If you looked solely at Force India’s on-track results, you’d hardly believe there are any worries for the team at all. However, financial issues have been brewing for years, and they are now in need of a buyer to realistically stay afloat.
Many thought that the BWT deal – which was made at the start of 2017 and notably turned the car’s livery pink – was to be the beginning of the end of Force India’s financial worries. That turned out not to be the case, and now the likeable Silverstone-based team have found themselves on the brink of collapse with talks of them going into administration filling the German Grand Prix paddock.
Sahara Force India F1 Team
There is, however, a possible saviour for Force India amongst. Cue Lawrence Stroll. The Canadian billionaire famously bought son Lance’s way into Formula 1 with a multi-million dollar deal that saw the young driver placed at the then-midfield team of Williams. But, as Williams’ fortunes have since turned for the worse, the Stroll family are now looking for another team to throw their money at, in search of good results. Force India might just be that team.
There are some unconfirmed reports going around in German press circles that this supposed buyout has already happened but, for now at least, there is no official word.
Before we fully jump on the Stroll buyout hype-train, there are some things to bear in mind. This is not by any means the first time there’s been a rumoured buyout of Force India – there have been countless stories over the years that have reported a deal having been completed, but that ultimately came to nothing. Force India are one of the most popular teams for potential buyers – with a car already full of sponsors, you can see why. Even so, given the history of misleading reports, any rumours should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Force India have been at the head of the ‘best of the rest’ battle for the whole of the hybrid era. While they only finished sixth in the constructors’ standings in 2014, they rose to fifth the following year, and then to fourth in 2016 where they remained in 2017. However, that position has become under threat in 2018 due to the bunching up of the midfield. Renault are currently in fourth, and Force India are currently behind them in fifth with 59 points, equal with Haas but ahead by virtue of Perez’ Azerbaijan podium. McLaren, though challenging in the initial stages of the season, are becoming less of a threat as the year goes on, with their own woes to deal with.
Sahara Force India F1 Team
Anyway, back to the buyout talks. One key and expected consequence of the Stroll buyout, if it does go ahead as reported, is that Lance will take one of the seats at Force India. This will leave either Esteban Ocon or Sergio Perez out of a seat. However, with Ocon’s rumoured move to Renault seemingly a done deal, it will be the Mexican driver who will remain with Force India, where he has been since 2014.
Lance Stroll already has one podium to his name (Azerbaijan 2017) and a front row start (Italy 2017) – he is undoubtedly talented but has been hampered by a vastly underperforming Williams car this year. A Force India seat would give Stroll a chance to build on the potential he showed last year and get back to being a regular points scorer, rather than finishing last, second to last or not at all.
Overall, the Stroll buyout of Force India could only be a good thing, because it keeps one of the most-loved F1 teams well-funded and on the grid, as well as giving a young driver the kind of opportunity he deserves in F1, given his junior career. It’s a win-win situation… as long as it actually goes through! If not, Force India’s future will continue to hang in the balance.
Toto Wolff has hailed Mercedes’ unexpected 1-2 finish at the German Grand Prix as the “perfect scene”.
The German marque’s duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton had started the race in P2 and P14 respectively, after the Brit suffered a hydraulic failure in qualifying. Bottas held position at the start but for the most part could only sit back and watch Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel begin to open up the gap, whilst Hamilton set about carving through the field. Both drivers had longer first stints than those around them – Bottas changed from the ultras to the softs on lap twenty-eight, and Hamilton swapped from softs to ultras on lap forty-two after having broken into the top five.
2018 Großer Preis von Deutschland, Sonntag – Wolfgang Wilhelm
It was after Hamilton’s pitstop that the rain began to fall. It had been a looming threat hanging over the race, and it was only a matter of when, not if, it would arrive. Despite it turning out to be only a brief shower, many in the midfield made the decision to pit for intermediates.
On lap fifty-two, championship leader Sebastian Vettel crashed in the damp conditions and brought out the safety car, with Bottas and Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen choosing to pit for fresh ultrasoft tyres. Hamilton, though, stayed out and thus inherited the lead.
When the race restarted, Hamilton began to pull away – although he was helped by Mercedes telling Bottas to hold position despite the Finn being on the fresher tyre – and eventually crossed the line to win the German Grand Prix and reclaim the lead of the drivers’ championship. With Bottas in P2, Mercedes also re-took the lead of the constructors’ championship from Ferrari.
2018 Großer Preis von Deutschland, Sonntag – Wolfgang Wilhelm
Hamilton’s win was briefly under threat when he was summoned to the stewards post-race to explain why he cut across the pitlane entry line when under the safety car, but he was eventually let off with a reprimand and was not given a penalty.
“What an incredible race – here at Hockenheim, on home turf for Mercedes, and a one-two finish after all the bad luck we have had in recent races,” Toto Wolff said. “Today it felt like that turned into good fortune for us and it was the perfect scene on the podium with our two drivers and Dr Zetsche up there. Like always, the race happens on Sunday not Saturday, and sometimes it’s not the quickest car that wins; that was what happened today.”
Wolff also extended his sympathies to Ferrari regarding the news that Fiat Chrysler’s CEO Sergio Marchionne was replaced due to worsening health after a recent operation. “But even in the joy of victory, our thoughts also remain with Sergio Marchionne and his family; although we are rivals on the track, we are friends off it and we were saddened to hear the news of his illness.
“It’s hard to sum up a Grand Prix like this one in a few sentences but things were unfolding in an interesting way when the rain came.
“After the drama of Silverstone and then qualifying yesterday, this is a dream result and that unpredictability is the beauty of sport. But our focus will turn quickly to Hungary, where we will have to do it all over again next weekend.”
Featured image – 2018 Großer Preis von Deutschland, Sonntag – Steve Etherington
A fast car, two fast drivers, but a strategist under fire for a series of errors – and the loss of a lot of points.
It all started in Australia. Of course, it wasn’t entirely Mercedes’ fault. The virtual safety car allowed Sebastian Vettel to pit and emerge ahead of Lewis Hamilton, taking the win away from world champion that day. However, it was found that it could have been avoided had the team not misread the delta on Hamilton’s car. If he had not been so slow, he would have come out on top in Melbourne.
Steve Etherington / Mercedes AMG F1
They were outdone again on strategy by Ferrari in Bahrain; Sebastian Vettel going long on the second stint of a one-stop strategy compared with the Mercedes’ two-stop saw him beat Valtteri Bottas to the line.
Then came China, where Mercedes had the chance to pit Lewis Hamilton under the safety car, and opted not to. The Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo passed him as a result, and the latter took the win. The Virtual Safety Car this time, was their undoing in Austria. They again opted not to pit Lewis Hamilton, and this allowed Max Verstappen to gain a free pitstop and take lead away from him, with Hamilton then suffering a mechanical failure. At the latest race in Silverstone, Mercedes again had a chance to pit onto fresher, softer rubber, and decided not to, and this meant that Valtteri Bottas fell from first to fourth with no means of a fightback.
2018 has not been the only year that Mercedes have been hampered by these errors. Lewis Hamilton, albeit by fault of his own, pitted from the lead of the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, believing that he had a gap back to team mate Nico Rosberg, only to rejoin in third behind Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel. However, the team allowed him to make this pit stop, instead of holding their ground on the issue. And let’s not forget Australia last year where Vettel’s long first stint got him the jump on Hamilton that day too.
Fortunately for chief strategist at Mercedes, James Vowles, the Austrian mistake proved to be somewhat immaterial due to the mechanical failures for Mercedes, but in light of the amount of precious points Mercedes have lost to poor strategy calls this season, we have to ask what exactly is going wrong at Mercedes?
From comments made by Mercedes over the last year, following strategy errors, they do seem to look at the wrong things. From a viewer’s point of view it seemed the Mercedes data was betraying the actuall racing. I felt that if James Vowles, looked at the television screen, and he would have seen what the rest of us saw; that it was necessary to make a pit stop under Safety Cars and Virtual Safety Cars to cover off the Red Bulls and the Ferraris.
In a team sport like Formula One, it is very much a case of “win as a team and lose as a team,” but it seemed as though Mercedes were happy to allow Vowles to be singled out as the villain of the piece, which was frankly a bit of a betrayal of trust within the team. Given that Mercedes has repeatedly said that they do not pursue a “blame culture”; the events seems to say otherwise. Lets hope this was a one off.
So they have the power, they have the talent, but Mercedes are being severely hampered by their incapacity compared to their rivals to make the right call at the right time, and Mercedes could be made to look back and rue these errors come the end of the 2018 championship.
McLaren’s Fernando Alonso has said the team is seeking to improve their pace during qualifying ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
“We know we need to work on our qualifying performances to give ourselves the best chance on Sunday,” he said, “but we’ve also seen that during the race we can push forward and secure points, so the aim is to achieve the same in Germany [this] weekend.”
Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada Saturday 9 June 2018. Fernando Alonso, McLaren. Photo: Steven Tee/McLaren ref: Digital Image _1ST9206
So far this season, Alonso has only made it into Q3 twice – in Spain and in Monaco – while team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne hasn’t managed to do so at all. For the most part, the duo have been stuck in the midst of the mid-field, with P13 and P14 being their most frequent results in qualifying. There is no doubt that the French Grand Prix provided their worst Saturday of the year so far – though Vandoorne has failed to make it out of Q3 on four occasions, Paul Ricard has been the only track thus far where Alonso has joined him.
Speaking of the Hockenheim track, Alonso was realistic about his chances. “[I] have won there three times so it’s great to be back after a break last year. The track is viewed as one of the classics, it’s fun to drive and there are a couple of overtaking opportunities – and an extra DRS zone this year – so hopefully we can fight with the cars around us.
“The next couple of races before the summer break are on very different tracks. We need to work hard, and do as much as possible to adapt our set-up for each of them to maximise our chances. We know this weekend won’t be an easy track for us but we’ll give it our best as always.”
Last time out at the power-sensitive Silverstone, Alonso unexpectedly made up five places during the race to end up in the points for the 200th time in his career. In apparently typical McLaren style, the eighth place finish was not made easy for him after – unsurprisingly – a lacklustre qualifying the day before, a trend Alonso and the team are hoping they can end sooner rather than later.
Mercedes’ Toto Wolff has said that the team are “hungry [and] ambitious” ahead of their home event at this weekend’s German Grand Prix.
It has been a strange series of races for the Silver Arrows, something Wolff admits. “We didn’t score as many points in the triple-header as we had hoped for,” he said. “A lot of that was down to our own mistakes. However, there is a silver lining to this – while we didn’t maximise on points, we did bring the quickest car to all three races.
“Hockenheim will mark the halfway point of the 2018 season. We’ve had a decent first half – on the one hand, we’ve left points on the table and had to do damage limitation more often than we would have wanted. On the other hand, we still scored a good amount of points, both drivers have shown strong performances and we have a fast car.
“So, there are many reasons why we’re looking forward to the second half of the 2018 season; we’re hungry, ambitious and want to kick on from there.”
Steve Etherington/Mercedes AMG
At the French Grand Prix, the first race of the triple-header, Lewis Hamilton romped to victory while Valtteri Bottas was spun at the start by Sebastian Vettel, suffering a left-rear puncture in the process that dropped him way down the order. He eventually recovered to seventh. A week later in Austria, both Bottas and Hamilton retired from the race in what is believed to be Mercedes’ first double mechanical retirement in F1 since the 1950s. Then, another week after that, Silverstone and the British Grand Prix saw an inversion of the Paul Ricard incident. This time, it was the other Mercedes of Hamilton that was pitched into a spin on the first lap by the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Bottas would finish P4, while Hamilton recovered to finish P2.
Speaking of the looming German Grand Prix, Wolff added, “Going to Hockenheim always feels like coming home. It’s only about a 90-minute drive from the Daimler headquarters in Stuttgart.
“While we had the great opportunity to race in front of many of our colleagues from Brackley and Brixworth in Silverstone, we’re now looking forward to welcoming the German members of the Mercedes family to the circuit and to holding high the three-pointed star on home turf.
“The track itself is quite interesting; it has a variety of corner speeds and will test every aspect of the car.
“We will fight hard to not only put on a good show for our friends and fans in Hockenheim, but also get the result that they will be hoping for.”
Going into the race, Hamilton and Bottas are P2 and P5 in the WDC respectively, with the former eight points behind leader Sebastian Vettel. In the constructors’ championship, Mercedes are twenty points behind Ferrari, with the prospect of their home race making them keener than ever to make up ground.
Featured image courtesy of Steve Etherington / Mercedes AMG F1.
As part of a once-every-other-year contract, Formula One returns to Hockheim for the first time in twenty-four months for the German Grand Prix, and what a setting it is. Situated twenty kilometres south of Mannheim in south-west Germany, trees stretch as far as the eye can see across the forest into which the track used to extend. Heidelberg crosses the River Neckar, with two massive white pillars forming a beautiful gate at the end of it. Standing proudly among the trees behind it is Heidelberg castle. There is a really special old racing town feel about Hockenheim, making it extremely frustrating that the Formula One bandwagon can only visit every other year.
This will of course be the first ever time that these new-spec Formula One cars will have raced around the Hockenheimring. The last time the race was held back in 2016, Lewis Hamilton took the win from the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, en route to Rosberg’s thrilling championship victory. That particular win had given Hamilton a 19-point advantage in the championship, but in 2018, Hamilton is fighting to take back the lead.
He will have to do so against another of the local heroes that of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The German emerged from the race at Silverstone with an eight-point championship lead after an excellent victory at his rival’s home race. Hamilton brilliantly recovered to second place after contact on the first lap with the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
Up until 2013, Hockenheim shared ownership of the German Grand Prix with the Nurburgring in Ahrweiler, but the historic circuit lost these rights due to a lack of funding. This prompted the then F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone to take some creative measures to try and keep the circuit on the calendar, which led to a messy bribery court case.
Hockenheim race stats. Image courtesy of Pirelli
As well as Sebastian Vettel, it is also the home race for Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, with the French team for whom he drivers continues to battle with Haas and Force India in the mid-field. And of course, it is a return home for constructors’ champions Mercedes.
Predominantly, this is a circuit that should suit Mercedes, but don’t completely rule out Ferrari and Red Bull. The second and final sectors offer a few more twisty sections, so expect them to be right on their tails.
As beautiful as the setting and the track are, Hockenheim holds painful memories for motor racing. The [longer] circuit has claimed the life of twenty-seven drivers over the years, including the great Jim Clark.
The championship battle is heating up almost as much as the British weather, as we head to Germany for round eleven of the 2018 world championship.
5th October 2014 was a dark day that holds many painful memories for the world of Formula One. It was the day that French racing driver Jules Bianchi – a man so talented he was tipped to be a multi-world champion – crashed into a recovery vehicle at turn seven at Suzuka and, after a long battle, eventually succumbed to his injuries on the 17th July 2015.
Jules Bianchi at Silverstone 09/07/2014 Image courtesy of FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO X FERRARI
Exactly what has Formula One learned since Jules’ passing? First of all, we have to look at the marshals and the stewards. Regardless of whose responsibility it was, a recovery vehicle was deployed under a yellow flag in incredibly wet conditions. Not a safety car or a red flag, but a yellow flag. This, plainly and simply, should never have happened.
As a result of this recovery vehicle deployment, the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was invented so as to keep the drivers to a delta time after an incident. This would mean that drivers would slow down immediately, and there would not be the confusion that is otherwise presented by localised yellows. This is not to say that localised yellows no longer exist, but Adrian Sutil’s accident in Suzuka – the reason the recovery vehicle was deployed – would have seen a VSC brought out instead. The VSC was first used at Monaco in 2015 when Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean crashed at Sainte Devote.
However, the most concerning aspect of the incident is not the yellow flags, but rather the fact that the recovery vehicle was allowed out on track under such circumstances. In 2008 at the Nurburgring, a recovery vehicle was deployed after several spins at turn one, and it was hit by a Toro Rosso. Thankfully it was a small impact and no harm was done as a result, but surely you would think that Charlie Whiting would learn from something so dangerous. As it was, he didn’t, and once again he allowed the recovery vehicle to be let out onto the track at Suzuka. This time, the decision resulted in a fatal accident.
This negligence is the reason Jules’ father, Philippe Bianchi, decided to sue Formula One, then-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, FOM (Formula One Management) and the Marussia Formula One Team for whom Jules had been racing. He later retracted this because, realistically, he could receive all the money in the world, but he would not get his son back.
Jules Bianchi. Image courtesy of Ferrari media
Our sport has come a long way since Bianchi’s death, and steps have been taken to prevent the same thing happening again. In fairness, Charlie Whiting has since taken precautions to avoid similar circumstances to the ones to which he contributed nearly four years ago.
They say the good die young, but Jules was not just good. He was on another level, but unfortunately these safety advances came too late for one of Formula One’s brightest ever stars.
Looking at the results, you wouldn’t have thought much happened during the British Grand Prix, but some action at the start and a couple of safety car periods spiced the race up. The final race of the triple-header in Europe saw Sebastian Vettel take the win.
The 2018 Formula One British GP winners; (left to right)Lewis 2nd, Seb winner and Kimi 3rd. Image courtesy of Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel – 9
There were pre-race doubts about Vettel’s fitness – he had tape put on his neck after FP3 – but the adrenaline kicked in and his start was beautiful, waving concerns away. All the action happened behind him. The safety cars late on in the race put him behind on the track but a great dive-bomb up the inside of Bottas sealed the win. Great victory as we head towards Germany next!
Lewis Hamilton – 9
The Brit got a tardy start which he would come to regret, even if he ended the race in a position where he lost minimal amounts of points. There were some very interesting comments from him afterwards suggesting that tactics from Ferrari were what resulted in him being taken out, bringing back memories of Mexico 2017. Hamilton was the last car on track at the end of lap one, but like a knife through butter he carved his way through the field. A disappointing start, but if you look from lap two onwards it was a great race for him.
Kimi Raikkonen – 7
Raikkonen has finished on the podium at the last three races, but never on the top step. The Finn owned up to his coming-together with Hamilton, saying the incident at turn three was his fault and accepting the penalty handed to him. Team-mate Vettel stormed off into the distance, while Raikkonen couldn’t quite match Hamilton near the end of the race.
Valtteri Bottas – 8
The Mercedes team threw away the lead again today, deciding to keep Bottas out after the second safety car. Before that he was faster than Vettel, so on a level playing field Bottas could have beaten the German and taken the flag first. Much like in China and Baku, strategy from his team may have cost him the victory once again, even if it may have been tougher in Silverstone to remain in the lead. A great start made amends for a poor qualifying on Saturday, but he is clearly still playing second fiddle to Hamilton.
Daniel Ricciardo – 7
Silverstone turned out to be a track which highlighted the frailties of the Red Bull package. Roughly 80% of the track is spent at full throttle, and power isn’t exactly Red Bull’s strong point. Ricciardo was out qualified once again by Verstappen, with a DRS issue hampering his performance. He was great at defending against Raikkonen during the race but unfortunately the safety car came out at the wrong time for him, as he had already made a pit-stop two laps beforehand. The lack of speed along the straights prevented him from passing Bottas in the closing laps of the race.
Nico Hulkenburg – 8
Best of the rest and great haul of points for the German. Renault were the only team to use the hard tyre during the race, having worried about blistering on the other compounds, and the tactic worked brilliantly. Hulkenberg did supremely well to keep the pack behind him at the two safety car restarts.
Esteban Ocon – 7
Ocon is showing his worth a lot more this season compared to last, and provided a great result at for Force India at what is essentially the team’s home race, given that their factory is literally just over the road. Ocon made it through to the final part of qualifying, and kept the car in the top ten on Sunday.
Fernando Alonso – 8
Alonso’s McLaren may lack pace on a Saturday but on a Sunday, in the hands of the Spaniard, it is one of the best in the midfield. He took advantage of the safety cars to pit for some fresh rubber, allowing him to get past Kevin Magnussen at the end. He may appear calm on the outside, but it isn’t hard to imagine that deep down all is still not well with the relationship between himself and McLaren.
Sebastian Vettel leads the 2018 British GP. Image courtesy of Ferrari
Kevin Magnussen – 7
Hampered by the first lap accident with his team-mate, Magnussen did well to score points considering the clash inflicted some damage to his car, which restricted his speed. He was one of few drivers not to pit under the safety car which pushed him down the order late on, but he managed to hold on to salvage some points.
Sergio Perez – 6
Much like Hamilton, Perez saw the field drive past him after contact on the first lap spun him at turn one. He recovered well and found himself in contention for the last point, which was ultimately claimed by Pierre Gasly Chafter a collision between the two near the end of the race. After the race, though, Gasly was awarded a five-second penalty for the incident, meaning Perez inherited P10 and the one point that comes with it.
Stoffel Vandoorne – 4
It was a quiet weekend in general for Vandoorne. He was a whopping 0.9 seconds slower than Alonso on Saturday, and with others making the decision to start the race from the pit-lane it meant he was the last on the grid. He finished the race in 12th, meaning he now hasn’t scored since Baku. Lando Norris in currently second in Formula 2 and is hotly tipped for a drive in F1 next year. It could well be this seat that he takes.
Lance Stroll – 5
Williams are currently the worst car on the grid, and unfortunately nothing put that more on show than Sunday’s race. Prior to the first safety car they were the only team to have been lapped, and Stroll made a mistake in qualifying which ended up his car being beached in the gravel.
Pierre Gasly – 7
Gasly had a good Sunday and initially finished tenth, a welcome result given that Toro Rosso been having a tough time of it recently. The Frenchman collided with Perez with a few laps to go, and a harsh time penalty given to him after the race pushed him down the field. Silverstone was a track which showed Honda’s deficit to the other manufacturers, but there are still promising signs and it was a far better day for Gasly than the results suggested.
Sergey Sirotkin – 5
Sirotkin, along with his team-mate, started the race from the pits after taking on new parts. Like Stroll, Sirotkin also made a mistake in qualifying, but managed to keep the car going and set a lap, albeit one that turned out to be the slowest of the session. Seeing the Williams team run plum last is such a shame to see.
Max Verstappen – 7
Verstappen may have been classified as a finisher, but a brake-by-wire issue ended his day late into the race. Ever-hungry, he was running in a solid podium position, but with the deficit of his Renault power-unit he was a sitting duck at the restarts. His defending to Raikkonen was brilliant.
Carlos Sainz – 5
A poor performance for Sainz both on Saturday and Sunday. A less-than-par qualifying session put him in the thick of the action, and he collided with Romain Grosjean. A weekend to forget for the Spaniard.
Romain Grosjean – 5
Will Austria be seen as a peak in Grosjean’s season? Three collisions in one weekend isn’t good enough. The first occurred in practice, with the second being the cardinal sin of hitting his team mate on the first lap. The third, a tangling with Sainz at Copse, ended his race. Grosjean should have lifted off the throttle, but he kept his foot buried, causing instability and ultimately the collision.
Marcus Ericcson – 6
Ericsson’s DRS didn’t close as he approached turn one during the race and he crashed heavily, bringing out the first safety car. The crash rounded out an unfortunate weekend for the Swede, after England took his country out of the World Cup the day before. He did, however, have great pace during qualifying and got through to Q2.
Charles Leclerc – 8
An unfortunate error in the pits for Sauber resulted in Leclerc’s rear tyre not being fitted properly and the team telling him to stop the car. He had made another Q3 appearance on Saturday and had been running seventh at the time of the error, which meant the loss of a potentially big haul of points.
Brendan Hartley – N/A
You can’t really comment on what a horrible weekend the Kiwi has had. The suspension failure on Saturday pretty much ended his weekend. He didn’t see any track action in qualifying, and a last minute problem starting from the pit lane resulted in retirement after one lap. None of it whatsoever was his fault.
Ferrari Media
There is now a two-week break before we head to Hockenheim in Germany, a track that we see appear every so often on the calendar. Vettel won on Hamilton’s home turf this weekend, but can Hamilton strike back with victory in Germany? Vettel hasn’t got a record like Hamilton at his home track, and has only won in Germany once in his Red Bull days. The summer break looms and, for drivers such as Grosjean and Vandoorne, the pressure increases.
Having followed F1 for pretty much as long as I can remember, I finally got the chance to attend my first race at the British Grand Prix. It was something that I’d been looking forward to for months and it did not disappoint, by any means! The weather was glorious all weekend and there was a huge number of things to do, both on and off track.
Max Verstappen kicks a football. Image courtesy of Dan Istitene/Getty Images via Redbull Content Pool
I was there with four other members of my family and we decided, wisely or not, to camp at the Camping F1 campsite. This was brilliant for the atmosphere of the weekend and being surrounded by people who are attending, all for the same reason, meant that we had plenty of F1-related conversation with people who would’ve otherwise been complete strangers. It gives you a different perspective on the experience as a whole when you’ve spent time talking to strangers (who seemed like anything but that) about all things F1, whether it’s what Alonso should do next, Red Bull going to Honda, Leclerc’s potential Ferrari move or the new direction of F1 – to be surrounded by people who knew about all that was just amazing. There was one drawback of camping though, basically, don’t do it if you want to sleep as the music is going strong until at least midnight!
Away from the campsite, we had a short walk to the track and were immediately greeted by numerous food and drink outlets where we must have spent an absolute fortune over the course of the four days! Around the grounds, there were lots of merchandise stores and Fan Zones, all aimed at adding to the whole experience of the weekend. We spent the majority of our time away from the track action in the main F1 Village which was around the main stage. Here there was the large F1 Store with plenty of merchandise for all teams (of which I bought a lot!) as well as, for the first time in a long time, a store selling official Michael Schumacher merchandise while the Ayrton Senna stores also returned, meaning there was pa lot to choose from.
Daniel signing autographs. Image courtesy of Charles Coates/Getty Images via redbull content pool
Along with this, there was a row of 16 simulators which you could queue up to have a go on as well as the pit stop challenge where, in a team of three, you could see how quickly you could change an F1 tyre. Another part of the pit stop challenge was the leaderboard; over the course of the weekend, fans competed to have the quickest time – the top six times were then invited back for the final on Sunday morning where the fastest on that attempt would win paddock passes, a nice way to immerse fans in a more obscure part of the sport.
It was at the simulators that we met seven of the current F2 drivers: Artem Markelov, Sean Gelael, Jack Aitken, George Russell, Lando Norris, Roy Nissany and Roberto Merhi. The drivers each selected a fan from the gathered crowd to take part in a race with them which Nissany got disqualified from in about 5 seconds and Russell won in dominant fashion. Following this, the staff there came and handed out sheets of paper to the crowd and Sharpies to the drivers, meaning we could all get autographs and photos with them which was one of my highlights of the weekend.
The track action may have only gotten underway on Friday however, there was a very large crowd assembled for the Sky Sports F1 Show which took place on Thursday evening. This was a great event as we got to see the majority of the F1 grid come out onto the main pit straight and have a go at football darts, won by Nico Hulkenberg, with rather amusing consequences. Plenty of t-shirt cannons were also brought out during this with some drivers being more successful than others at firing them over the catch-fence!
For the actual track action itself, I think this year was one of the best showings for Silverstone – every race had a close battle for the lead, from GP3 and F2 to Porsche Supercup and even F1, all the racing was absolutely brilliant. For pretty much every race, bar one which we’ll get to in a minute, the grandstands were nearing full and the atmosphere in them was something else. The only exception to that was the first F2 race which clashed with England’s Quarter Final match in the World Cup so, while we stayed in the stands to watch the race, most of the spectators flocked to the big screens to watch the match. We certainly knew when England had scored by the cheering that actually drowned out the cars!
Sunday brought the race everyone had waited for – F1. Hamilton was obviously the home favourite, so he got a massive cheer on the formation lap, every time he overtook someone and every time he just came past the stand! The tension before the start was tangible while there was a collective disappointment when Hamilton got passed on the start. Our grandstand was Village B so the Hamilton/Raikkonen collision happened directly in front of us and meant that Raikkonen became the pantomime villain for the entire race.
After the race, some of the drivers went up onto the main stage to greet the very large crowd. Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were the first to make an appearance, followed by the Williams duo of Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll, Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul and Hulkenberg. Last up in the main slot was the hilarious pairing of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, accompanied by team boss Christian Horner, which involved a lot of jokes and even some singing from Ricciardo… he should definitely stick to driving! Hamilton didn’t show up until after Mel C’s set on the stage which was a bit frustrating but fitted with what he’d been doing all weekend.
Overall, despite a few minor frustrations, a complete lack of sleep and at times unbearable heat, the weekend was incredible – all the negatives were completely eclipsed by the positives, the amazing track action, meeting some of the drivers and being waved at by them on the cool down lap. We enjoyed it so much that we’ve already booked our tickets for next year which, we, along with the 340,000 who attended over the weekend, hope beyond all hopes won’t be the last British GP. The contract has been terminated but there are ongoing negotiations to save the British GP because we can’t lose it, it’s far too good to go!
It’s the dream of every racing driver: getting into Formula 1 one day. For many people that dream just stays a dream. For some people, it becomes reality. Other people get into Formula 1 too, although not in real life. They get into Formula 1 in another world: the world of professional gaming. Monday July 9th saw the inaugural Pro Draft for the F1 Esports Series 2018, where nine real-world Formula 1 teams chose their drivers for the Pro Series Championship. The drivers were selected by representatives from the Formula 1 teams, with no other than Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly, Chairman and CEO of Formula 1 Chase Carey and Managing Director of Commercial Operations Sean Bratches attending the Pro Draft event in London.
Before this event took place though, all initial forty Pro Draft Qualifiers had to go through a three-day assessment that took place at Silverstone ahead of the Grand Prix. Here all drivers were tested intensely through a series of challenges and interviews. These challenges tested their fitness, reaction times and real-world driving so the teams could get a better impression of who to hire and who not. The Esports Series thus is not just about fun. It is a very serious business and only the best get chosen to compete on the highest level. What the drivers get in return for their efforts however, is very rewarding. Real-world Formula 1 teams hire people who started playing racing games for fun, and give them the opportunity to show the world that it definitely is not easy what they are doing and most of all: they can show the world who is the best of them all.
With a roster of forty qualifiers, it was surely not easy for the nine Formula 1 teams to choose their drivers for the F1 Esports 2018 Pro Series Championship, but eventually they had to choose and that was very interesting. Two of the nine teams chose both their drivers from the Pro Draft. Renault Sport Team Vitality chose Swedish Kimmy Larsson and British James Doherty, whilst Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 eSports Team with Allert van der Wal from the Netherlands and Salih Saltunc from the United Kingdom might have the strongest line up of them all. The other seven teams chose at least one diver from the Pro Draft. From the forty qualifiers only sixteen got chosen.
The drivers will represent their teams during the three live events this F1 Esports Series which will determine the 2018 F1 Esports Series Teams and Drivers World Champions. The teams will really hope they chose the right driver, as there will be a prize fund of $200,000 to be divided over the teams based on their position in the team standings.
With more than 850,000 people worldwide watching the two-hour event via live streaming, the interest in the Esports Series definitely was affirmed. Max Verstappen showed his interest as well, saying: ‘’I’ve recently got back into gaming and I know some of these guys and know how talented they are. It’s very exciting and you can see lots of sports embracing Esports – so it’s great that F1 are doing it as well.’’
Now the ‘easy’ part has ended, the drivers can focus on the next challenge: winning the 2018 F1 Esports Series.
Full list (pending confirmation of contracts) of the 2018 F1 Esports Series Pro Championship
Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 eSports Team: Allert van der Wal & Salih Saltunc & Sonuc Saltunc
Haas F1 Esports Team: Martin Stefanko & Michal Smidl
Hype Energy eForce India F1 Esports Team: Fabrizio Donoso Delgado
McLaren Shadow: Olli Pahkala
Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport: Daniel Bereznay
Red Bull Racing eSports Team: Joni Tormala & Graham Carroll
Renault Sport Team Vitality: Sven Zurner & Kimmy Larsson & James Doherty
Toro Rosso Esports Team: Patrick Holzmann & Cem Bolukbasi
