June 30, 2022
Hello everyone! I’m back! Sorry I was MIA for a while; I had a lot of school stuff going on so I decided to take a break. School is over now so I will be here for the rest of the F1 season!
This weekend is the British Grand Prix! After the past two races, Ferrari hasn’t been doing very well. The Red Bulls have now taken full control of the championship and if Charles Leclerc wants to have a fighting chance at winning the championship, he needs to be on his A-game for the rest of the season. Let’s take a look at what to watch out for and what you should know for this weekend’s race!
Weekend Schedule (in EST):
Practice 1: Friday 7/1, 8:00-9:00 AM
Practice 2: Friday 7/1, 11:00-12:00 AM-PM
Practice 3: Saturday 7/2, 7:00-8:00 AM
Qualifying: Saturday 7/2, 10:00-11:00 AM
Race: Sunday 7/3, 10:00 AM
This weekend’s 52 lap race takes place at the Silverstone track in Great Britain. It is the home race for McLaren, Red Bull, Lando Norris, George Russell, and Lewis Hamilton. The track’s 2 DRS zones and 18 turns will make for an interesting race. Tire management will be key as there are many right handed corners that will take a lot out of the front-left tire. Teams will have to make sure their set-ups don’t put too much pressure on the front-left tire and drivers will have to strategically take that corner to minimize tire degradation. This will be interesting to see between the Red Bulls and Ferraris because Red Bull has been better at managing tires this season. Ferrari will need their strategy to be flawless if they want to win this weekend.
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| Map of Silverstone track |
As I said earlier, Charles Leclerc will be looking for a win. The championship now has Max Verstappen in the lead, Sergio Perez in second, and Leclerc in third. Leclerc has to make up 50 points to retake the lead. Although Leclerc has hit a patch of bad luck, most of his retirements or losses have been because of power unit or engine failures and mistakes the team made with his strategy. During the last race, Leclerc had a grid penalty for replacing his power unit and drove from P19 to P5! The Ferrari is a championship-contending car, and Leclerc has experience at Silverstone. Last year, he led the race for quite a while until Lewis Hamilton eventually overtook him and won the race. It won't be a cup of tea, but with the quality of the car, a new power unit, and his past performance at this track, I think Leclerc has a chance at winning this race!
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| Charles Leclerc on the British Grand Prix podium in 2021 after taking second place |
Mercedes wants to put up a fight at Silverstone. Mercedes now has an all British lineup with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, so they want to deliver for their drivers’ home crowd. However, I’m not sure if team principal Toto Wolff’s goal of winning the race is realistic. Mercedes has been doing significantly better in terms of race pace (in Montreal, Hamilton got a podium and Russell was right behind him in P4), but they don’t have the pace for a win. The team is set to debut some new upgrades this weekend, so there might be a chance for Mercedes to get another podium. Their car has the potential to be successful, it just needs to be tweaked before it can fight at the front with the Red Bulls and Ferraris.
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| Lewis Hamilton celebrates his first podium of the the 2022 season in after taking P3 in Montreal |
In the last race, the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA announced that they were launching an investigation to resolve the issue of porpoising. They said it was for drivers’ safety, but many teams are voicing protests against this investigation because Mercedes seems to be the only team struggling with extreme porpoising. Other teams were alone when they had to figure out a way to handle the issue of porpoising, but suddenly Mercedes is getting help when they are trying to fix their issue. In my opinion, I don’t think it is fair for the FIA to involve itself in car designs in the middle of the season. If they had done this right after the first pre-season testing session, it might have been ok because the season hadn’t started and the problem had just been discovered, so everyone would still start the season on an even playing field. However, now we are in the middle of the season and the FIA’s interference could have a major impact on the championship. I think the FIA should have just stayed out of this issue.
The Alpines have had some promising performances lately. Fernando Alonso qualified P2 in Montreal and even though he dropped back during the race, he had some good battles with the McLarens. It seems that Alpine vs. McLaren is going to be a new rivalry that we see. They currently have just an 8 point difference in the Constructors championship, and both cars seem to be performing quite similarly. Hopefully my favorite papaya team can pull through this weekend at their home race! I don’t know if a Lando Norris podium is possible, but a top 5 finish will be good enough for me!
Williams is the last team we should keep an eye on. The team announced that they have updated their aerodynamics package and are going to run it on Alex Albon’s car this weekend for testing. The changes were made to the bodywork and floor of the car to increase the flow of downforce. If these updates work, Albon might be able to score points for Williams again! Or better yet, the updates can be added to Nicholas Latifi’s car in the next race and he can finally score points!
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| The face of two people who WILL score points soon! |
Honorable Mentions:
After the Spanish Grand Prix, a Spanish newspaper changed F1 drivers’ names to Spanish names in the article recapping the race!
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| Pedro Gaseoso and Jorge Russell are my new favorite F1 drivers |
George Russell has taken Carlos Sainz's title of Mr. Consistency! He has still finished every race this season in the top 5! "Consistency is key" still seems to be working for George.
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| One reason why 2019 George Russell thought he was deserving of "Rookie of the Year". If you haven't watched that video yet, do yourself a favor and watch it. It makes me fall over laughing every time. |
Mick Schumacher better get points this weekend! He almost got points during the Canadian Grand Prix, but a power unit issue led to a DNF for him. Throughout the season, he has gotten closer and closer to points, so hopefully he’ll get them soon!
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| Mick Schumacher retiring from the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix |
Also in Canada, Carlos Sainz almost got his first ever F1 race win! He was just shy of beating Verstappen, and if he had a few more laps, he might have actually overtaken him.
Just a little nugget of F1 trivia: Silverstone was the venue for the very first Formula 1 Grand Prix on May 13, 1950. Giuseppe Farina won the race and went on to become the first ever Formula 1 World Champion.
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| Giuseppe Farina: the first ever F1 World Champion |
That’s about it for now! Hopefully we can see Leclerc, Sainz, McLaren, and Albon do well! This race seems like it will be a challenge for teams as they have to focus on tire degradation and keep their cars fit for the high speed corners of the track. I’ll be back after the race to tell you about everything that happened at Silverstone 2022!
Happy Race Weekend!
~ Divya
Where I got these
from:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/williams-to-trial-updated-f1-aero-package-at-british-gp/10329915/
https://racingnews365.com/schumacher-not-losing-motivation-despite-tough-dnf-in-canada
Pictures:
https://f1i.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/XPB_948465_1200px-725x500.jpg
https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/amp/254J5q90/s1000/alex-albon-nicholas-latifi-wil.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgrZy2lXkAErgY8?format=jpg&name=large
https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article27295792.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_FVorfypXsAQ1yWy.jpg
https://www.formulanerds.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Farina.jpg