Preview
Silverstone Preview: Flat out fever
The second of four July races that will shape the season in quick succession, Silverstone promises to be another thrilling weekend in the 2023 Formula 2 season. The British weather could play a big role at some point across the weekend, but there will be plenty of fans cheering on the Formula 2 grid throughout Round 9.
Here is all you need to know ahead of the Silverstone race weekend.
THE FORM BOOK
Frederik Vesti arrives as the Championship leader on 125 points, fresh from a podium in Spielberg having narrowly missed out on victory.
Théo Pourchaire and Ayumu Iwasa are his closest rivals in the Standings, with the ART Grand Prix and DAMS drivers second and third respectively on 105 and 101. Iwasa secured a great P2 finish in the Feature Race last weekend, limiting the damage of a poor Qualifying result.
Oliver Bearman was another to race in damage limitation mode around the Red Bull Ring, and he made it up in the Feature Race going to P5 from 19th on the grid, a great effort from the PREMA Racing driver. Around Silverstone, he’ll be hoping to climb the Championship order from fourth and 81 points with a great weekend on home soil.
A hugely popular victory for Richard Verschoor boosted him up to fifth in the Championship order. The Dutchman put in a thrilling performance to take Van Amersfoort Racing’s maiden win in Formula 2. He is now on 75 points.
PREMA Racing still leads the way in the Teams’ Standings having extended their advantage over closest challengers ART Grand Prix. The Italian team is now on 206 points versus ART’s 163. DAMS still follows in third position, now on 137 points.
FROM THE GRID – Ralph Boschung, Campos Racing
“It’s a nice track, obviously a lot of history and a lot of high-speed corners which I like a lot. I haven’t really been successful there to be honest, so I should try and show something this year. It’s a cool track though. Mostly the fans, the English fans are a bit like the Italian Tifosi, they’re really crazy and passionate about the sport. It brings this whole passionate atmosphere to the race.
“The circuit is so special in terms of the layout. It must be quite fascinating from the outside to see the cars through the high-speed corners. Stowe is the second DRS zone on the back straight but it’s quite tricky to overtake there. You get a lot of dirty air through there but that’s probably the best overtaking spot.
“We have the hard compound so we aren’t losing the tyres after three laps but because of the high loads on the tyres, you can struggle a bit with tyre wear. We know what I have not done right last year and where the team could have improved at certain things, but we have an idea about how to bring that together and that we can do it this year. Again, some teams like Rodin Carlin, it’s their home track and they know all the secret details to it, so they’re hard to beat. But if we can be in the top five, that’s better than last year.”
TECHNICAL PREVIEW
Silverstone’s layout provides great wheel-to-wheel racing every year, but it also demands plenty from the cars and the tyres. With so many high-speed corners like Copse followed by the Maggotts and Becketts complex, tyre usage is high, and management of the Pirelli tyres is crucial to performing a successful race strategy.
Likewise, the downforce requirements are high too, and finding the balance to maximise cornering speed will count for plenty of laptime. With just 45 minutes of Free Practice available to teams and drivers, identifying a setup that can enable the driver to tackle these fast corners with confidence and keep the tyres in a good condition in the races will be a huge difference maker this weekend.
Braking demand is not quite as extensive, courtesy of the sweeping layout not having many heavy deceleration zones. Turn 3/Village is one of the heavier braking zones, while entry to Turn 16 and the Vale Chicane is another area of the lap where braking performance could make a difference.
RACE STRATEGY
The hard and soft compound Pirelli tyres are at the teams’ disposal this weekend and tyre usage will be a pivotal performance factor throughout. The Silverstone layout means the track is one of the most demanding circuits on the tyres, with plenty of high-speed corners putting huge energy through them across the lap. Tyre management then will be critical this weekend, and drivers that can utilise the tyres most effectively will be at a huge advantage as the laps are ticked off and rivals begin to struggle with degradation.
In the Sprint, the hard tyres are the compound of choice while on Sunday, there are advantages to be found with both the conventional and alternate strategies. Theoretically, starting on the softs like Feature Race winner Logan Sargeant did last year is the slower option, however it could give drivers opting for that route an advantage off the grid from lights out, courtesy of the higher grip levels offered by the red-walled tyres. Consistent management on the hard tyres prior to a swap to softs is the strategy of choice according to simulations, but typically British summer weather could throw a curveball at all of those calculations.
Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director
“With its many high-speed corners, Silverstone is one of the most demanding circuits of the year for the tyres. As usual, the P Zero White hard compound is nominated, together with the P Zero Red soft. We brought the Soft to Silverstone for the first time last year – creating an extra step between the two compounds – and this proved to be a success, as it not only provided the drivers with even more grip to attack the track during qualifying, but also made for some exciting wheel-to-wheel action between drivers on different compounds. As we know, temperatures can vary a lot during the British summer and there’s always the possibility for rain, so teams and drivers need to be adaptable.”
STAT PACK
- Three drivers have appeared on the podium twice across a single Formula 2 weekend at Silverstone. George Russell (2018), Jack Aitkin (2020) and Dan Ticktum (2021) each scored multiple podiums at home in one Round.
- Five of the seven Feature Races so far in 2023 have been won from pole position.
- Callum Ilott was the last British winner of an F2 race at Silverstone, winning the 2020 Feature Race. Could Oliver Bearman change that this weekend?
DID YOU KNOW?
Frederik Vesti and Théo Pourchaire will both be running with driver biometrics this weekend after their debut in Spielberg. The PREMA Racing and ART Grand Prix drivers will race with heart rate monitors fitted to them throughout the weekend, allowing viewers to track just how intense the racing can get.