British Grand Prix - Silverstone

[René]

Will it be business as usual or will we see another cracker like the Austrian Grand Prix? For the sake of the championship, let’s hope so! Rain would be good...

Ferrari won here last year and Max has always done well at Silverstone so who knows. Most fans will cheer for Lewis and he will be the man to beat but also expect a lot of support for young Norris, Russel and Albon. And probably an orange grandstand for Max!

160.924mph!

[charleselan]

As an old rocker and later song & dance man Tommy Steele sang "What a Picture, what a Photograph"; Keke in the Williams FW10-Honda V6 at Silverstone in 1985. Sadly we will never see the likes of that again.

Don't hold out much hope for this weekend as Ferrari have already said they won't be able to repeat there Austrian performance at Silverstone, so a MB dominated event. Spicey Horner has just announced that Max is now the best driver in F1 and would beat Lewis in equal cars, I am not Mr Hamilton's biggest fan but would say that Max would have to push him off to do so. He's got previous, so maybe he would .

[Carl]

I'm hoping for more aggression from the mild-mannered Bottas... and wondering if his onboard drink system contains a sedative agent.

[robmarsh]

Putting my hopes on Seb. Time he had some luck. Today, with England beating Australia in the CWC semi final I had my best sporting result of the year so maybe my luck is turning. With the current F1 cars, Siverstone is more a power circuit so maybe Ferrari won't be too far behind.

I am no longer worrying about the championship, just hoping to enjoy each race on it's merits. At least the circuits are better in the second half of the season.

[chrisb]

apparently in the UK it will be live to air, which is a bit of a shame, as the cricket will be as well, curtesy of Murdoch's generosity....as well as the BBC tennis final, which isn't so free to us - shame I will be travelling between Metz and Nice somewhere, no idea where but, ce la vie

there is a celebration in todays MS forum reflecting on the genius who won in 1965 - someone has detracted from it and missed the point Jenks made about the race and how Jimmy built such a lead - had he not Graham would have won quite easily but hey at least it was remembered

in all seriousness I do think Hamilton will probably walk away with this one, I just can't see Bottas making it a race, and Mark wrote that he felt the Ferrari's aren't likely to be as competitive here as they have been elsewhere and explained why,

I would like to see a red car victorious as it would shake things up, but what about the RB Honda? they are brilliant engineers so, i wonder, I did smile when I read that piece on Teflonso offering his services to RB, wouldn't that be a match made in hell, funny how it was turned down, the Renault is improving but far too slowly- so I hope you guys do get a good race, but I will probably have a cold one in the evening to celebrate - something, just hope it is the cricket!!!!!

[Deleted]

Thanks for the heads up on Rosberg's 1985 achievement in the Williams FW10.
The F1.com site has a good write up of it, with some great quotes from a very sisu Rosberg Sr.
www.formula1.com/en/latest/features/2015/7/maximum-attack---the-day-rosberg-averaged-160mph-around-silverst.html
Just for contrast, the fastest road car in 1985 was the Ferrari 288 GTO 188mph - from 390bhp.
The gap between the speed and power of a 1000bhp flame snorting turbo F1 car, lapping at up to 161mph, and the fastest road car available was huge. No wonder I was in so much in awe of F1 cars and drivers in those days.
This year, I'm hoping Williams just don't suck.

[charleselan]

Many thanks for the above Jim, it certainly gave me something good to begin the day. I did see, maybe have downloaded somewhere, those amazing team tech sheets from that truly outstanding qualifying session. Also last year I saw an interview with Keke (probably the excellent one with Nico & Martin Brundle) where he talked about that qualifying session, and the fact that it was the only time he did something stupid, leaving his brain on the table.

I was there that day and saw for my own eyes that qualifying lap, one of the three most outstanding laps I have personally witnessed. The other two being Ronnie Peterson at Silverstone in 1973, and Brands Hatch in 1978.

The Williams FW10-Honda was the loudest F1 car that I have ever heard, in the flesh. Not a pretty sound to be truthful just a very loud blare which was at its most severe at Brands Hatch for the European GP in 1985. I foolishly forgot my ear plugs for one qualifying session for that meeting, and when taking pictures from the outside of Graham Hill Bend the sound of those cars exiting along Cooper Straight was truly painful. I actually couldn't hear properly for days afterwards and will never forget ear plugs ever again as a result.

[robmarsh]

I think the FW10 was my favourite Williams just based on the way Keke drove it, it just epitomised the F1 car of the time. Raw power. I liked the FW16 as well but always tinged with sadness like the 1982 Ferrari.

[Carl]

To me the FW07 is the most beautiful Williams because of its clean lines and color schemes, particularly when driven by two of Formula One's great bridesmaids, Clay Regazzoni and Carlos Reutemann

               

                                         

[Deleted]

Another fascinating report of a historic Sivlerstone Grand Prix is on the Motor Sport website;
www.motorsportmagazine.com/history/f1/jim-clarks-feat-unparalleled-brilliance-1965-british-grand-prix
What an epic tale of ingenuity under pressure, and driving virtuousity.
It rather puts the praise for Hamilton winning Monaco on WORN TYRES (!!the horror!!) into perspective.
As I commented on the MS article;
"When a driver wins the F1 WDC, Indianapolis 500, British and European Formula 2 championships, Tasman Series, as well as saloon and sports car races, it is clearer that they are the best driver of their era, than these days when the drivers only race in F1 and it is difficult to separate driver performance from car and team."

[René]

Jul 12, 2019 22:02:02 GMT Carl said:

To me the FW07 is the most beautiful Williams because of its clean lines and color schemes, particularly when driven by two of Formula One's great bridesmaids, Clay Regazzoni and Carlos Reutemann

               

                                         

Have to agree with you Carl. The FW07 is still a beautiful car and certainly (one of) the most iconic Williams cars ever. Clearly a Lotus 79 child but probably its best rendition.

[René]

The Ferraris look fast in FP3. Forza!

[charleselan]

The Williams FWO7 was a good looking car that to all intent was a better engineered clone of the Lotus 79. The car that Colin Chapman should have made but he was always interested in development and new ideas, not perfecting a concept.

I think that i would side with Rob and say my favourite Williams was the FW10, probably in "B" spec'.

I have also read the MS feature about the 1965 British GP and it was great to see that they had used much of DSJ's original race report which was wonderful to read again. It just illustrated the shear genius of Jim Clark to perfection, and as others have mentioned what a season 1965 was for Jim and Lotus. As Chris has mentioned it was disappointing to see the comments after the feature with the now "resident expert" trying to place a damper on the magnitude of Jim's drive.

It was also good to read Mark Hughes excellent article on his trip as a spectator to the 1979 British GP, very well written and interesting.

Also of note I have just seen a very good piece in todays qualifying broadcast by the Free To View C4 which featured an interview with a now 80 year old Jackie Stewart talking about that stunning 1969 Grand Prix, it was superb.

[René]

Pfew, that was close! Really thought Charles was going to do it in that last lap but he came 0.079s short! Well, he was on the pace of the Mercs at least so maybe we're in for a good battle tomorrow.

Good job by Valtteri to take pole from Lewis at Silverstone. A win here would be a very good result for the Fin. Not only in points but even more from a mental point of view. That would hurt Lewis and a confidence boost for Valtteri. But in the end I do hope Charles will spoil that party!

Also good to see Pierre Gasly more on the pace and Norris and Albon in the top ten! All great results. Vettel was a bit underwhelming so far.

[robmarsh]

I think tomorrow will be good. I am watching on tv with my brother for the first time in 17 years and we are both supporting Ferrari. Not sure what's with Seb at the moment. Just doesn't seem to work for him but he will be different in the race.

There are 12 races left this season and I like nine of the circuits so I am sure the second half will be better, starting tomorrow.

Forza Ferrari, Forza Charles, Forza Seb.