High speed corners could lead to increased wear, Mercs may get pole but unless they're tyre wear is better, can see them doing the usual and falling back down the field. Red Bull suffered with tyre wear in Spain and if they have similar wear issues, can see this being a fight between Alonso and Kimi... Right now favouring Alonso but wouldn't mind a Kimi win! Will vote later in the week....
everybody is talking like its unusual to have wet weather this time of year. But come on!! we have Wimbledon, Glastonbury and the British GP coming up! The biggest rain magnets a'goin
i doubt it will rain this weekend. If it does it will be light and won't really affect the track. It looks like it will be cloudy with a bit of sunshine. Hopefully it will suit Mercedes.
It will probably drizzle just enough to be awkward but not enough to require wet tyres, which is a good thing as wet tyres are more just for show since the safety car automatically comes out when its to wet for inters....
Formula 1 teams will be given the chance to use Pirelli's prototype hard tyres again in practice at this weekend's British Grand Prix. Teams got to try the prototype rubber for the first time during Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix, but the session was hit by rain and no significant running was done. The tyres, closer in characteristics to the 2012 rubber, will available for both practice sessions on Friday at Silverstone. "This is in order to give the teams the chance to test this new compound on a different track to collect more data," said Pirelli's Paul Hembery.... ...Hembery admitted that even with the conservative choice, fans were likely to see multiple pitstops in Sunday's race. "Last year we saw a two-stop strategy in dry conditions after two wet days but this year the compounds are softer, so if it stays dry we could have between three and four stops," he said. "We should be in a position to make a more precise forecast after free practice." http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108272 [HR][/HR] [HR][/HR] Stats: Britain is Red Bull territory There's one thing we have to keep in mind about Silverstone that influences all the other data: since 2009, the British track has become Red Bull territory. It's scored three wins and three poles out of four, and missed only one podium out of eight total starts, when Sebastian Vettel got a puncture on the opening lap of the 2010 race, nevertheless managing to finish seventh. Red Bull's qualifying performances in these four years were equally impressive, as its drivers started from the front row six times out of eight and never qualified below the fourth spot. One final note: no one was able to overtake the Red Bulls here in the last four years.
Nah, the roof they put on centre court seems to have some affect on the jetstream meaning it pisses down before and after the championships but is dry for those two weeks. It won't rain.
If its dry I can't really see anything but a Alonso victory. The only thing really hampering him at the moment is iffy weather and somewhat lacklustre (at times) qualifying. I think the Mercedes may try to hard to be conservative this weekend and end up missing out on pole as well. If its wet then a Mercedes should be on pole, then depending on how wet the race is I see a fight between them and Red bull for the podium.
I've thought Red Bull have looked better in the wet than Mercedes. They've poled the two wet qualifyings, and shared one of the two damp qualies with Mercedes. Merc have dominated qualifying when it's been dry.
I'm seriously considering a vote for Hamilton, a fact that has gone unremarked over the tyre test is that he's had 500km of 'tyre' testing in which to get more acclimatised to his new brakes, which he has highlighted as his problem, surely this will bring him more in to contention
An interesting point, Miggs. Do you know if Hamilton's brakes were already changed to suit his preference before the test? (I agree that it is a possibility). There is another thing that I'd like to mention, irrespective of brakes. I expected Rosberg to hold the advantage over Hamilton up to roughly the time of Silverstone, where the significant differences in chassis between Mercedes and McLaren â which I thought could well hinder Hamilton â will begin to level out as he 'acclimatises to his new office'.
I couldn't say for sure Cosi, but the cynic in me says that Mercedes and their 2 drivers made sure they took as much advantage as they could in the Barcelona test and Hamilton took the opportunity to change what he didn't like, it would be interesting to find out exactly how the 2 mercs were prepared for the Barcelona test. Although I'm totally disgusted with Mercedes and the FIA over the whole fiasco I think, if I was in Lewis Hamiltons shoes, I'd probably try to get Mercedes to switch brakes to see if I could find a more comfortable set up given the chance. (ok, 'probably' is a bit of a lie, as I know I most definitley would have, I got DSQ'd once for breaking the rules, but not before I tried to hoodwink the race steward)
I don't think that what you say is cynical, Migs. The FIA couldn't punish Mercedes further without implicating themselves, although missing the YDT should help to redress the balance. Anyway, I've gone for Lewis FTW, more out of hope than conviction, it's true, but I'm off on holiday this morning and I have to make the choice now. I probably won't even see the race unless I can persuade the men to rise up against their mistresses Again, more out of hope than conviction. Still, with four French drivers on the grid, I may have more luck than I would have had in previous years.
