The British Grand Prix at Silverstone (6-8 JULY 2012) is the ninth round of the 2012 Formula One World Championship. This race is steeped in F1 history, Silverstone having hosted the inaugural F1 World Championship round at the beginning of the 1950 season. The British Grand Prix is one of only two races ever-present on the F1 calendar. It has also been held at Aintree and Brands Hatch but Silverstone leads the way, staging the GP 45 times.
The circuit has undergone many minor revisions over the past two decades while leaving the circuit’s perimeter configuration intact. That changed in 2010 with the debut of the new ‘Arena’ layout, which introducing a new infield loop between the corners at Abbey and Brooklands. 2010’s race used the old pit and paddock complex, though for 2011 new facilities opened, moving the startfinish straight to the section of track between Club and Abbey corners.
The new layout makes the circuit longer and more technical but Silverstone retains its reputation as one of F1’s power circuits, with over 60 per cent of a lap completed at full throttle, and featuring some of the highest-speed corners in F1.
Fast changes of direction characterise the circuit. According to tyre supplier Pirelli, this is the track which places the greatest lateral load on their tyres. Copse corner is taken at speeds in excess of 290kph, generating lateral loads of 5g. The hard and soft compound tyres have been nominated for this round of the championship but a mixed forecast means intermediate or full wet tyres may also see use during the weekend.
Last year Fernando Alonso triumphed in wet-dry conditions. He comes to Britain leading this year’s championship, having taken his second victory of 2012 last time out in Valencia. That ended a record sequence of seven different drivers winning the first seven races of the season. The other major record the 2012 season might challenge is 1982’s total of 11 winning drivers.
Circuit Data Silverstone
Length of lap 5.891km
Lap record 1:30.874 (Fernando Alonso Ferrari, 2010)
Total number of race laps 52
Total race distance 306.227km
Top Speed: 302 km/h
Full throttle: 62%
Downforce: High
Tyre Wear: High
Brake wear: Low
Pitlane speed limits 60km/h during practice, 100km/h during qualifying and race.
DRS detection: before turn 3
DRS activation: after turn 4
Race Stewards: Paul Gutjahr, Paolo Longoni, Nigel Mansell OBE
The British Grand Prix has been on the calendar since the inaugural F1 World Championship in 1950. The only other race able to claim that is the Italian Grand Prix.
The British Grand Prix has the highest number of home-grown winners of any race on the F1 calendar. The race has been won by a British driver 21 times. Alongside Clark’s five wins (1962-1965, 1967), Nigel Mansell has four (1986-7,1991-2), while on two wins apiece
come Stirling Moss (one shared with Tony Brooks) (1955, 1957) , Jackie Stewart (1969, 1971) and David Coulthard (1999, 2000). The other winners are Peter Collins (1958),
James Hunt (1977), John Watson (1981), Damon Hill (1994), Johnny Herbert (1995) and Lewis Hamilton (2008)
http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Pages/f1-media-home.aspx
2012 BRITISH GRAND PRIX discusion thread
posted on 7/7/12
re-start 1507
posted on 7/7/12
That's right Eddie, Lewis is on the wrong tyre's
posted on 7/7/12
Albert Morgan (U1655) - sorry to hear about your parking problem. Tomorrow is predicted to be dry during the race with wind from the North.
You will keep us posted on the weather situation won't you?
posted on 7/7/12
Don't know what forecast your going from wtcbu but everyone I have seen says it is gonna be wet at 1pm tommorrow in silverstone! Plus even it is dry at 1pm the overnight rain which is predicted to be seriously heavy will still be on the track!
posted on 7/7/12
From the forecast i've seen it'll be much like today, i expect rain for most of the race.
This must be the worst parking disaster Silverstone have ever had, i went to get a pizza earlier from Brackley and there are hundreds of cars parked up to 6 miles away from the track.
Though I'm told they graveled loads of grass car parks so hopefully that'll help a bit tomorrow
posted on 7/7/12
The BBC have changed their forecast again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2637827
Now they are predicting rain.
At 5 o'clock it was sunshine.
posted on 7/7/12
I'm just about fed up with the useless reporting implying Jenson is some rain maestro.
This is getting beyond ridiculous now. He can't get out of Q1? He needs to pull his finger out and start performing because this is ridiculous. As for Hamilton he needs to engage his brain tomorrow. There will be multiple opportunities to make passes.
Maldonado and Massa are ahead of him, he needs to tiptoe around them.
Got a feeling it will be Schumis day tomorrow
posted on 7/7/12
The thing hamilton needs to remember tommorrow if it is a wet race is that anything is possible. Keep yourself on the track for the whole 52 laps and you have a chance of winning.
I hope he dosn't try and pull a ridiculous move on mass or maldonado early. Hopefully he can skip mal in the first corner and then put the cars infront under pressure. Wait for there mistake because in the rain they will make a few. Don't wanna see a repeat of canada where he spun himself and webber in the first corner and then the button crash which wasn't his fault but he didn't need to pull a risky move like that. If he at least holds his position in the first lap I am confident he can pull something of.
posted on 8/7/12
What a weekend its been! Highlight was Jackie Stewart standing right next to me for couple of minutes and having a pic with Mansell, plus being on TV on BBC build up on the Pitlane. Got first corner seats, bring it on!
posted on 8/7/12
Hamilton saying he is struggling on his tyres.