F1 Sprint debuts as Silverstone welcomes back the fans

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen both won at Silverstone last year but an experimental new race format poses a fresh challenge for Formula One’s title rivals on their return to the British Grand Prix circuit this weekend.

The biggest sporting crowd in Britain since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, 140,000 being expected on Sunday, will see Formula One history made with the debut on Saturday of The Sprint — a qualifying race without pit stops.

Silverstone, where the championship started in 1950, is the first of three tracks that will trial a 100km half-hour long dash to decide pole position and set the grid for the next day’s main event.

“Even if ... The Sprint is only the precursor to the main event, I think the drivers will be desperate to beat each other and show who’s the fastest and who’s the strongest,” said Formula One MD Ross Brawn.

A three-part qualifying session for The Sprint will be held on Friday instead of the usual second practice, meaning teams only have one hour on track to set up their cars before the competitive action.

A mistake on Friday is likely to carry far bigger consequences now, while fans — absent last year due to Covid-19 restrictions — can look forward to meaningful action on all three days.

Mercedes have been enormously strong there over the years, and Lewis has his home support as well. So we expect it to be a big challenge.

—  Red Bull team principal Christian Horner

Points will be on offer for the top three on Saturday, meaning a driver who wins both races and sets the fastest lap on Sunday can bank a maximum 29.

“I’m hoping of course to come out of that race with 29 points,” said Red Bull’s Verstappen, now 32 points clear of Hamilton after winning five of nine races including the last three.

“I hope in racing perspective it’s coming home,” he told Sky Sports television in a cheeky nod to the soccer chant sung by England fans before their team lost last Sunday’s European Championship final to Italy.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton will be aiming for a record-extending eighth home win to regain lost momentum, with his Mercedes team also bringing new parts to make the car faster.

He will also be racing at Silverstone for the first time since they named a straight after him.

Verstappen, winner of last year’s 70th anniversary race when the windswept former airfield hosted two successive rounds on a pandemic-hit calendar, can also secure a sixth win in a row for Honda-powered Red Bull.

“Mercedes have been enormously strong there over the years, and Lewis has his home support as well. So we expect it to be a big challenge,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

McLaren’s Lando Norris will enjoy strong home support after notching up three podiums so far this season and narrowly missing out on a first pole in Austria.

“Seeing the grandstands full and everything feeling a bit more normal is something I’m really looking forward to,” said the 21-year-old.

George Russell, at Williams, is the third British driver on the grid and will raise a big cheer if he can score the team’s first points in two years.

Formula One fans will also get a glimpse of the future with the presentation online on Thursday of a life-size 2022 car, reflecting new rules designed to create closer racing.

Stats and facts for Sunday’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, the 10th round of the Formula One world championship:

Lap distance: 5.891km. Total distance: 306.198km (52 laps)

2020 British GP pole position: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes One minute 24.303 seconds

2020 winner: Hamilton.

Race lap record: Max Verstappen (Netherlands) 1:27.097 (Red Bull, 2020)

Start time: 4pm SA time

BRITAIN

• Sunday’s race will be the 72nd British Grand Prix.
• Hamilton is chasing a record-extending eighth British win. He has also been on pole seven times at Silverstone.
• Mercedes have won seven of the last eight British Grands Prix.
• Every winner has started from fourth or higher since 2000.
• Four current drivers have won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone: Hamilton (2008, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020), Sebastian Vettel (2009, 2018), Fernando Alonso (2006, 2011) and Kimi Raikkonen (2007).
• Verstappen won the 70th anniversary race last year, the first time Silverstone hosted two races in a single season.
• The British Grand Prix, with Italy, is one of two ever-present races on the calendar since 1950. This year’s race will be the 55th British GP at Silverstone.
• Ferrari have won the British GP 17 times.

RACE WINS

• Hamilton has a record 98 career victories, of which 77 have been with Mercedes, from 275 starts. He has been on the podium 171 times.
• Verstappen has won five races so far in 2021, to Hamilton’s three and one for Red Bull’s Mexican Sergio Perez.
• Mercedes have now gone five races without a win for the first time since 2013, before the start of the current V6 turbo hybrid era that they have dominated.
• Ferrari have won 238 races since 1950, McLaren 182, Mercedes 118, Williams 114 and Red Bull 70. Former champions McLaren and Williams have not won since 2012.

POLE POSITION

• Hamilton has a record 100 career poles and has won 59 times from pole.
• Mercedes have gone five races without a pole position. Verstappen was on pole in the last two races in Austria and also France, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fastest in Azerbaijan and Monaco qualifying.

CHAMPIONSHIP

• Verstappen is 32 points ahead of Hamilton. Red Bull lead Mercedes by 44 points.

POINTS

• McLaren’s Lando Norris has had eight top five finishes in nine races. The Briton has also finished his last 13 races in the points, the longest run of anyone on the grid.

MILESTONE

• Verstappen has won three races in a row for the first time in his F1 career.
• The Dutch 23-year-old is the youngest driver to achieve 50 podiums. His two victories in Austria made him the first F1 driver to win two championship races at the same venue in the same year.
• Red Bull’s engine provider Honda are enjoying their longest winning streak since 1988, when Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna won the first 11 races of the season for McLaren.

— Reuters