Preview of the British Grand Prix

The British stage is the tenth on the calendar (formally it is considered the eleventh, given the canceled Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix). The first nine stayed with Red Bull. This is the second winning streak in history since the start of the season, following McLaren’s 11 consecutive victories in early 1988, which could surpass Red Bull (in length, but not in intrigue) before the summer break.

It is clear that the drafters of the technical regulations, which are supposed to sharpen the competition and make the race more spectacular, are not entirely satisfied with the result. Formula 1 signed contracts with promoters who promised a spectacle of the highest level. But even then, it was clear that if the regulatory change coincided with budget cuts, those left behind simply wouldn’t get a chance to close the gap.

If someone got an advantage, it will stay that way until the next rule change. Usually when changing the rules, Newey got the advantage, and if not, he couldn’t even win back. Red Bull understood this very well and allowed overspending while the rest tried to play by the rules.

Helmut Marko recently said he wants to win all the remaining races this year. And then you can retire, which he talked about more than once.

Marco leaves, Red Bull stays. Perhaps without the youth program, which really didn’t bring anyone – Vettel and Verstappen, he got ready, and without the useless AlphaTauri, the eternal outsider, and without his glorious leader Franz Tost.

Everything indicates that Red Bull will have one team. Strong, experienced, rich – and all with its own history in motorsport, created by Helmut Marko. A worthy end to a career. Few in Formula 1 have gone undefeated. One day the winning streak will come to an end, but that will be behind him.

Northamptonshire is the motorsport valley of the world. All suppliers and manufacturers are located here, the best managers, engineers and mechanics work here. Vacancy advertisements are placed in the local small circulation and vacancies are filled immediately. Seven of the ten Formula 1 teams are based here. Even for a lot of money it is almost impossible to attract personnel to Italy, Austria or the US.

Most tickets are distributed by the track owners of the British Racing Club according to the club system. Competing in the British Grand Prix is ​​just as difficult as the Wimbledon tennis tournament, which is now also taking place, but this time the final will not coincide with the day of the race, as it did in 2016, when race winner Lewis Hamilton and Wimbledon winner Andy Murray had a party together.

Another tradition is changeable weather. In 2000, the race was postponed to April and over the weekend the track flooded, leaving guests of the prestigious paddock club literally knee-deep in the heliport mud to step onto trays of ice-cold champagne. Traffic jams reached twenty kilometers, ticket holders left their cars and walked.

Then Silverstone almost lost the Grand Prix, but then talk moved that Ecclestone was deliberately moving the podium to mid-spring to cement his position in the negotiations.

In other sports, after the spectators and athletes went home, it doesn’t happen that the score on the scoreboard kept changing. The journalists sent their reports to the editors and went to the bar, unaware that the match was already underway in an empty stadium. And four, almost five hours after the final whistle, everyone suddenly finds out that the game ended with a completely different score.

In Formula 1 recently they have honestly tried to avoid penalties that could affect the final protocol, get by with points for a super license or lose places at the start of the next race, but in Austria we saw an incredible farce that contradicted is with the very spirit of this sport, where an intense battle is going on, from start to finish, but never after.

No, of course there were examples. The same doping scandals in other sports. But doping use is one thing, and leaving the white line at a speed of more than 300 km/h while driving a car, from the cockpit of which this line is basically not visible, is another.

The rule that “the driver must respect the limits of the track” has always been in the regulations. But they treated him calmly. It was clear that if the rider overtakes the opponent outside the track, he must return the position. It wasn’t even talked about. Must and all.

It was also clear that if a wide corner exit allowed speed and an advantage on the next acceleration, it was an unfair advantage. In such places, a sensor was placed under the asphalt, which automatically corrected the violation. Or they put a hard curb on which you can damage the car. Everything made sense.

But with the death of the irreplaceable Charlie Whiting, everything went wrong. His Australian successor Michael Masi began to improvise, decided the fate of the championship title and was fired. But from the very beginning he was a temporary replacement for Whiting – Charlie suddenly died in Australia, where Masi was a representative of the local federation – they took him with them. In one stage, in the other, and then left.

Then a strange idea arose to alternate between two directors – Nils Wittich and Eduard Freitas, which further confused the situation. How can a company have two directors? Who to ask?

As a result, only Wittich remained, but by then the orderly and understandable hierarchy of powers and rules built by Whiting had completely collapsed. And 1200 considered off-track violations in the Austrian race is a sad end to this story, which would be nice to end there.

After receiving a wave of criticism against him, FIA president Mohammed bin Sulayem effectively withdrew from Formula 1, where the rules are now set by the owners of commercial rights and teams. A curtain.

Formula 1 will survive this crisis. It is only important with what losses. Dr. Marco clearly knows something.