British Grand Prix: Stage Preview

The British Grand Prix concludes a busy three-race summer series and the first part of a season that has proven to be highly intriguing this year for sporting, technical and political reasons.

Just like a year ago, the leader is obvious, but if Verstappen dominated in the first races, the situation escalated and a battle arose that became more interesting with each stage.

The inertia in Formula 1 is quite big, but there is a feeling that Red Bull’s dominance is fading, partly due to the progress of the rivals. With stable regulations, the competition always gets fiercer over the years.

In the four months since the start of the season, McLaren have made significant improvements, Mercedes have fixed a number of key issues and large-scale new products are being prepared to help Silverstone and Ferrari remove the swing in high-speed corners.

In Spielberg, the difference between first and last place in the first part of qualifying was only 0.798 seconds – never before in Formula 1 history has the competition been so tight.

There is a feeling that Red Bull got tired of sporting success, and the battle for power under the slogan “All power to Horner” came first. Adrian Newey and top engineers have left, Marco is not getting any younger and does not get the same support, so there is simply no one to stop Horner.

In March, Germany’s Bild reported that the team manager hopes to lead Red Bull GmbH and become a “new version” of Dietrich Mateschitz, but if Mateschitz had still been alive, Horner would have been fired long ago.

All of these “ifs” are having a negative impact on the team. It is clear that the team absolutely cannot win without Red Bull’s money – and Horner has called on the support of the Thai owner of a controlling stake in Red Bull, Chalerm Juvidya.

Once upon a time, unlimited funding allowed the team to simply buy out the best employees from other teams. Now that richer teams have emerged – and there’s already a queue at Aston Martin – HR departments at Mercedes and Ferrari are receiving CVs from Red Bull employees.

People understand that there is a demand and that the old story is coming to an end. They have been at the height of glory and are now ready to rise to higher positions in the colours of other teams.

But Formula 1 needs Red Bull because they are two teams at the same time and there is simply no one to replace them. Red Bull needs Formula 1 for marketing – add the Austrian Grand Prix and the world tours. So Horner is not in danger for the next few years, at least as long as the team is performing successfully.

Northamptonshire is the valley of world motorsport. All the suppliers and manufacturers of Formula 1 are based here and the best managers, engineers and mechanics work here. Vacancies appear in the local circuit and vacancies are filled immediately. Seven out of ten Formula 1 teams are based here. It is almost impossible to attract staff to Italy, Austria or the USA, even for a lot of money.

Most tickets are distributed through the club system by track owners of the British racing club BRDC. Getting to the British Grand Prix is ​​as difficult as getting to the Wimbledon tennis tournament, which is also taking place now, but this time the final match will not coincide with the day of the race, as in 2016, when race winner Lewis Hamilton and Wimbledon winner Andy Murray organised a joint party.

Another tradition is changeable weather. In 2000, the race was moved to April, and during the weekend the track was so flooded that guests of the prestigious paddock club were literally up to their knees in mud from the helipad to the tubs of ice-cold champagne. Traffic jams reached twenty kilometres; ticket holders abandoned their cars and walked.

This story is far behind us, the necessary conclusions have been drawn and the new owners of Formula 1 and the leaders of BRDC have found a common language, so that the podium remains on the calendar until 2034.