70th Anniversary Grand Prix Preview: The Heat is on at Silverstone

(F1 gears up for the 70th Anniversary at Silverstone
Photo Courtesy Twitter)

Round 5 of the 2020 F1 season marks the 70th anniversary of Formula One racing. It all began here at Silverstone in 1950 and has held 1,022 races this then, spanning across 32 countries.

Last weekend we witnessed some of the most extraordinary scenes on an F1 track. The British Grand Prix sprang into action three laps from the end. Lewis Hamilton limped his way to victory while his teammate at Mercedes Valterri Bottas was not as lucky. Charles Leclerc and Ferrari gained heavily from this and picked up their second podium of the season in a car which is struggling this season.

Pirelli (F1 tyre supplier) will be the focal point of the race following a series of tyre failures. On investigating the tyre blowouts, Pirelli concluded that the failures were the result of “extremely long use” after early stops under a Safety Car triggered by Daniil Kvyat’s crash.

It’s a venue that Mercedes have dominated, winning on seven of the last eight visits at Silverstone. Lewis Hamilton after securing a victory on three tyres last weekend will be hoping for a more conventional win this time around. He will be a favourite, no doubt, but his partner and closest contender Valterri Bottas will be eager to crawl back his lost ground in the Drivers’ Championship. 

Red Bull and Max Verstappen came inches closer from an unlikely victory last Sunday. They will be looking to take advantage of any chance posed in front of them by Mercedes. Whether he has the pace to outdo his rivals this weekend remains to be seen? Alex Albon will be under tremendous pressure about his future in Red Bull next season. He is in dire need of strong results in coming weekends to confirm his seat in 2021. Though he finished eighth in the first race at Silverstone, what he requires the most is an incident-free race weekend. 

Charles Leclerc got his second podium of the season with a P3 finish in the British Grand Prix. He looks to be able to generate more amount of race pace from his SF1000 compared to Sebastian Vettel, who could only manage a P10 finish. Although a victory seems unlikely, he could be in line for another podium. In contrast, it was a weekend marred with issues for Vettel. The four-time world champion got outperformed by slower cars after reliability concerns in his car throughout the race weekend.

Despite the tyre burst for Sainz, McLaren and Lando Norris have been the success story of this season. Norris finished fifth on Sunday and, sits fourth in the Drivers’ Standings heading into this weekend. Looking at the recent results and the performance of both Mclaren drivers look set to finish among the points.

Renault also looked significantly improved last weekend, with Daniel Ricciardo taking fourth place, the team’s highest finish since Italy 2019. Esteban Ocon also finished an impressive sixth place. They’ll be hoping for yet another strong points finish with Ferrari still struggling.

Racing Point is still waiting to see if Sergio Perez will be allowed to race this weekend, assuming he tests negative for COVID-19, with Nico Hulkenberg to step in again if required.