arnoux and Prost were on the front row. Excitingly for F1 fans Brabham chose this race to show off their BMW turbocharged machine, and Lotus rocked up with the twin chassis 88B. Once again trying to convince the scrutineers that chassis is both a singular and plural so the car was legal. It never made it past practice.
1981 was the first year post sliding skirts and the cars were very stiff, in an attempt to bring back some sort of ground effect. At the end of the fifth lap Gilles Villeneuve bounced his Ferrari over the kerbs at Woodcote, lost control, and took out current World Champion Alan Jones, and Andrea de Cesaris, in the McLaren. The turbo cars, at that time, were very fragile and slowly the Renaults and the remaining Ferrari of Didier Pironi consumed themselves. This left John Watson in the McLaren MP4 (now called the McLaren MP4/1) in the lead of the race.
McLaren, after having been in the doldrums for a few seasons, were paired up by Marlboro with Ron Dennis and his Project 4 race team at the end of 1980, much to the disgust of McLaren team founder (along with Bruce McLaren) Teddy Mayer. The MP4 was quite a radical car as it was the first to have a fully carbon fibre monocoque (CF had been used in F1 since the 1970s). It still used the ubiquitous Cosworth DFV engine, with McLaren not moving to turbo engines until 1983.
Watson duly won, 40 seconds ahead of Carlos Reutemann in the Williams, with Jacques Laffite in the Ligier Matra taking third. A few stats from the race:
Here's the schedule on Sky. I believe it is also live on C4, should you want to live recklessly.
Rather than give you some run down of the current World Championship, or a review of the last race, I'm going to take you back to 1981 and my first visit to a Formula One Grand Prix.
Back then the race used to switch between Silverstone and Brands Hatch. 1981 was a Silverstone year and this meant the race was on a Saturday. My dad had got hold of some corporate hospitality tickets and we drove up to Northamptonshire that morning from his house in Walton-on Thames. It was hot and dry, and as Silverstone (then) was flat and VERY fast, the turbo charged Renaults of Arnoux and Prost were on the front row. Excitingly for F1 fans Brabham chose this race to show off their BMW turbocharged machine, and Lotus rocked up with the twin chassis 88B. Once again trying to convince the scrutineers that chassis is both a singular and plural so the car was legal. It never made it past practice.
1981 was the first year post sliding skirts and the cars were very stiff, in an attempt to bring back some sort of ground effect. At the end of the fifth lap Gilles Villeneuve bounced his Ferrari over the kerbs at Woodcote, lost control, and took out current World Champion Alan Jones, and Andrea de Cesaris, in the McLaren. The turbo cars, at that time, were very fragile and slowly the Renaults and the remaining Ferrari of Didier Pironi consumed themselves. This left John Watson in the McLaren MP4 (now called the McLaren MP4/1) in the lead of the race.
McLaren, after having been in the doldrums for a few seasons, were paired up by Marlboro with Ron Dennis and his Project 4 race team at the end of 1980, much to the disgust of McLaren team founder (along with Bruce McLaren) Teddy Mayer. The MP4 was quite a radical car as it was the first to have a fully carbon fibre monocoque (CF had been used in F1 since the 1970s). It still used the ubiquitous Cosworth DFV engine, with McLaren not moving to turbo engines until 1983.
Watson duly won, 40 seconds ahead of Carlos Reutemann in the Williams, with Jacques Laffite in the Ligier Matra taking third. A few stats from the race:
- 30 cars were entered
- 24 qualified for the race
- The starting grid at Silverstone in 1981 went round the last corner and through the Woodcote chicane
- Four tyre manufacturers were supplying rubber to the teams
- Six different engine suppliers were present - three turbo, and three non-turbo (excluding the BMW)
- Five former and future World Champions were racing.
- Arnoux's pole time in 1981 was 1 min 11". In 1983 he took pole with a time of 1 min 9.5". In 1985 Rosberg set pole at 1 min 5.6"
The circuit layout was changed by the time they went back in 1987
Here's the schedule on Sky. I believe it is also live on C4, should you want to live recklessly.
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. although he’s no longer “the greatest F1 driver never to stand on a podium.”
