Category: Silverstone

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Moto3: Incredible Alonso at Silverstone!

Feature Image Credit: Aspar Team

With overcast skies, cold conditions and a damp track, it could only be Silverstone for the British Grand Prix and what a grand prix it was! David Alonso with the ride of a lifetime starting at the back of the grid to take his first Grand Prix win in Moto3.

Image Credit Courtesy of Aspar Team

Race winner at the Dutch TT in Assen and main title rival to Daniel Holgado, Jaume Masia failed to convert his pole position finishing way down in 18th place. Holgado finished in 3rd place taking a championship lead of 22 points to the next round in Austria. Ayumu Sasaki finished 2nd for the Husqvarna team also moving up to second in the championship standings.

AS IT HAPPENED

A British rider on the front row of the British Grand Prix, and it started with heartbreak for Scott Ogden as the Vision Track Racing Team rider couldn’t get the bike going for the warm up lap. A front row start ruined and Ogden would have to start at the back of the grid.

Masia got off to a great start only to be overtaken by Holgado into turn 1.  A few corners in and Deniz Öncü was up from starting 9th to 1st battling with Holgado and Masia at the front of the Grand Prix. Now onto the Hangar Straight up towards Stowe corner, Öncü was side by side with Holgado as they come through the final corners to complete the lap 1. Öncü leading the way with Masia 2nd and Holgado in 3rd.

GASGAS Aspar rider David Alonso at the end of lap 1 was up an incredible 16 places and David Muñoz for BOE Motorsports up 12 places. Incredible starts for Alonso and Muñoz.

14 laps to go and Alonso goes by Artigas up to 11th, at the front its ever changing with Öncü making a mistake at Copse corner allowing Ortola and Sasaki to come through and join the party at the front. Alonso, didn’t stop there on lap 2 getting by Romano Fenati and quickly Joel Kelso up to 9th now for the Colombian teenager.

Into lap 3 now, Diogo Moreira posts the fastest lap of the race so far, Masia leads from Sasaki in 2nd followed by Holgado and Ortola. Yellow flags in sector 1 waved as Masia crashed out of the lead going into The Loop, a nightmare for Leopard Racing and Masia after such a strong weekend starting on pole position.

Still on lap 3 and the order is now Holgado leading with Moreira in 2nd who started 17th on the grid, followed by Tatsuki Suzuki in 3rd who started 10th and Alonso in 4th who started the race at the back of the grid.

Lap 4 and Holgado now looking to capitalise on Masia no longer at the front trying to break from the group, but the rest of the pack have other ideas. Moreira, Alonso and Sasaki ever dicing and changing positions at every opportunity along the long winding Silverstone circuit.

Lap 5 and Öncü is now back on the attack on Sasaki’s back wheel trying to take the lead hard on the breaks as they break into vale corner coming to the end of the lap. Holgado lead at the start of Lap 5 and ending it in 7th place. Any of the top 10 to 15 riders could possibly win this race with 10 laps to go. A classic Moto3 race unfolding here at Silverstone.

Coming up to half way through now and Alonso leads, a potential superstar in the making, you would never of thought that this was his very first time racing at Silverstone.

Collin Veijer posting fastest lap after lap now up to 8th after starting down in 15th. The leading group of 10 riders all fighting for the win. With constant dicing and changing of positions the race is shaping up a for a last lap battle to take victory.

Lap 11 of 15 and Holgado leads with Ortola, Alonso, Sasaki and Öncü all dicing and swapping positions. Its been an incredible Silverstone Grand Prix so far and its impossible to call as to who is going to take victory. No rider able to pull a gap at the front and Silverstone offers so many different lines and overtaking opportunities.

3 Laps to go now and yellow flags appear in sector 4, Matteo Bertelle and Suzuki crash out as Alonso is making his way back from 8th to 5th. Sasaki leading from Öncü and now Alonso up to 3rd place half way through lap number 3. To the end of lap 3 we go now and across the line Holgado pulls alongside and by Alonso into first along the Hamilton Straight. Sasaki now into turn 3 past Alonso as they go onto the Wellington Straight. This race is heading for a photo finish.

Last lap now and championship leader Holgado leads with Alonso 2nd and Öncü 3rd. Sasaki and Ortola coming together battling for 4th place just behind the leading 3.

Into Luffield Corner and the Colombian teenager Alonso goes up the inside of Holgado and takes the lead. Sasaki now goes by taking the lead into Maggotts and Becketts. Down into Stowe corner Alonso retakes the lead from Sasaki and hangs on to take the win. What a race. The GASGAS Aspar Team have found a superstar.

The top 15 point scoring positions were covered by just 1.572 seconds at the end of the Grand Prix. One of the closest finishes in Grand Prix history. What a comeback race for Moto3 after the summer break.

Image Credit: MotoGP

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP

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Classic Sports Car Club Winter Warmup – Race 2 (Part 2)

With the pit stops done, the field had only lost two of its BMWs, the Sapra & Bransom car, and Klaas Kooiker had pulled off early in the race with more smoke than was healthily emanating from the car. After 10 laps, Tommy Grouts E36 had decided that enough was enough, having run as high as third at one point, adding the third BMW to the list of retirees. Despite this, there was still plenty of action to be enjoyed out on track, Dave Harvey’s incredible progress was incredible, Dominic Malone was back into 2nd place, now being kept honest by relative newcomer Chris Murphy in his M3 E46, over a minute behind the leader.

Other battles through the field included the thunder from down under Dave Griffin in his E90 trying to get past the pink accented E36 Evo of Mark Smith, with another pair of Amspeed prepared cars behind them of Ashley Muldoon and Alex Heynes, and the Petch family Ginetta arguing with the Interceptor racing E92 of Mark Wyatt & Russell Humphrey. Joining the Heynes & Muldoon dance was racing veteran Nigel Greensall, having taken over the E46 from racing debutant James Collins by lap 12. A lap later, another addition to the now Greensall-led parade was one of several CSCC new entrants, that of Mark Lee in his Ginetta G55.

As the closing stages of the race began, almost all the aforementioned battles were still raging on. Greensall had (some would say inevitably) broken away from his pursuers, and trouble was to befall the Tom Gannon-built “Gannon Cannon” Honda Civic of Manoj Patel. He won the Tin Tops race on the previous visit to the Silverstone GP circuit in 2021, but alas the car was to experience trouble and retired from the race. He didn’t have long to fix the issue, as the Honda was due out in the very next race.

The next victim was the green Petch family Ginetta. Petch senior Chris has been with the CSCC since 2005 in a Triumph TR5, and his boys Harry & Max often share the big G50, but this time the car simply lost drive. Chris was able to limp the car back to the garage for the team to work on before the final race of the day, in which the Ginetta was due to reappear.

Motorsport, at all levels, can provide many memorable moments, both of joy and despair, and the final non-finisher of the race was about to remind the spectators of exactly this, as on the final lap, the pole sitter Malone was found stationary at the side of the track. From pole and fastest lap, looking set to secure second place, but sadly the renowned German engineering of the BMW failed him this time. Like the Petch crew, Malone had time before the car was on parade again to get the E90 back on song.

David Harvey and his lunar Lotus 340R would not be denied the top honours of the day, winning by over 30 seconds, even with a post-race 20-second penalty applied for the Code 60 infringement. Chris Murphy secured second, with Dylan Popovic bringing his snarling Ginetta home in third, all three of the podium sitters from the Open Series category. As for New Millennium, the winner of that category was Mark Smith, very narrowly from Dave Griffin, and the Collins & Greensall shared car in third.

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Classic Sports Car Club Winter Warm Up – Race 2 (Part 1)

The second race of the day was the WOSP New Millennium and Verum Builders Open series. CSCC welcomes Luke Wos’ performance tuning business, which has taken the title sponsorship role for the New Millennium category, catering for post-2000 production cars and their racing variants, as well as Rob Hardys Wiltshire-based Verum Builders company continued support of the Open series, which provides a home for all production saloon, hatchback, sports & GT cars of any age, as well as some kit cars.

In contrast to race 1 which focused on the Lotus 7-inspired design, this combination attracted 33 entrants to take to qualifying, of which 30 made it to the grid. No less than 10 marques were represented through the field, with neither the New Millennium nor Open series holding dominion over the other, as the first three rows had one representative of each category.

A familiar face secured pole position, that of bath-based dentist Dominic Malone in his BMW M3 E90, previously raced by Sir Andy Priaulx MBE. Right next to him was the lead Open Series car of Dave Harvey in his moon buggy-esque Lotus 340R, reportedly the only one racing in the UK. Throughout the grid were some amazing driving talent, along with debutants, such as James Collins who was taking part in his first-ever race, partnered up with racing veteran Nigel Greensall in a BMW M3 E46.

With Malone & Harvey leading to the field to the green light for the first 40-minute race of the year, the various roars and screams of the hugely varied engine notes kicked in and the race began. As the lights went out, so did Malone’s momentum as Harvey stole the lead through Copse. Behind them was a superb start from Bosnian-born Dylan Popovic in his Chevrolet-powered Ginetta G50, demoting Malone to 3rd. It wasn’t long though before the race was neutralised, this time by a code 60, caused by Warren Tattersall who had buried his Seat Leon TCR into the gravel trap at Copse. He was recovered by the ever-hardworking marshalls and was allowed to continue, but a lap down from the rest of the field.

As the code 60 concluded, curiously Harvey was nearly a minute ahead of Popovic, who in turn was about 12 seconds ahead of Malone, after which point there was a flood of competitors, a 5-way BMW battle going on for 4th, a 3-way fight for 9th that was led by the first non-BMW outside of the podium contenders, and various clusters of cars all arguing for their own segment of Northampton real estate.

The first pit stop of the year belonged to the BMW owned by the class champion in the Kumho BMW championship Jasver Sapra, whom this time was sharing the car with usual playmate Bryan Bransom. It was Bransom who brought the car in, and there they remained for what felt like an eternity for them as the new paddle shift system was being checked over, this being the first race the car has had with this system in place, however a lap later, Sapra brought the car back in and into retirement. The pitlane was a hive of activity as the next few laps progressed. Mark Smith, whose son runs the Amspeed outfit that looks after a number of the BMWs seen on the CSCC grid, stalled trying to get going from his stop, requiring a push start to get himself going again.

Continued in part 2

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British GP: Carlos Sainz finally wins in Formula 1 amidst Drama

Carlos Sainz finally got his first win at the weekend with a fantastic drive amidst the drama of the British Grand Prix. Perez and Hamilton rounded out the podium with all three giving the passionate crowd plenty to cheer about.

After a wet qualifying, all eyes were on Sainz to see if he could convert his long-awaited pole into a win to take the pressure off him. Verstappen was poised to take the fight to both Ferrari’s with Leclerc in P3 while RedBull looked to use Perez in P4 to keep the championship battle very much alive.

The first race start. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool

Lights out and Verstappen got a better start than Sainz and was leading him into turn 1. Behind them Hamilton had a lighting start putting himself up to P3 ahead of Leclerc and Perez, making the crowd roar with approval. That was short-lived as further back there was a major crash.

George Russell bogged down on the start and fell back, as he moved forward he moved across to the left for the racing line. Next to him, Zhou was moving towards Russell however between their rear wheels Gasly was moving forward.

Russell checking on Zhou. Image courtesy of Mercedes Media

This pincer move meant that Russell hit Gasly who in turn then hit Zhou. This flipped the Alfa Romeo onto the halo for 150 metres before hitting the gravel at speed. It flipped over and eventually rolled over the tyre barrier into the catch fencing, landing in the gap between the tyres and the fence. Russell immediately ran over to check he was ok and helped the marshals and medical team who did a great job. Luckily Zhou was ok after a check at the medical centre.

While that was going on Albon was tapped from behind by Sebastian Vettel. This dramatically flicked him right, hitting the pitwall and back out onto the track. As he headed across he collected Ocon and was pinged back, hitting Tsunoda before coming to a stop. Ocon suffered some suspension damage and Tsunoda lost his front wing. Albon was transferred to the hospital because the incident had triggered his G-Force sensor but he was ok and released on the same day.

After all of that, the red flag was brought out as they exited turn 3 and were brought back into the pits while they repaired the barrier. There was debate from the crowd but because they hadn’t completed an entire lap under the green flag, the standing start would go back to the qualifying grid formation.

As everyone waited for the restart we lost Russell, Albon and Zhou. The others were able to repair the cars during the red flag. This would also give Sainz the chance to re-do his start, hoping to stay in front of Verstappen.

The standing restart. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool

On the restart, Sainz got a much better start but was on the outside of Verstappen heading into Abbey. He had the inside line for farm and pushed Verstappen wide taking the place. As Verstappen fought back Perez and Leclerc were having their own fight behind them and going into the loop they were four wide. This meant Leclerc (who was on the inside) hit the sausage curb and picked up damage to his front wing. Perez didn’t come away unscathed either, he also had damage on his front wing.

Coming onto the wellington straight Sainz was ahead, then Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez. The remaining brits in P5 and P6 were alongside each other all the way down to Brooklands. Hamilton on the outside and Norris on the inside. Both were evenly matched and the battle continued with Hamilton on the inside all the way around Luffield. Eventually, Hamilton yielded before heading into Copse corner.

Lap 6 and Perez went in early for a new set of mediums while repairing his front wing damage. This left the McLaren of Norris a sitting duck on the wellington straight without DRS to defend against Hamilton. The Mercedes used this to his advantage and makes the move down the inside of Brooklands. Hamilton could then stretch his legs and become the driver of last year, setting a new fastest lap almost every time he passed the finish line, catching the leaders.

A few laps later Verstappen was pressuring Sainz for the lead. Sainz made a mistake and went wide out of Becketts, leaving the door wide open for Verstappen, who took full advantage. However, it wasn’t too last. On lap 12 Verstappen appeared to be slowing down and both Ferrari’s overtook him before he divided in the pits.

Max Verstappen pitting. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool.

Sent back out on fresh tyres, the RedBull engineers confirmed it was body damage but was not critical. This did affect his performance though. After some encouragement from JP, Verstappen carried on in the race. He couldn’t keep up with the leaders and fell back into the midfield.

With Verstappen gone, the Ferrari’s were left to battle and keep Hamilton at bay, but with the Merc closing the gap rapidly it became clear that Leclerc was faster than Sainz in front. By lap 31 the team order came, and they swapped positions.

Eight laps later Ocon stops on the national pit straight with engine problems, bringing out the safety car.  Hamilton, Perez and Sainz all pitted for new soft tyres, but Ferrari left Leclerc out on his old tyres. This looked like another unusual strategy call from Ferrari.

At the restart, Leclerc was P1, Sainz P2, Hamilton P3 and Perez P4 with Alonso and Norris behind. Hamilton was caught napping a little and down the main straight Perez was all over the back of the Mercedes, trying to find a way past.

As they all rounded onto the wellington straight Sainz had better traction at the exit of the loop with newer tyres and was alongside his teammate into Brooklands. Leclerc eventually had to yield to Sainz before Luffield. Meanwhile, Perez was alongside Hamilton but was ahead before Brooklands.

Lap 45, Leclerc on the older tyres struggled to keep up with his teammate and now had Perez to defend from. An epic battle began down the Hangar straight as Perez had the inside line around Stowe, but Leclerc held on down towards the Vale chicane.

Leclerc had the inside line in the first corner and slightly ahead, Perez went off the track at the second corner pushing them wide at Club leaving the door wide open for Hamilton to steam past them both causing the crowd to erupt.

Perez went ahead of Leclerc and had good pace down the main straight. Into the braking zone of turn, 3 Perez was up the inside of Hamilton and took the P2 back, leaving Hamilton to defend off Leclerc who went around the outside of the Loop onto the Wellington straight.

Leclerc had more speed than Hamilton and into Brooklands Hamilton was looking behind at Alonso before trying again around the outside of Leclerc at Luffield. Eventually, they all had to back out before Copse but giving Sainz the chance to create a gap.

Hamilton making a move on Leclerc. Image courtesy of Mercedes Media

On lap 48 Hamilton had DRS down the Wellington straight on Leclerc. He made a move around the outside of Luffield but came out ahead this time. However, Leclerc was with him all the way and went around the outside at Copse to take the place back. This wasn’t to last as with DRS again Hamilton took Leclerc down the Hangar straight before Stowe and made the move stick.

As the final lap approached Mick Schumacher had been making his way quietly into the points and was now P8. Verstappen was the car ahead and with performance problems, Schumacher had pace on the RedBull. On lap 51 Schumacher attempted to get past down the Wellington straight but unfortunately couldn’t make anything of it. So, on lap 52 of 52 he made one last attempt heading into Vale and around Club, almost alongside the RedBull but the finish line came too quickly for him to make it P7.

Carlos Sainz crossed the line to make it his first victory in Formula 1 and finally getting the pressure off his back about his performance. Perez was in P2 with Hamilton in P3 in what seemed to be a much improved Mercedes. A huge shoutout to Schumacher who finally got his first points finish and Haas got a double points finish with Magnussen in P8.

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British GP qualifying: Sainz takes first ever pole in soaked Silverstone

Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports Carlos Sainz took his fist ever pole position in F1 on Saturday afternoon in an action packed qualifying in Silverstone. Wet weather showed up to no ones surprise for qualifying and it meant that driver skill would decide pole position. Sainz excelled throughout the qualifying and was fastest on track when it mattered in Q3, landing his first pole position ever, in F1.

Ferrari would be pleased with their qualifying overall after Sainz pole and Leclerc slotting in  at P3. The Monegasque driver made a mistake towards the end of Q3 and it cost him a shot at pole but he still remains in contention for the race win starting from 3rd place. Championship leader Max Verstappen could not improve on his final lap in Q3 but is still well placed at P2 for the race. His teammate Sergio Perez will be starting at P4 alongside Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes was also impressive throughout the qualifying but could not match the pace of the front runners and ended up at P5. His teammate Russell could not match his pace and was only fast enough for P8. Both the Mercedes cars were hopeful of challenging for a race win this weekend but will have their task cut out for a race win but a podium might be a more realistic target for the silver arrows.

Lando Norris had a decent qualifying session and ended up at P6 but his teammate Ricciardo could not improve his time in Q2 and could only put together a lap good enough for P14. It seems like an uphill task for McLaren this weekend to ensure that both the cars will finish in points scoring places. Fernando Alonso in the Alpine had another great qualifying session albeit no as impressive as Canada and will start the race from P7. His teammate Ocon could simply not match the Spaniard and will start the race at lowly P15.

Zhou Guanyu carried his momentum from Canada and put together a good qualifying session and will be starting the race from P9 while his teammate Bottas will start the race from P12. The star of the qualifying was Nicolas Latifi who impressed session after session in challenging conditions and made it all the way to Q3. He will line up at P10 on the grid while his teammate Albon failed to make it out of Q1 and will be lining up P16.

Alpha Tauri have left themselves with things to do for Sunday’s race after Pierre Gasly missed out on Q3 and will be lining up at P11. His teammate Tsunoda also failed to make it to Q3 and will start the race from P13. Both the Haas cars must have given the team last year’s flashbacks after they failed to make it out of Q1 with Magnussen lining up at P17 and Schumacher at P19. Aston Martin got it completely wrong with their setup yet again and it means that Vettel will be starting at P18 and Stroll will be starting at P20 respectively.

It promises to be an exciting race at Silverstone with the Ferrari and the Redbulls lining up alternatively on the grid at the front. With a good chance of rain for the race, the drivers and the teams cannot afford a slip up, which makes the race all the more exciting come Sunday.

 

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W Series Preview: British Grand Prix

The crowd will have plenty of things to cheer about as this is the home race for six drivers and Jamie Chadwick, Abbi Pulling, and Alice Powell are currently the top three in the championship. Chadwick will be hoping to have a record-breaking sixth consecutive win in W Series.

Fighting all race long the top 3 drivers. Image courtesy of W Series Media

The previous race in Spain saw a great battle between the top 3, with all of them ending on the podium. With a crowd of over 400,000 people expected for the British GP, this type of action would be very popular around the high-speed circuit.

Last year, however, it was Alice Powell who dominated the weekend with pole position, fastest lap, and then taking the win. Abbi Pulling also had a great weekend in Silverstone last year, making her W Series debut in front of her home crowd and finishing a strong eighth position.

Fellow brits Sarah Moore, Abbie Eaton, and Jessica Hawkins will be looking to put on a good show at Silverstone. Moore will want to improve on her constancy, finishing the first three races inside the top 10, with the best position of 8th. Jessica Hawkins will want to duplicate her podium finish in Miami with another strong drive after failing to finish in the points in Spain.

Abbie Eaton is yet to score a point this season, so will want the power of the home crowd behind her to put in a solid drive and finish in the top 10 on Saturday’s race.

Abbie Eaton looking to improve. Image courtesy of W Series Media

Qualifying on Friday starts at 6:25pm BST and the race on Saturday starts 1:25pm BST.

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F1 Weekend Preview: The British are coming

We are in the UK at Silverstone for the 10th round of the Formula 1 calendar where another sell-out crowd lines this high-speed track. Leclerc will be looking to attack after the fight from the back of the grid in Montreal. Mercedes have also promised good things for Silverstone while the midfield battle is spicing up.

Can Leclerc recover?

It’s been a roller-coaster of a first half of the season for Leclerc. He started off on top, but reliability issues have meant that is now looking for a recovery to get himself back in the championship fight.

Charles Leclerc fighting his way back to P5. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

Despite staring from the back of the grid in Canada he did have a strong performance to finish P5 by the end of the race. This does also mean though that Leclerc has a fresh engine for the British GP where the track is high speed and about power.

That might be some good news for Ferrari fans, along with the fact that he always goes well at Silverstone. He almost won in 2021 if not for a great Mercedes strategy and power. For him and Ferrari, he will be hoping to make his way back to the top.

Mercedes bringing the brits performance

With Mercedes all British driver line-up they want to improve on the success in Canada in front of their home crowd. They have appeared to have learned some lessons from a not-so-great Baku to finish a strong P3 and P4 in Montreal.

Hamilton finishing P3 in Canada. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

There were some off-track technical distractions in Canada, but Toto Wolff believes they have the opportunity in Silverstone to win the race now that they seem to have learned some lessons. They also have drivers which love this circuit and go well here, Hamilton with the most British GP wins ever (eight) and Russell having a great qualifying and weekend performance last year.

Hamilton has also won the 10th round in 2009 and 2013, years he didn’t have a championship-winning car. However, with the unpredictability of the performance window for Mercedes, they will want to have a more constantly positive weekend.

The History of Silverstone

In 1950 the first-ever Formula 1 World Championship race was held at Silverstone and has been a popular track ever since. Whilst it has held the Formula 1 British GP every year of the championship, it is often in the same conversations as Spa, Monza, and Monaco when it comes to history.

Sell-out crowds at Silverstone. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

Over the years it has many track changes, but the current layout is high-speed corners and straights so favours those cars with good engine power. The atmosphere is like no other circuit and is often a highlight for drivers. With three brits on the grid, the home fans have plenty to shout about.

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British GP Friday qualifying: Hamilton fastest at home

Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest on Friday qualifying after a blistering first lap in Q3 made sure that he would be starting from P1 for the sprint race on Saturday. An all new trial format for Formula 1 this weekend means that the drivers will go again on Saturday with a 17 lap race at Silverstone and the winner from that race will be awarded pole position for the actual race on Sunday. Hamilton’s teammate Bottas in the other Mercedes is set to start from P3 after his lap was two tenths shy of Hamilton’s lap time.

Hamilton’s closest title rival Max Verstappen was complaining of understeer through out qualifying and fell short of P1 by just about 0.075 seconds while his teammate Sergio Perez could only qualify 5th after his time from the second run during Q3 was deleted due to him exceeding track limits. Redbull who have been fastest during the course of the season will not be happy with this result and will have their work cut out before the sprint race.

Ferrari will take heart from Friday qualifying after Charles Leclerc managed to be the 4th fastest on Friday courtesy of a Perez deleted lap time. Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari could only manage a P9 but crucially for Ferrari, they have atleast one car ahead of McLaren at P4.

In what was a tough few days for McLaren off track with Lando Norris incident at Wemblely and team boss Zak Brown coming down with the coronavirus, it was not a bad outing for the British team after Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo have both put in lap times which are good enough for a P6 and P7 on the grid for sprint race tomorrow.

‘Mr. Saturday’ Geroge Russell has also proved that he would be an excellent ‘Mr.Friday’ should this new race weekend format stick, after a brilliant Q2 lap meant that he was into Q3 yet again. He then set another excellent lap time in Q3 which means 8th position on the starting grid is his for the sprint race. Things were not that great for his Canadian teammate Latifi in the other Williams after he could not get out of Q1 and will be starting from P18.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel makes up the last of top 10 fastest drivers on the grid after having his first lap time in Q3 deleted for exceeding track limits and will be starting P10 for the sprint race. His teammate Lance Stroll couldn’t quite find a similar pace and will be starting from P15.

It was a bad Friday outing for Alpha Tauri in comparison with the last few weekends, after Pierre Gasly only managed a lap good enough to put him on P12 for tomorrow while his teammate Tsunoda had things go worse for him after his lap was not good enough for the rookie driver to go to Q2 and he is set to start from P16.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finally managed to get out Q1 this time around and is set to start P13 for tomorrow while his teammate Fernando Alonso narrowly missed out on Q3 and will be starting P11. Alfa Romeo’s Giovinazzi managed to get out of Q1 but could only go as high as P14 while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen could not manage that and will only be starting P17. Both the Haas cars will be starting with Schumacher at P19 and Mazepin at P20, which has become rather predictable based on how their season is going.

A new format in on trial at a packed Silverstone but it is the old and familiar top 3 of Hamilton, Verstappena and Bottas is set to start the sprint race.  With points up for grabs and of course the pole position for the main race on Sunday, it is set to be an interesting 17-lap race on Saturday. Redbull seem to be running away with the title but a resurgence from Hamilton and Mercedes is definitely on the cards as the race for pole is on.

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W Series Silverstone preview: Six Brits on the grid for home race

After a great start to the season with the double header at the Red Bull Ring, W Series is back competing alongside Formula 1 at the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone – the Home of British motor racing.

The 18 drivers will be racing the full Grand Prix circuit, hoping to one day follow in the footsteps of the Italian driver Lella Lombardi, who was the first female to compete in a Formula 1 World Championship race at Silverstone in 1975. There are 11 different countries represented on the grid, with six British drivers competing at a home race in front of almost sell out crowds.

The current standings after the first two rounds show a very dominant display from the Brits with Jamie Chadwick leading Sarah Moore by three points and Alice Powell in third just one point behind. Abbie Eaton is in 11th, but Jessica Hawkins is looking to score her first points of the season after not having a good start.

Abbi Pulling Debut

Alice Powell and Abbi Eaton (Courtesy of W Series Racing)

The sixth British driver is 18-year-old Abbi Pulling, who will be making her competitive debut in the W Series this weekend. Abbi was listed as a reserve driver after she did the pre-season testing in Anglesey, Wales. She will be racing for PUMA alongside Marta Garcia, and sharing the grid with her career mentor Alice Powell.

Abbi is a currently part of the British Formula 4 championship and is a two-time British Karting champion. Abbi is considered a young rising talent within motorsport, and it will be great to see what she can do in front of her home crowd.

Can Chadwick extend her lead?

Jamie Chadwick will be looking to extend her lead on the series after her dominant performance at the Austrian Grand Prix. With only eight races on the calendar for W Series each race weekend is vital for the championship.

However, she is not the only driver with race experience at Silverstone. Both of Chadwick’s nearest championship rivals have plenty of experience competing at the circuit.

This will be a great challenge for the 2019 champion as this circuit suits the racing style of Moore and Powell better than the Red Bull Ring, so she will need to bring everything in order to stay on top after the weekend is over. Chadwick has shown her ability in the past to perform well under pressure which will be an advantage to her when racing with the largest crowd expected this season.

The W Series race will be Saturday afternoon at 13:25 local time. This is going to be a weekend where all the drivers need to keep a cool head to create some really great racing.

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Russell bests Albon in Virtual British GP duel

Image courtesy of F1 2020 gameplay

After last weekend’s Virtual Grand Prix return at the Red Bull Ring, it was round two at Silverstone before the finale next weekend on the Interlagos circuit.

It was nine of the ten teams competing last weekend with Racing Point/Aston Martin electing to sit out, but despite coming perilously close to winning at the Austrian GP circuit with driver Stoffel Vandoorne, Mercedes chose to not compete in the second event.

The line-up for the event is as follows, with the driver competing in the main 50% distance race listed accordingly with the Formula 1 Esports driver doing the five-lap sprint race to determine their grid positions next to them in brackets:

Red Bull
Alex Albon (Marcel Kiefer)
Liam Lawson (Frederik Rasmussen)

McLaren
Benjamin ‘Tiametmarduk’ Daly (Josh Idowu)
Jimmy Broadbent (James Baldwin)

Alpine
Lucas ‘Squeezie’ Hauchard (Bence Szabó-Kónyi)
Aléthéa ‘Theamusante’ Boucq (Fabrizio Donoso)

Ferrari
Callum Ilott (Brendon Leigh)
Robert Shwartzman (Amos Laurito)

AlphaTauri
Luca Salvadori (Joni Törmälä)
Vitantonio Liuzzi (Manuel Biancolilla)

Alfa Romeo
Thibaut Courtois (Dani Bereznay)
Jack ‘PieFace’ McDermott (Simon Weigang)

Haas
Pietro Fittipaldi (Samuel Libeert)
Enzo Fittipaldi (Floris Wijers)

Williams
George Russell (Álvaro Carretón)
Nicholas Latifi (Alessio Di Capua)

Note: 2019 F1 Esports champion David Tonizza was meant to be qualifying the car for Robert Shwartzman but had to withdraw due to a foot injury, and Nicolas Longuet had to withdraw from qualifying the car for Squeezie due to unknown reasons.

Before the five-lap sprint was a one-shot qualifying for the Esports drivers, and it was Marcel Kiefer who came out on top in that session looking to seal that position in the feature race for Alex Albon.

The sprint race began and Ferrari’s Brendon Leigh got up to third ahead of Floris Wijers whilst Kiefer held off Alessio Di Capua. Wijers spun heading into Village, whilst Leigh put an incredible move on Di Capua into The Loop and was now in second behind Kiefer.

Lap two and Haas’ other driver Samuel Libeert had just passed McLaren’s Josh Idowu and the Welshman wasn’t taking it lying down, he tried a move heading into Village but suddenly had the Williams of Álvaro Carretón and the Alfa Romeo of Simon Weigang either side of him coming out of The Loop. He held off Weigang but Carretón held his ground going onto the Wellington straight and pulled off an outside move into Brooklands.

Back at the front, Leigh looked to be weighing up a move on the leading Kiefer. Lap four heading into Brooklands, the two-time champion pulls off the maneauver into the lead looking to get fellow Brit and Ferrari reserve driver Callum Ilott pole position for their home Virtual Grand Prix.

Kiefer had no answer to Leigh and so it was the Ferrari driver winning on his home track, meanwhile just behind them Alfa Romeo’s Dani Bereznay pulled off a pass on Alessio Di Capua, who then proceeded to spin right at the end which plummeted him from at the very least fourth to what would become twelfth at the line.

Thanks to Leigh’s efforts, Callum Ilott would start the feature race from pole ahead of Alex Albon, with the remainder of the top 10 consisting of Thibaut Courtois, Jimmy Broadbent, George Russell, PieFace, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Benjamin Daly, Pietro Fittipaldi and Squeezie. The previous Virtual Grand Prix winner Enzo Fittipaldi would have all the work to do as his sprint race teammate Floris Wijers couldn’t improve his position after his first-lap spin, thus the younger Fittipaldi brother would start 16th and last on the grid.

Onto the all-important Virtual Grand Prix main race, 26 laps around Silverstone.

At the start, Ilott elected to start on softs whilst Albon was on mediums, so Ilott got away well whilst Albon held off the charging Courtois. McLaren’s Jimmy Broadbent had a shocker, he had hardware issues as his racing wheel disconnected, undoing all the hard work by James Baldwin in the sprint race.

The other McLaren of fellow YouTube racing gamer Benjamin Daly spun coming through The Loop after potentially getting into contact with the Alfa Romeo of PieFace. So it was the worst possible start for the McLaren duo.

At the front, Ilott rocketed into an early lead and Albon was attempting to hold off a Real Madrid goalkeeper. Courtois was on the grippier softer tyres and seemed very eager to pass the two-time podium finisher, and subsequently used up a lot of his ERS in the process. He used it all to great effect though as he managed an outside move into Maggots! A stunning move. One that George Russell teased Albon about over their shared game chat.

Albon immediately attempted a move on Courtois heading into the Village-The Loop complex but it resulted in Russell getting the better of his childhood friend. Russell was now up to third, and a lap later once again on the Wellington straight with the help of DRS, he put a move on the Belgian goalkeeper who held his line, but relinquished the position after exiting Luffield. He then got immediately passed by Albon on the run up to Copse.

It was becoming increasingly clear that the fight was between Ilott, Russell and Albon. The Ferrari driver was on a different strategy and was trying to use up his softs in the first stint to get as big a gap on the other two who would then get the grippier tyres in the second stint.

Behind them though, the Haas drivers had gotten past Courtois. Enzo Fittipaldi inparticular benefited hugely from the first lap melee to get himself from last into a strong points paying position. His brother Pietro made inroads on Albon and attempted an audacious maneuver heading into Village but outbraked himself and the Red Bull driver got back past.

Further down the field, Benjamin Daly was holding off the advances of 2021 Formula 2 drivers Robert Shwartzman and Liam Lawson. First the Ferrari driver got through on the YouTuber and then Lawson attempted to follow but couldn’t avoid smacking the rear of the McLaren, sending the Aussie into a half-spin.

Laps 9 and 10 saw the Fittipaldi brothers pitting in, both of whom ran the soft tyres so it was clear that longtime race leader Callum Ilott would be pitting soon. Surely enough, the following lap saw Ilott pitting as Albon pulled off an overtake on Russell just in time to take the lead.

Ilott rejoined behind the AlphaTauri pair of Liuzzi and Salvadori, but he made quick work of Liuzzi and put himself in relatively clear air to ensure he could have the gap to Albon and Russell when they both pitted. Speaking of Albon, he was the first of the leading group to pick up a three-second time penalty for track limit warnings, which would prove later on to be pivotal.

The Thai driver came into the pits on lap 14 to fit the softs, and just rejoined ahead of the Fittipaldi duo and behind Ilott. Russell followed suit the next lap and slotted in behind Albon who was just eating into Ilott’s lead. Lap 17 and Albon managed to pull off an immense move on Ilott around the Abbey and Farm complex to run side by side with Ilott, held it on the outside through Village which turned to the inside of The Loop. He was now in the lead, but still had that three second penalty looming over him.

Later on in the lap, Russell caught Ilott but couldn’t pass him on the Hangar straight even with DRS assistance, so attempted again on the Wellington straight and made it stick. It was now inevitably a straight battle between Albon and Russell for the win.

Lap 23, a few laps from home and football game streamer PieFace elected to pit for softs to go for a fastest lap attempt, which despite being on a controller when everyone else was using a wheel and pedals, he actually managed to do! But Alex Albon quickly took that back later on to earn the point for fastest lap.

Back at the front on the following lap, George Russell pulled the pin when he didn’t have to, and overtook Albon for the lead. As long as Russell didn’t get a corner cutting penalty, he could have sat behind Albon and still win but he wanted to win it on track too.

It wasn’t long before Albon got it back, as with the usage of DRS on the Wellington straight on the last lap, he flew past Russell and brought it home first over the line. However of course on penalties, it meant that it was George Russell, the unofficial Virtual Grand Prix champion winning yet again. He won the last four Virtual Grand Prix races before the 2020 season got up and running, and made it five wins in his last five entries.

Joining Russell and Albon on the virtual podium was Callum Ilott, a valiant effort from who many believe to be deserving of a full time F1 seat. The top 10 were completed by Pietro and Enzo Fittipaldi, Liam Lawson, Nicholas Latifi, Robert Shwartzman, Benjamin Daly and Luca Salvadori.

In the team’s standings, Haas still lead the way on 57 points from Ferrari with 42 and Red Bull on 39. Williams get off the mark on 31 whilst the absent Mercedes hold 22. Then at the tail end of the standings we have Alpine on 6, AlphaTauri 3, and finally McLaren and Alfa Romeo tying on 2 points. Their finishing positions will dictate which of the team’s elected charities will net the most money from F1’s £100,000 prize pool after next weekend’s finale around the Interlagos circuit.

Be sure to tune in next Sunday at 6pm UK time to F1’s official Twitch, YouTube and Facebook social media channels and potentially your country’s F1 broadcasting channel to see who will come out on top in this Virtual Grand Prix series.

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