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Previously At The British Grand PrixSilverstone: it’s a high-speed, high-downforce thrill-fest where things always seem to happen – usually with at least one of the Red Bulls in the middle of it.
WhentheFormulaOneseasonfindsitswaytoSilverstone,there’sasensethat,finally,thecarsarebeingletofftheleash.It’shere,ontheoldairfieldperimeterroads,theycanshowoffwhattheydobest:ultra-highspeedcorners;rapidchangesofdirection,ahigh-downforce,highvelocityblur.OthertracksearlierintheseasonofferglimpsesbutatSilverstone,thehitsjustkeeponcoming:Copse;Maggots,Becketts,Chapel,Stowe,Abbey(leftorright),Brooklands,Woodcote.It’smesmeric.
It's a track where things happen. Silverstone is where the RB5 suddenly looked like a world beater; a year later it’s where the razor’s edge of rivalry between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel was whetted; and a decade later, this is the track on which Max demonstrated we could take a fight to the dominant Mercedes. Races here tend to stick in the mind.
2009:Arrival
Our first F1 victory came at a soaking-wet Shanghai International Circuit in round three of the 2009 season – but our second win, at Silverstone two months and five races later, was arguably the more significant. As had been the case in China, it was a 1-2 finish with Sebastian Vettel leading Mark Webber over the line – but this took place on a dry (albeit cool) weekend, where Seb won from pole position, pulled out over a second a lap in his first stint over the Constructors’ Championship-leading Brawns, and cruised to victory 40 seconds ahead of third-placed Rubens Barrichello. This, perhaps, was the first time we could confidently claim to have turned up at a grand prix with F1’s fastest car.
But this race was won as much in the factory as it was on the track – and the perceptions of Red Bull’s in-season development prowess really begins here. The factory had been working around the clock since the Turkish Grand Prix to get new front wings, floors and a more refined double diffuser ready, with parts arriving at the track well into Saturday morning. Christian hailed it as a fantastic effort; everybody else said the new nose made the RB5 look like an angry duck.
2010:MarkI
Having a race just 20 miles from the factory has obvious advantages when it comes to rushing last-minute parts to the track – but sometimes that feels like more of a curse than a blessing. The 2010 race was one such example, when the team got two new front wings to Silverstone on Saturday morning, a race ahead of schedule. 2010 was a tight season: Seb and Mark were both in contention for the title, and heading to Round 10 at Silverstone, Mark had victories in Monaco and Spain, Seb in Malaysia and Valencia – but Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton were also race winners, McLaren were leading the Constructors’ Championship, and when one of the new wings on Seb’s car broke in FP3, difficult decisions needed to be made. He’d been marginally quicker during the session, and so got the one remaining new wing for Qualifying, and took pole, a fraction ahead of Mark, who had steam coming out of his ears for the rest of the afternoon.
It all came good on Sunday for the Australian though. The 2010 Grand Prix was the first to use the new ‘Arena’ layout but, with the Silverstone Wing not yet completed, also the last one to use the old pitlane with Copse corner as Turn One. An extremely well-motivated Mark got a rocket start and swept into the lead, while Seb punctured after tangling with Hamilton. Aussie Grit kept the lead through an early Safety Car and had Lewis large in his mirrors for much of the race – but eventually swept over the line a second ahead.
2012:MarkII
While it’s a truly spectacular place to watch an F1 car, there are occasions when an actual race at Silverstone can look a little static, and others where it just looks like the greatest racing circuit every laid down. 2012 was one of the latter. The season itself was wide open: seven different drivers won the first seven races, and coming to Britain for Round Nine, Fernando Alonso held the Drivers’ Championship lead by virtue of being the first driver to win two – and duly took pole position at Silverstone in wet conditions… but we were leading the Constructors’ Championship and Mark was alongside him on the front row at a track that he really relishes. After torrential rain earlier in the weekend that had organisers asking fans to stay away, Sunday stayed dry(ish), and the 24 drivers put on a real show, with some great overtaking. Among the best of these was Mark’s pass on Alonso to take the lead, going the long way around at Brooklands. It was high-stakes – and the sort of thing you can only make stick if you really, really trust the other guy, but Mark landed it and won his second British Grand Prix. It was Mark’s ninth and final F1 victory.
2014:Fun!
Having taken three victories in the previous five seasons, finishing third and fifth at the 2014 British Grand Prix doesn’t sound like much to write home about – but 2014 sticks in the mind as one of the grittiest, hardest, best performances the team has ever had. Daniel rose from P8 on the grid to a podium spot through a combination of classic Daniel overtaking in the first part of the race, and a robust defence in the second to hold off a very quick Jenson Button.
The battle that drew the eye, however, was the contest between Seb and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari for P5. If ever you require a visual explanation of what F1 is all about, this is a great starting point: masters of their craft on the absolute limit, side-by-side, lap after lap, through some of the quickest corners in motorsport. Seb eventually came out on top, and there won’t’ be a harder contested P5.
202070thAnniversaryRace:FastestGrandmaintheWest
For anyone who enjoys quirky F1 stats, the Covid-influenced 2020 season provides the motherload. A 17-race emergency calendar, crammed into a few short months, with new circuits, very old circuits, different track configurations, and tracks pressed into service for double-headers, one of which was Silverstone which, a week after the British Grand Prix, hosted the 70th Anniversary race.
The issue occupying everyone’s mind was the decision to move one step softer in the compound range compared to the British Grand Prix. At some tracks it wouldn’t be a big deal, but Silverstone (at least until this year) has always used the hardest tyres in the Pirelli range, and putting anything softer through the high-energy grinder of Silverstone’s ultra-fast, maximum downforce corners was going to be painful.
Seeking to differentiate himself, Max gambled on Saturday, doing his Q2 lap on a set of Hard tyres, and squeaking through into Q3 by only two-tenths of a second. That meant he’d start the race on that set, whereas the dominant Mercedes who locked-out the front row would start on the Mediums. It was a close-run thing in the early stages, where Max was in the unusual situation of having the pace to keep up. “We’re a little bit close for tyres at this stage,” said GP, with Max replying, “Mate, this is the only chance to be close to Mercedes, I’m not just sitting behind like a Grandma!”
But sit behind he did, before using the tyre life he’d saved in doing so to put in a sequence of scintillating laps that allowed him to emerge in front, run a very short middle stint on the Medium tyre, before switching back to the Hards with an advantage he took all the way to the flag. There were many touchpoints on our path back to being a championship-winning team, but the 2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, in with Max finished ahead of both Mercedes without any outside intervention, is one which certainly sticks in the mind.
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