Half Way in F1

Today was the 10th race in a 20 race series of F1. It was held at the Silverstone Racetrack in England, a momentous venue.

F1 was created in 1950, right there at Silverstone. It is one of the old, famous tracks, unlike some of the tracks you find elsewhere, which are newcomers to the racing.

Lewis Hamilton took pole with a stunning lap about half a second ahead of #2 place. He had won 4 previous races at Silverstone, including the last 3 in a row. Clark and Prost are the only ones who have won 5 English Grand Prix’s, Mansell 4. Clark and Prost, however, won at a variety of tracks, not Silverstone only.

The race was quite dramatic. Although Hamilton was on the pole, Haikennan in a Ferrari was second and Vettel in the other Ferrari was 3rd. But the opening laps were marred by a couple accidents that put the field on an aborted start, so basically the first two laps were done under a yellow. When the green came out, Hamilton jumped out to a commanding lead. The action was back in the pack.

Max Verstappen, a brash 19 y/o driving for Red Bull did some passing (of Vettel of all people) and overall would have had a great, possibly podium, finish BUT ended making a pit stop on the second to last lap. Vettfel was looking to be 3rd, but HIS L front tire shredded and he ended the final lap in the pits replacing the tire, so he garnered 8th. Meanwhile his teammate, Raiiconnnen, was looking like 3, then was pitted for a L front tire about 5 laps before the end – and still managed to take 3rd. But he didn’t look very happy up on the podium.

Valterri Bottas has had a great season. He has won at least 2 of the races, and has been on the podium repeatedly. Unfortunately he was relegated to 9th place because of changing his gear box before the race. Hamilton had a similar issue last or one before race. Still Bottas ended up 2nd! A spectacular drive.

So in the Constructor Championship Mercedes is ahead by 55 points, having 330. Vettel is still leading the driver championship, but while he came in with some 15 points lead, he now only is ahead of Hamilton by1. Even Bottas is relatively close to Vettel.

Meanwhile Renault is coming back with a new engine and a new floorpan which has made the car much faster. They still have work to do, but they are showing real progress.

Exciting season. Next race is the Hungarian GP in two weeks.

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8 Responses to Half Way in F1

  1. MLHMLH says:

    when I think of Renault I don’t think of this.

  2. ctlaw says:

    Do any of the newer tracks offer dramatically improved passing opportunities relative to the older ones?

  3. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    Not really. Some of the new tracks (Australia eg.) are street tracks, and those often give few places to pass safely. Silverstone is full of fast turns and some technically difficult ones (including a 3-turn S-combo pulling 5+ lateral g’s), so there seem to be numerous opportunities to pass. Monaco is tough to pass anywhere. You can get out front and block all day long.

    I think Abu Dubai is boring. Sochi in Russia seems an afterthought, an originally street circuit that was formalized some so Russia could have a GP. America has long languished with few tracks as F1 has particular requirements about amenities. So places like Watkins Glen, Road America, and Road Atlanta didn’t or couldn’t qualify – which is too bad as those are some neat tracks.

    • BrentB67BrentB67 says:

      Dev, isn’t the track in Austin a good track for F1?

      • DevereauxDevereaux says:

        The Austin track was built kind of specially for F1. Problem is I haven’t really watched races there so can’t comment about it. But it IS a purpose built track to take the GP out of the streets (like Long Beach and Las Vegas) and get a proper track. Guess this year I’ll watch more carefully.

  4. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    If you have a chance, you should watch the first 5 or so laps of Silverstone, then the last 6. There were other interesting parts, but these show some serious driving.

  5. DevereauxDevereaux says:

    I’ve developed my ability to watch the start, then run through much of the race at 2X speed, watching for signs of passing, which you can pick up. I then back up a touch and watch the pass, then back to 2X. Then I watch the last 5-10 laps.