Images courtesy of BRDC British Formula 3 Championship.
By John Whittaker
Today the British F3 season kicked off in a strange fashion after the first race was decided by penalties. Saturday saw the opening two rounds of the series, with two more scheduled for tomorrow.
Race One:
Kaylen Frederick looked set to take an emphatic win in the first British F3 race at Oulton Park this weekend before a post-race penalty saw him demoted.
Louis Foster looked in a good position starting from pole after qualifying but a jump start and a subsequent ten second time penalty saw him cross the line second, before the penalty dropping him down to 14th.
Part way through the race Josh Mason found the barrier causing a rather lengthy safety car whilst they recovered the car and set about repairs. Whilst the ambulance was called out, Josh Mason walked away unhurt.
The safety car came in and Frederick completed his dominant display leading to the flag, setting multiple fastest laps in the process. An impressive drive from the young American. Or it would have been had he not also received a ten second time penalty (along with Manaf Hijawi) for a false start.
The post-race penalties saw Kiern Jewiss win the first British F3 of the year, with Ulysse De Pauw and Nazim Azman also on the podium.
Race 2:
In the second and final race of the day Piers Prior took a well managed victory leading from lights to flag.
It appears all the action was used up in the first race as the second was a rather dull affair with minimal overtaking around the technical track.
The main talking points from this race were the two retirements: first race pole man Foster and Manaf Hijawi, both mechanical DNFs on Lap 1 and Lap 7 respectively.
Other than that, the race left a lot to be desired with Prior taking his maiden British F3 victory, followed by Kush Maini, and Bart Horsten rounding out the podium.
Overall a decent first day of racing for the BRDC British F3 drivers.
Hitechâs Nikita Mazepin took his maiden Formula 2 win in the Silverstone feature race, prevailing over a rotation of challengers behind.
The race started with a slow launch for polesitter Felipe Drugovich, allowing Mick Schumacher to take the lead into Turn 1 while Mazepin jumped Christian Lundgaard for third. Drugovich, starting on the hard tyres compared to the medium runners around him, continued to struggle for pace through lap 1 and dropped to fourth behind Mazepin and Lundgaard.
Mazepin quickly got his own tyres up to temperature, closing up to Schumacher on lap 3 and then passing the Prema for the lead shortly after. By lap 5, Mazepin had already broken the DRS range to Schumacher, while Schumacher himself seemed to drop back towards Lundgaard.
Mick Schumacher, Prema (Clive Mason / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Mazepin and Schumacher made their stops for hard tyres on lap 8, followed by Lundgaard a lap later. Although Schumacher gained time on Mazepin in the pitlane, he struggled more than the Russian when making his way through traffic.
On lap 12 Schumacher lost half a second passing Guilherme Samaia, then got stuck behind Artem Markelov. On lap 15 Lundgaard overtook Schumacher for net second, while Louis Deletraz closed to four tenths behind him.
Deletraz eventually passed Schumacher on lap 24, which prompted a fall through the order as the German lost out to Guanyu Zhou, Yuki Tsunoda and Callum Ilott over the next two laps.
Deletraz didnât stay in third for long, being passed himself by Zhou and Tsunoda on lap 25. Zhou and Tsunoda were running the alternate strategy with hard tyres, and lapping much faster than those on mediums. On lap 27 Zhou quickly caught and passed Lundgaard for second, while Tsunoda demoted the ART off the podium on the final lap.
But despite their pace advantage, Zhou and Tsunoda ran out of laps to catch Mazepin and had to settle for second and third respectively behind the Hitech.
Lundgaard finished fourth, while Ilott recovered from stalling on the formation lap and starting from the pitlane to take fifth ahead of Deletraz. Polesitter Drugovich suffered a slow pit stop and eventually finished down in seventh ahead of Dan Ticktum. Schumacher finished ninth, and Nobuharu Matsushita took the final point in tenth after passing Jehan Daruvala through the final corner of the last lap.
Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport (Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images)
Lewis Hamilton has taken the 91st pole position of his career ahead of tomorrow’s British Grand Prix, three tenths in front of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and over a second clear of third-placed Max Verstappen. It makes Mercedes the first team in F1’s history to take eight consecutive pole positions at the same circuit.
Hamilton suffered a spin at Luffield on his first run in Q3 but recovered to post two laps good enough for pole, the quickest being a new track record of a 1:24.303.
Charles Leclerc got to within a tenth of Verstappen in what is Ferrari’s first second-row start of the season. McLaren’s Lando Norris will line up a very respectable P5.
Lance Stroll only just made it through to Q3 and qualified P6 ahead of Sainz and the two Renaults of Ricciardo and Ocon.
Having struggled all weekend, Vettel will line up only tenth for tomorrow’s race. What’s more, he will be starting the race on the soft tyres rather than the more favourable mediums.
Alex Albon failed to make it through to Q3 for the second race in a row and only managed P12 behind the Alpha Tauri of Pierre Gasly. He suffered a hefty crash during free practice on Friday and was plagued by an electrical issue on Saturday morning.
Nico Hulkenberg, drafted in at the last possible moment to replace Sergio Perez after Perez tested positive for COVID-19, qualified P13.
Daniil Kvyat will start P14 ahead of George Russell, who made it through to Q2 for the third consecutive time in his Williams. He was, however, investigated for failing to slow for yellow flags after his team-mate span at Luffield in Q1.
Both Alfa Romeo cars failed to make it through to Q2 yet again, as did both Haas cars. Nicholas Latifi will line up P20 after his aforementioned spin.
Liam Lawson took his second win of the Formula 3 season at the Silverstone feature race, seeing off the Premas of Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant in a race fraught with incidents.
Lawson started from second behind polesitter Sargeant. Although Sargeant held first off the line, Lawson was close enough to harry him throughout the opening lap and make a lunge around the outside of Stowe to steal the lead.
After a brief interruption on lap 4, when Matteo Nannini slowed on track and brought out a Virtual Safety Car, Lawson began pulling away from Sargeant. The American driver then dropped back into the clutches of teammate Piastri, who demoted Sargeant to third on lap 7.
Piastri was better able to keep pace with Lawson than Sargeant, closing to within half a second by lap 9. On lap 11 Piastri drew alongside Lawson under DRS and looked set to take first place, but the Australian ran wide over the kerbs and couldnât complete the move.
Oscar Piastri, Prema (Bryn Lennon / Getty Images)
With Piastri right on his tail, Lawson was handed a saving grace shortly after when the safety car was deployed for Bent Viscaal, who spun after contact with Ben Barnicoat through Luffield and collected Jack Doohanâs HWA.
The safety car remained out for four laps, but was then redeployed almost immediately when Olli Caldwell spun in the middle of the pack and was hit heavily by Lukas Dunner and Max Fewtrell.
With Caldwellâs rear wing and suspension across the track, the race went on to end under the safety car, preserving Lawsonâs first place over Piastri and Sargeant.
Jake Hughes finished fourth ahead of the third Prema of Frederik Vesti, with Alex Peroni climbing up from 18th on the grid to take sixth. Sebastian Fernandez finished seventh, Clement Novalak took eighth and the fastest lap, David Beckmann was ninth, and Aleksandr Smolyar took the reverse grid pole for the tomorrow in tenth.
Logan Sargeant, Prema (Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images)
With news that Sergio Perez had tested positive for COVID-19 breaking on Thursday evening, Racing Point had a decision to make as to who would come in and effectively replace him for at least this weekendâs British Grand Prix and even possibly for the 70th anniversary race weekend the next week. Well, it was all to perfect for a certain German driver whoâs last race came some 243 days ago.
After losing his seat at Renault at the end of last season, Nico Hulkenberg was most likely wondering how he could get himself back in a seat. However, what he probably wasn’t expecting was how it would come about and how much earlier an opportunity for him to return to the grid would arise. With that said, news broke hours before the start of Free Practice 1 that Racing Point had opted to replace Checo with Nico, who had already spent three-quarters of an hour of Friday morning in the Racing Point simulator ahead of his scheduled return.
With 177 Grand Prixâs to his name, it absolutely makes sense for both Nico and the Pink Panthers for him to take the drive, replacing his former Force India teammate and he did not disappoint!
Glen Dunbarr / Racing Point F1 Team
Free Practice 1:
Nicoâs initial lap of the historic Silverstone track was slightly delayed due to the fact we were still awaiting the result of his own COVID test, however, it wasn’t too long of a wait and before you knew it, Nico was taking to the track in the RP20 and was actually the first out.
After a couple of bedding in laps and a could of stops into the pits, Nico went on to complete an impressive 24 laps and subsequently posted a best lap time of 1:28.592 which was good enough to see him end FP1 in 9th just +1.170 behind the fastest man of the session – Max Verstappen (1:27.422).
What was more impressive was the fact that while he was just over one second off Verstappen, Nico was only +0.591 off his teammate Lance Stroll, who ended up finishing the first session third fastest posting a 1:28.004 (+0.582 behind Verstappen).
Post FP1 thoughts had you thinking that given Nico hasnât taken to the track whatsoever this season let alone jumping into a car which has a serious chance of challenging this weekend, he could only get fast. Excitement building for FP2? Absolutely.
FP2 got underway and Nico took his time in the garage before heading out to put an initial lap time of 1:29.906 for 13th with almost 20 minutes of the session gone. The following lap, Nico got himself into the top 10 with a much more improved 1:29.041 (9th), pace was starting to gather for the 32-year-old German.
With just under an hour of practice left, Nico saw teammate Stroll set a session fastest 1:27.274 during a qualifying simulation run. Nicoâs answer? Well, it was 1:27.910 to go 5th fastest and move to within +0.636 of Stroll.
With just three quarters of an hour left in the session though, Red Bullâs Alex Albon went off the track at Stow in a big way after losing the rear end and spinning in barriers. The session was red flagged and all carâs returned to the pits for around 15 minutes.
With restart of the session and around 30 minutes to go, Nico went on to complete a further 25 laps and ultimately ended up in P7 at the checkered flag. As for his teammate Stroll, well.. he ended up being the fastest man of the session with his before mentioned lap of 1:27.274 which was +0.090 fastest than second quickest Alex Albon, who after his crash at Stow, didnât return for the rest of the session.
âThe 24 hours has been a bit special. Crazy and wild. 16:30pm yesterday afternoon I got the call took a plane here and then seat fitted until 2am last night. Then into the simulator at 8am for an hour with a bit of prep work. It was a short night, but all worthwhile.â
Mark Sutton / Racing Point F1 Team
Overall Assessment:
Nicoâs return to the track after 243 days was a very impressive one giving the circumstances. With as much notice as he had, I donât think you could have asked much more from him. Yes, we all know that the car he was in control of could and should have been up with Strollâs timing but letâs be honest, 24 hours on from being told he was coming in, Nico did an excellent job in staying within six hundred tenths of his teammate.
The rest of the weekend will now be an opportunity for Nico to repay Racing Pointâs trust in giving him to replace Checo. You can well imagine that with the data collected from his laps today and the debriefing to follow, Nicoâs confidence will have grown massively and could show not only in tomorrowâs FP3 but also in what is expected to be a much cooler Qualifying.
Itâs fair to say that despite the circumstances that surround his return, itâs great to see the man that they call Hulk back in a Formula One car. Welcome back, Nico!
Formula 3 returns this weekend at historic Silverstone, for the fourth round of the 2020 season.
As things stand coming into Great Britain, championship leader Oscar Piastri has begun to break into a dominant position in the title fight. On 76 points so far, he is more than a feature race victory ahead of his nearest rival, teammate Logan Sargeant.
Apart from one eighth place in the first Austria sprint race, Piastri has consistently finished in the top five in every race so far this season, including a double podium last time out in Hungary. Meanwhile, Sargeant has yet to take victory this year, while third-placed driver Theo Pourchaire didnât score points at all in the first round of the season.
David Beckmann, Trident (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Piastriâs rivals might take some heart from the fact that Silverstone was one of the few rounds Prema didnât dominate last year, with Juri Vips and Leonardo Pulcini taking both victories for Hitech Grand Prix.
Hitech donât look to be the same contenders they were last year, despite Liam Lawson winning the first sprint race of the year in Austria and Dennis Hauger finishing third in Hungary. However, Trident and ART have both been close challengers to Prema in 2020 and will be pushing to deal any blow they can to the Italian team this weekend.
One driver in particular who could be a real headache for Prema and Piastri is David Beckmann, who comes to Silverstone off the back of his first F3 win in the Hungary sprint race. With two further podiums already to his name, Beckmann is also one of only three driversâalongside Piastri and Richard Verschoorâto score in every race so far this season.
Aleksandr Smolyar, ART (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
As for ART, Pourchaire underlined his own championship credentials in Hungary by becoming the only repeat race winner of the season so far. The young Frenchman has a bit of ground to make up after his slow start to the campaign, but clearly has the speed to challenge for the podium this weekend.
But itâs not just Pourchaire carrying ARTâs hopes. The French team has plenty more talent in its lineup in Sebastian Fernandez and Aleksandr Smolyar, both of whom have taken a feature race pole this year.
So far luck hasnât been on their side, with Fernandez and Smolyar both retiring early from their respective pole position starts. But if either of them can marry up another strong qualifying performance with a clean race on Saturday, thereâs no reason they canât join the fight at the front with their teammate.
Formula 2 returns this weekend at Silverstone for the fourth round of the 2020 campaign.
Prema driver and Ferrari protege Robert Shwartzman will come into the weekend full of confidence, after becoming the championshipâs only repeat winner so far last time out in Hungary.
With 18 points in hand over the next-best driver Callum Ilott, Shwartzmanâs goal at Silverstone will be to build that gap even further and break free of the chasing pack. If he can keep up the momentum now, there will be little his rivals can do to stop Shwartzman asserting his dominance over the title as he did in Formula 3 last year.
Ilott will of course be the first of many drivers hoping to disrupt Shwartzmanâs title challenge this weekend. Since winning the first race of the season, Ilottâs own campaign has been patchy by comparison, with only one further podium to his name so far.
A win on home soil this weekend will easily put Ilott back in the mix, and he should be well-placed to do so as his UNI-Virtuosi team won last yearâs Silverstone feature race with Luca Ghiotto.
Callum Ilott, UNI-Virtuosi (Joe Portlock / Formula 1 via Getty Images)
Behind Shwartzman and Ilott, thereâs a fierce battle developing over third place in the standings. Christian Lundgaard currently holds the position with 43 points, but Mick Schumacher, Dan Ticktum and Marcus Armstrong are all within nine points of the Dane.
Although Lundgaard is quite a way adrift of Shwartzman, he is still likely to be a threat this weekend. Prior to Hungary, where he failed to score in either race, Lundgaard had been on a run of top-six finishes culminating in his sprint race win in Austria.
If Lundgaard can put his Hungaroring disappointment behind him, heâs shown he has the pace to be a serious title threat this year.
Schumacher comes to Silverstone on a good run of form, having taken a double podium at the last round in Hungary. However, heâll need to make a much bigger step forward this weekend if he wants to stay in contention for the title and an F1 shot next year, as he is so far yet to outscore Shwartzman in any race this season.
Meanwhile, Ticktum has also displayed plenty of ability in his F2 debut, although has yet to claim his first win in the series. A challenger in sprint races in particular, the DAMS driver will be one to watch this weekend for sure.
Dan Ticktum, DAMS (Carl Bingham, LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship)
One of the main talking points of the current 2020 season is Racing Point – nicknamed the Pink Mercedes. Subsequently, Renault have raised concerns about the legality of their car to the stewards. We are awaiting a decision upon the review of the brake ducts as Racing Point have handed over their current carâs ducts and Mercedes are due to sample a pair from the 2019 car – the Mercedes W10. The stewards are investigating all of this, but unfortunately there is no timescale presently so every race Renault can continue to protest a result or any team if they are unhappy with the result. It is much easier to copy external aerodynamics from images and videos such as wings and floor designs but internal details are much harder which is why brake ducts were the focal point. If their brake ducts are passed clear and are very similar, what stops Red Bull giving their junior team Alpha Tauri their old designs to base next year’s car, similar to what they did prior to 2010? Will 2021 be the return of four Red Bulls to the grid?
Sergio Perez, Racing Point RP20
Scuderia Toro Rosso, now Alpa Tauri, entered the Formula One grid when Red Bull bought the beloved backmarkers Minardi. Their first car, the STR1, was near enough a carbon copy of the 2005 RB1 whilst Red Bull moved onto the RB2. This preceded the arrival of one of the greatest designers in the history of the sport – Adrian Newey. He moved over from McLaren for 2007 to embark on a new challenge. Controversy ensued that season when the RB3 and STR2 were both designed on the same chassis by Newey. Williams and Spyker felt this was against the concorde agreement, very much on the terms to what Renault are going to the stewards for this season. The FIA classed this is as legal for a customer chassis but the Toro Rosso team then managed the car throughout the season.
GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool // 1329476893572-1682678767 // Usage for editorial use only //
The cars remained identical until 2009. Ironically Toro Rosso was the first Red Bull branded car to win an F1 race in Monza in 2008. Sebastian Vettel, as a result, earned a drive for the Red Bull team alongside Mark Webber. In 2010 Toro Rosso built its first car, the STR5, from scratch as duel-designs had been banned. Adrian Newey and Red Bull Technology had no say on this car due to differing engine suppliers. Since transmission assistance and suspension assistance were introduced in 2013 and 2018 respectively, Red Bull have once again been able to aid their second team. This arrangement is very similar to Haas’ relationship with Ferrari.
GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool // 1329477258696-281002003 // Usage for editorial use only //
An interesting scenario now arises if Racing Point have managed to near enough copy the Mercedes car from last year. Can Alpha Tauri, within regulation, just get the base designs to build their AT02 car on their own chassis? They would not need to take hundreds of photos; owner Helmut Marko probably would get the prints to a certain extent within the rulings. The Red Bull for many seasons has been dubbed the best car on the grid aerodynamically and has cut the deficit to Mercedes around the less power sensitive tracks on the calendar such as Monaco and Hungary. Such circuits have more sectors with low to medium speed flowing corners. Red Bull took a gamble with Honda power and the Japanese manufacturer is beginning to find its footing in the hybrid era. Hopefully now at power tracks like Monza, we will start to see Red Bull competing once again.
Upon all of this would we see the return of four Red Bulls like the mid to late noughties when Toro Rosso entered the grid? A cost-cap has also been agreed for the future so this would assist both teams greatly. Red Bull could make a return in possibly passing on old designs if permitted and as a result Alpha Tauri would spend less on research and design.Â
The 2020 Bennett’s British Superbike Championship season is now tantalisingly close and the excitement kicked up a gear on Tuesday 28th July as the teams descended on Donington Park for an official test session.
Andrew Irwin, aboard the new Honda FireBlade for the factory team, set the pace in the first two sessions posting a fastest lap time of 1.07.079 in session one, followed up by a 1.06.663 in the second run-out. Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki’s Danny Buchan was second fastest in the first two sessions recording times of 1.07.216 and 1.06.813 respectively.
The elder of the Honda Racing Irwin brothers, Glenn, was quickest in the third and final session, posting a time of 1.06.640 with Buchan again recording the second fastest time with a 1.06.776.
In session four, it was Buchan’s team-mate Lee Jackson who finished top of the pile, recording an impressive 1.06.583 aboard his Massingberd-Mundy Kawasaki with McAms Yamaha’s Jason O’Halloran finishing the final session second fastest with a 1.06.597.
It was indeed Jackson who ended the day fastest overall, with O’Halloran again in second. Hector Barbera (Rich Energy OMG Racing BMW) was third, Glenn and Andrew Irwin rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth respectively.
Many people’s tip for the championship, Josh Brookes (PBM VisionTrack Ducati), best time came in session four with a 1:06.719. Brookes’ team-mate Christian Iddon’s best time was recorded in session three with a 1:06.719.
In the support classes, Rory Skinner of Tyser Yamaha was quickest of the Supersport riders across the four sessions, finishing top of the pile in all four with his quickest coming in session three with a 1.08.450. Bradley Perie aboard the Diamond H Racing Yamaha was second in all four sessions.
Chrissy Rouse dominated the test sessions for the Superstock riders, finishing fastest in three of the four sessions, piloting his Crowe Performance BMW to a 1.08.236 in session four, his fastest time of the day. Danny Kent, aboard the Morello Racing Kawasaki, finished fastest in session three, posting a 1.08.304.
With testing out of the way and some of the lockdown-enforced dust shaken off, focus shifts to the weekend of 7-9 August when BSB returns to Donington for the opening round of the 2020 season.
After a two-week break since the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Formula One circus rolls into the lush fields of Silverstone for the 75th British Grand Prix, and the first of two back-to-back races to be held there in as many weeks.
The 5.8 kilometre circuit has seen 30 different winners in the 53 Grands Prix that it has hosted, one of them being the six-time winner Lewis Hamilton, who looks to make it a seventh on his way to, potentially, his seventh world championship this campaign.
2020 Hungarian Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images
And it is he and his relentless Mercedes team that look to take their sixth win here since the new track layout was introduced in 2010, after an utterly dominant display by Hamilton won him the Hungarian Grand Prix last time out.
Ferrariâs 13 wins overall in Silverstone are nothing to gawp over regarding recent years â their last two victories in Northamptonshire came in 2018 with Sebastian Vettel, and back in 2011 with Fernando Alonso.
Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
And speaking of Ferrari, their terrible beginning to the 2020 season is not going to be improved at a track where the teams will need power â something that the Prancing Horses have been lacking in their power unit over the first three races. This has also translated to their customer teams Haas and Alfa Romeo. They have both struggled to make it out of Q1 in Austria and Hungary, but Kevin Magnussenâs point in Budapest was a step in the right direction for the American outfit. The Dane and team mate Romain Grosjean will be trying not to make contact for the third year in a row in Britain â something that landed them in a fiery rollocking from team boss Guenther Steiner last year.
Red Bullâs erratic car performance has negatively impacted on Max Verstappen and Alex Albon this year. Albon ended up out in Q2 in Budapest last time out, while Max Verstappenâs assessment of the RB16 has generally been that it is âtoo slowâ to challenge the dominant Mercedes. He did very well though to hold off Valtteri Bottas for second two weeks ago. The Finn, who took victory in the first round in Spielberg, knows he needs a win over the next couple of races to close the gap back up to team mate Hamilton and stem the colossal tide from the brilliant Briton.
McLaren enter their home race having made a positive start to the year in Austria, but struggled in Hungary; Carlos Sainz claimed a ninth-placed finish, while Lando Norris failed to score points in thirteenth. However, seldom do poor weekends tend to happen for McLaren since the start of 2019 and the entertaining driver-partnership know that, with a bit of misfortune for Red Bull and Ferrari, they could go in search of a podium.
Racing Point will have the same perspective. Their exceptional qualifying in Budapest was followed by a fourth-placed finish for Lance Stroll, who may well yet be partnering Sebastian Vettel next year. The German is tipped to be signed by the team as it becomes Aston Martin in 2021.
As with last year, Williams find themselves entering this race having thus far been the only team yet to score points, but will have designs on lifting themselves off the bottom of the Constructorsâ standings if changeable conditions play a factor.
After his eighth win in Hungary, Lewis Hamilton has his sights well and truly set on number seven in Silverstone â one of the best weekends of the year, and we get to see it twice!
Images courtesy of BRDC British Formula 3 Championship.
