1,200
That’s not how many parts are in the car or drivers who have raced in F1… But how many potential infractions the stewards investigated of the so called “track limits” in Austria. Once or twice maybe, but anytime a rule is broken in the thousands something has to give.
In total, there were 83 confirmed track limit breaches, everyone except for Russel and Zhou had a breach, and half the grid got a penalty. And while I’m not going to decode the logic behind this, it does feel like a parent backed into the corner and forced to dole out punishments to 20 misbehaving kids.
The solution isn’t some kind of fancy laser system or AI robot powered review, it’s really shockingly simple. Fix the tracks. As long as there is an extra hundredth of a second to be found the drivers will use and abuse it, that’s their job. Line it with Grasscrete, gravel or Floor Is Lava for all I care. But until drivers lose lap time none of these punishments will matter.
Additionally, I don’t think Sainz is getting enough credit after last weekend. Perez should have blown by, but he showed he was an epic tactician behind the wheel (if only Ferrari’s pitwall could match…) It’s time to crown Sainz as the new “Minister of Defence” and officially put Perez on notice.
The British Grand Prix is a “home” race for six teams (Mercedes, Red Bull, Williams, Alpine, Aston Martin & McLaren.) Ignoring their fancy Euro sponsorships, these teams all grew and evolved out of the original garage racers of early F1. Known as the Motorsport Valley, all of them are located within 50 miles of Silverstone. And Aston Martin’s shiny new headquarters is under construction right behind the grandstands at Turn 7.
And what better way to welcome royalty home than to roll out the red carpet… Team bosses met with the British Prime Minister… Brad Pitt is shooting his new movie Apex live in the pitlane… McLaren is bringing back a retro chrome livery last seen when Hamilton was reigning… Silverstone is even so fancy that refuse to call corners by their numbers like usual, instead its Maggots, Becketts, Chapel and everyones favorite Luffield…
But will any of it matter when Max cruises to another win and gets booed worse than the King himself?
Austria gave us a fleeting glimpse that at moments the other teams can stay in touch with the Red Bull. But it will take some brave strategy calls and a big handful of luck to actually pull it off. Don’t forget this is where we’ve had the Hamilton/Verstappen “murder crash,” Leclerc/Hamilton duels, the death-defying Zhou crash and of course Sainz’s first win last year. We won’t get much weather to help us out, but Silverstone may just be the place for a lucky win
Here’s a bonus shot of the cars that Brad Pitt will be racing in his faux APX-GP car for his movie. He’s going to lead the real #FormationLap just as if it was in the race. Interesting it’s actually an F2 car that the Mercedes aero team helped redesign. Pretty awesome to have that level of connection and even better they will do actual racing and filming on tracks too. Maybe Alonso will want to pitch in given his love of GP2 engines…
With the halfway point arriving in the season, drivers are comfortable, cars are fitted with the newest parts, and the championship standings have leveled out. Red Bull may have it all but sewn up, but beyond the championship what does a successful rest of the season look like for each of the teams?
RED BULL - Keep Max and Adrian Newey away from any submarines.
MERCEDES - Hook Hamilton. His contract runs out at the end of the year and Toto will have to do more than just hop on the radio to convince him to stick around. I don’t think he’ll go to another team, but Mercedes needs HAM more than he needs them.
ASTON MARTIN - Steal a win. Now that the early season hype has settled it’s going to take some luck to get the first W. They’ve found their design philosophy, do they chase it this year or throw it all into the next season? Also, answer the Lance problem… if Aston believes it can compete, can do they do it with Lance?
FERRARI - Get your house in order. Whether it’s another grid penalty for impeding or drivers constantly second guessing strategy calls, Ferrari needs to find trust in the team to get back to their winning ways. And possibly more importantly they need it to re-sign Leclerc and Sainz.
ALPINE - Who are you? Alpine/Renault have always been caught between wanting to compete at the top but penny pinch along the way. With fresh investment, they need to decide where they are in the process. Are you really competing with the top? Or do you need to take a step back, tear it down and rebuild to truly compete.
McLAREN - Tech Targets. It’s been almost five years since the Honda/McLaren meltdown and what’s old is new again. McLaren has no engine supplier for 2025 and just changed their technical structure again. We know Zak Brown can crank out the cash, but can McLaren make a car that breaks out of the mid-pack?
HAAS - The F Word. It’s the hundred million dollar question, Ferrari. The partnership has seen its ups and downs since 2016. They’ve stabilized their drivers, but the car still seems to be peaky. Are they ready to evolve beyond a privateer plus? Or should they go full Ferrari B-team and cash in before the big 2025 decision?
WILLIAMS - Mo’ Money. Vowles has righted the ship and the team is off the bottom-ish, but it’s clear they need more. They can likely keep Albon, but new sponsorship is desperately needed to inject the cash and enthusiasm into the team.
ALPHA TAURI - Don’t Get Sold. With Alpine’s investment, the tentacles are out and buyers are hungry. Alpha or whatever they are called need to show they can be functional before Helmut Marko sells them off for parts.
It’s everyone's favorite subject - Tires! Why talk about drivers, gossip and secret engine tricks when you could talk about tire management and composition?!? While we may have lost most readers right here, there are some big changes coming.
Worried about “cornering speeds,” Pirelli is set to bring stronger tires (read: boring, harder tires) for the British Grand Prix and onwards. Which vaguely makes sense given the bout of exploding tires we’ve had at Silverstone in the past.
This is a big test for Pirelli and the teams' confidence in their vision. F1 just announced they are opening up bids for new tire suppliers in 2025 - Bridgestone has already signed up and there are rumors of others.
In the past, regardless of what fans, teams or drivers want it seems like Pirelli is dead set on one-stop snoozers. I get that they are out there to sell tires, but I’ve never thought “Well fuck that Pirelli it gave up on Lap 47 and I’ll never buy them for my car.” More likely it’s “Well fuck that Pirelli for giving me some boring ass races and I’ll never buy them for my car.”
But does Pirelli have a point this time?
Unfortunately, they do. The never-ending evolution of F1 means they are significantly faster than last year - pole at Miami was 2 seconds faster. Here at Silverstone it’s no different. Rapid fire curves Maggots & Becketts (T10-13) will be 10KPH faster, coming out of Club corner (T8) the cars will be 30KPH faster, and ripping onto the Hangar straightaway will be a whooping 40KPH faster than last year.
So what’s standing between the drivers and another explosive tire failure? Shockingly not very much, here’s a look at the inside of an F1 tire.
With high speed cornering tracks like Spa, Zandvoort and Suzuka coming up they need to prove they can find that balance between endurance and entertainment with these tires.