2021 Formula One British Grand Prix

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British Grand Prix 2021 Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula 1.jpg

How do you think the 2021 British Grand Prix will play out? Will Toto Wolff’s prediction come true?

  • Yes, Mercedes will be able to compete with Red Bull

    Votes: 125 49.0%

  • No, Red Bull’s domination will continue

    Votes: 126 49.4%

  • Other, let us know in the comments below

    Votes: 4 1.6%
  • Total voters
    255
How do you follow up the 2020 British Grand Prix, where the winner finished with only 3 working tires? A new qualifying system for 2021 and a second-place team expecting a sizable victory just might do it.

Formula One is back in action this weekend, taking on the Silverstone circuit for the 2021 British Grand Prix. Max Verstappen currently holds an impressive 32-point advantage over reigning champion Lewis Hamilton in the drivers' standings, while their respective teams rank in the same order with a 44-point gap.

Hamilton will look to gain back some ground in the standings after failing to get a podium finish at the Austrian Grand Prix on the fourth of July. This is Hamilton’s home race, and seven of his record 98 wins have come at this circuit. Hamilton’s recent dominance at the British GP includes winning six of the last seven races here, with his worst finish since 2014 being a second place in 2018.

Max Verstappen is favored to upset that dominance this weekend, amid his strongest season ever. Verstappen enters the weekend on a three-race win streak and has taken a podium in every race except Azerbaijan, a race he was leading before a tire failure.

Toto Wolff says that he expects his Mercedes team to take a 1-2 victory with a 30 second margin at Silverstone. Mercedes finds themselves trailing behind Red Bull so far this season, but Wolff believes that recent upgrades to their W12 car will put them ahead of their rivals.

Sprint Qualifying​

Fans can also expect some extra racing this weekend. Breaking from the usual FP1 > FP2 > FP3 > Qualifying > Race format, Formula One will introduce Sprint Qualifying this weekend.

There are two sessions scheduled for Friday: Free Practice 1 and Qualifying (Q1, Q2 and Q3). This qualifying session is to determine the grid order for the Sprint Race on Saturday. Free Practice 2 will happen in advance of the Sprint Qualifying, then the drivers will take to the track for a 100-kilometer race session to determine the starting grid for Sunday’s race. In addition to grid positions, the drivers and teams will also be vying for up to three championship points from the sprint race.

Verstappen in elite form​

With 14 races remaining on the calendar, Mercedes and Hamilton can still catch Verstappen and Red Bull, but there is a growing sense that if the momentum is to shift, it needs to happen soon. Max has been in elite form behind the wheel of his RB16B this year. The last two races at Austria’s Red Bull Ring had Verstappen taking both pole position and the race win.

Moving down the standings, 46 points behind Verstappen and Hamilton is Sergio Perez of Red Bull, who is the only driver other than the top two to score a victory this season. Perez has been overshadowed by his teammate this year, but his 104 championship points has helped elevate Red Bull well above Mercedes in the constructors' standings.

Norris aims for another strong show​

Further back in the field, Lando Norris hopes to continue his excellent season for McLaren with another strong showing, after having finished an impressive third last time out in Austria. Norris currently sits fourth in the drivers' standings, ahead of Valterri Bottas in his Mercedes. Bottas finished ahead of his teammate in the second race in Austria, but his inconsistent performance has led many to speculate about his future at Mercedes.

Norris’ teammate Daniel Ricciardo has had a less than stellar season so far. He has yet to break into the top five so far this year, and at the Styrian Grand Prix three weeks ago he finished a disappointing 13th.

Norris has proven that McLaren has the pace to beat all but Mercedes and Red Bull, so hopefully Ricciardo can find his groove with the MCL35M and start improving his results.

Ferrari​

The talented Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz find themselves just two points apart after nine races. Leclerc holds a slight edge in points, but Sainz has posted the only Ferrari podium this season with his third-place finish in Monaco.

There is a midfield fight for fifth place in the constructors' championship, with AlphaTauri just four points ahead of Aston Martin. Behind them is Alpine with 32 points scored so far. And rounding out the field are Alfa Romeo, Williams, and Haas, with two Alfa Romeo 10th place finishes accounting for the only points between the three teams.
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About author
Mike Smith
Mike Smith
I have been obsessed with sim racing and racing games since the 1980's. My first taste of live auto racing was in 1988, and I couldn't get enough ever since. Lead writer for RaceDepartment, and owner of SimRacing604 and its YouTube channel. Favourite sims include Assetto Corsa Competizione, Assetto Corsa, rFactor 2, Automobilista 2, DiRT Rally 2 - On Twitter as @simracing604

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Comments

Terry Rock
Neither of these two drivers wanted to hit each other at over 180 mph.
You'd have to be an idiot to do that.
What they wanted, was to get the 'drop' on each other to stay ahead for the next section of track.
This is called racing afterall.
Lewis was not aimed at the apex and would have exited the right turn wider and more to the left, hence why he got out of the throttle.
Look at the rate of retardation (throttle trace) when they were almost side-by-side.
Max was turning to the right from outside and slightly ahead at the start of the turn.
The trajectory of both cars with heavy fuel at that point was never going to be on either driver's side at that point. Loads of understeer to oversteer.
The penalty was given because Max was judged to be slightly ahead during the initial point of contact.
Penalty taken.
Nothing sinister in play here.
Time to move on.
 
Last edited:
markg88
Premium
Fat-Alfie said:
That summed it up perfectly, imo :thumbsup:

Lewis was slightly wide of the apex and expected Max to back out of it.
Max turned in and was pinching Lewis and expected Lewis to back out of it.

In Chandhok's opinion, they both could have done more to have avoided the accident, and he put it down to a racing incident. They were both fighting for the F1 title and were not prepared to give an inch.

He went through the video in slow-motion, and showed Max's hands on the wheel, showed his head look to the right, he saw Lewis and turned even further to the right to shut him down - it was a 2-stage steering motion; steer right for the corner, then steer even tighter right to close the gap.
Click to expand...
You are seeing what you want to see. Chandook is a Hamilton fan and in my opinion his 'opinion' reflected that fact.
 
markg88
Premium
I think it was a dumb move by Hamilton at Copse. His car was patently faster and he would have had an easy overtake on the following Hangar Straight. He was either trying to be a hero in front of 'his' fans or he had a touch of red mist driving... end of.
 
Celestiale
Oh man, still that endless debate.
I am by far no Hamilton fan (well, quite the opposite) but I think it was a true racing incident. Hamilton had a lot of luck on his side (again) to not damage his car or crash out as Max did, period. I think a penalty wasn't really deserved, I guess they deemed if he was so lucky while Max was not, at least give him a small penalty to level the field a bit.

In the end very good driving and the 3 times luck (crash without damage, Norris pitstop, LeClerc engine problems) gave him another win. The amount of luck this guy has, alongside his experience and smart driving will surely lead to an interesting title fight until the end of the season, even if Max is quite a bit faster as a driver. I guess that's all we ever wanted (well, I at least)
 
mantasisg
That was some bold racing by those two, you know who. It is unfortunate that it ended in an accident, and even more so that it happened so early in a race.

I am not entirely sure how it is with F1 there, but with most cars, there really is only one line in that turn, slightly off and lots of speed is lost in there.

I think it was small mistake by Max, and lots of luck by Hamilton.

Even in simracing I don't dare to race so closely side by side, as they did there lol
 
LeSunTzu
I only watched the live broadcast and they did not absolve Hamilton. Different opinions were expressed: Chandhook said it was rather a racing incident, Brundle said something and then the opposite and vice versa, Button said it was 100% Hamilton's fault, Seidl said it was 100% a racing incident. I find it normal, it took 10 minutes for the stewards to decide with no race to monitor, which shows the decision was not obvious.
Sky is biased towards UK drivers that's for sure, but much less than other national broadcasts. I guess it is in the contract with F1 to avoid chauvinism.
 
T
Kingkoenig said:
Read the post below mine. it's an excellent summary.
Click to expand...
Thanks, gotta say now that I've seen all the replays. It should not have been a penalty. I came to this conclusion after watching the f1 highlights video. Replay of incident is at 1:19. I played it at 0.25x. After watching them again and again these are the conclusions I came to.

1. Hamilton did not leave a cars width or almost a cras width to the apex of the corner as most ppl seem to be claiming( also you want to avoid running on the kerbs on the first lap with low pressure)
2. Verstappens trajectory before the crash was towards the apex i.e. he assumed Hamilton would back out. I personally dont think he intended to leave any space at all so even if ham would've been closer to the apex there would've still been contact.(I feel this because of the positioning of verstappens car before the contact)
3. The penalty was given on the basis of the outcome rather than the action. If they would've made contact and neither of them had crashed there would've been no penalty but the seriousness of the crash(for which verstappen is partly to blame) caused them to give a penalty to hamilton.

Now this is just my opinion. I may be wrong. Would like to hear more view points(but only if you've watched the replay)

Here is the link with time stamp. Pls watch at 0.25x
 
muzikant
zwiss said:
Max has been dive bombing for almost 6 years now... get a life, dude.
PS: I am a Max fan !
Click to expand...
big sir can you mention the dive bombing of the 6 years in which he was also found guilty. I wait. what I said before Max drives very mature and mr torpedo already has 2 penalty points this year and Max 0 and that for an adult 7x wdc at the age of 35 it's just a fact.
 
Paul Glover
The hypocrisy on this thread amazes me, it takes two to tango and either driver could have done better.

Move on.
 

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