The British GP, the home race of seven teams on the grid, will be essential to better understand the pecking order in the field and evaluate the old packages and new parts being introduced.
Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston will be among the ‘top teams’ Martin to introduce new parts to the cars after a disappointing weekend for the cars. Red Bull hasn’t won at Silverstone since 2020 with Max Verstappen, arriving back to the circuit two years after things went horribly wrong,
However, in terms of performance, everything suggests they will be unrivalled in Sunday’s 53 laps.
There is also new in terms of tyres this weekend, with new Pirelli tyres set to make their debut.
Officially, “the new specification gives the tire greater resistance to fatigue, but does not affect any technical parameter or its behaviour on the track,” but according to a team, this specification could benefit cars with a weaker front end, including Ferrari and Aston Martin.
British GP Preview: Ferrari looks for consistent, Mercedes expected to be more competitive – Aston Martin doubtful
The Silverstone track, together with Barcelona, often gives the most truthful values of a car’s all-around performance.
The first two corners are at almost 300 km/h, and the Village/Loop section is very slow before reaching Brooklands (medium speed) and another slow corner which is Luffield.
From Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Chapel and Stowe, we find a succession of very high-speed corners where a lot of downforce is required to arrive at the last two corners of the track, both of which have to be tackled at less than 130 km/h. There are two DRS zones, Wellington and Hangar Straight, where we will see most of the overtaking.
It is quick to understand why for Ferrari, this track will be the true testing ground for the updated SF23. Spielberg’s updates have given an additional step in performance, but high speed remains the Achilles’ heel of the Ferrari, so these changed will only limit the damage at Silverstone.
For Ferrari, it will also be necessary to confirm the absence of tire management problems. Pirelli has chosen the range of harder compounds, which have often put the Maranello car in difficulty this season.
Mercedes comes into their home race after a very disappointing performance in Austria, partly due to set-up problems.
The goal will be to recover the four-tenths deficit they suffered to Ferrari in Spielberg. The ‘front-limited’ nature of Silverstone will certainly help the W14 here, as will the presence of more high-speed corners and the selection of harder tyres.
In Spain, both Hamilton and Russell did very well in the final high-speed sector, paying mere cents over the Red Bulls and ‘just’ four-tenths of a full lap. Given the many similarities between the two tracks, there are all the ingredients for a positive weekend.
Important steps forward are also expected at Aston Martin to recover several tenths of a second against Ferrari. The team based just a few kilometres from the English circuit want to try to (re)conquer a podium.
Last Sunday, most of the delay accused by Red Bull came from the high-speed corners, but the most surprising news is that in these sections, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes were more competitive than the AMR23.
The bottom and bellies introduced in Canada were intended to narrow the efficiency gap from Red Bull, something that Ferrari had also tried to do last year before losing the compass, then definitively due to the famous technical directive. At Aston, it will be important to get together this weekend to make the most of the old and new updates.
The weather predicts a good chance of rain on Saturday, and for the second consecutive year, we could see a wet qualifying in Great Britain. The chances of rain will remain around 40% for Sunday, but it would also be important for the teams to be able to evaluate the values on the dry pitch.
The strategy will most likely be a one-stop, barring the Safety Car or other unforeseen events, taking advantage of the great resistance of C2 and then C1.
British GP updates: Mercedes and Aston Martin respond to Ferrari, Alfa Romeo looks to improve
At Mercedes, the second major update package planned – which certainly includes a new front wing – is aimed at solving the problems of the black arrows in lower-speed corners.
A source inside the team described this package as “big in the sense of importance, but it’s not many pieces.” Since the updates were brought to Spain in 2022, slow corners have always been a difficulty for the Brackley car, and the data proves it.
When considering the minimum speed measurements, the W14 is the fifth force under 130 km/h. The behaviour of the car in the complex of Village/Loop and Vale/Club will be important for the engineers.
Aston Martin and McLaren, like Ferrari, plan to complete the introduction of the early update package, in the case of Lawrence Stroll’s team already in Canada.
The AMR23 has good potential at this circuit, having a lot of downforce, but it will be about optimizing the set-up and not running into the same problems seen in Spain and then in Austria.
For McLaren and Ferrari, it will be very important, and equally difficult, to confirm Spielberg’s positions of second and third force.
Alpine will introduce a new front wing, which was planned to debut at Zeltweg, but will make its first appearance on the A523 at the British GP.
After two Grands Prix behind rivals McLaren, the team based in Enstone will try to shorten the gap from the MCL60. Alfa Romeo is also planning important updates with the aim of increasing the aerodynamic load on the C43: among the many parts, we will also see a new bottom on the Swiss car.
Finally, Alpha Tauri will have “significant aerodynamic updates,” according to Yuki Tsunoda. After the updates to the rear wing and the beam wing in Austria, a new fund is expected for the British GP.
The Japanese started the season very well despite some poor performance from the Faenza car, but the last few weekends were more difficult due to a loss of speed on both Saturday and Sunday, which brought Alpha Tauri to tenth in the standings builders.
Finally, Williams also has some small updates, in addition to the celebratory livery for the 800 Grands Prix of the team (the 800th race will officially be in Hungary).
Author: Andrea Vergani
Co-Author: Piergiuseppe Donadoni
Translation: Jaden Diaz-Ndisang
