What to Watch for at Silverstone

The FIA Formula 2 campaign returns for Round 7 at the historic Silverstone Circuit, but what should you be watching out for this weekend?

Home heroes

Silverstone will play host to three home drivers this weekend in F2, with Jack Aitken, Callum Ilott and Jordan King making up the category’s British roster in 2019. The trio will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Anthoine Hubert, who won his home race earlier in the season, at Le Castellet.

Aitken has been the most successful of the three so far this campaign and sits fifth in the standings, with a race win already under his belt. Having achieved the victory in Round 2, he will be hoping to make a welcome return to the top step of the podium.

Meanwhile, Ferrari junior Ilott has been improving by the round, having made the step up from GP3 last season. Luck hasn’t always been on the Brit’s side, but the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz racer has been competitive in recent races and will be aiming for his second podium placing this season. The 20-year-old actually made his F2 debut at Silverstone for Trident, racing in front of a home crowd in a one-off appearance during the 2017 season.

MP Motorsport’s King already has a home race win on his record, under the Championship’s previous incarnation of GP2. The experienced driver achieved the feat with Racing Engineering in the 2016 Sprint Race.

A good omen

The previous two Feature Race winners at Silverstone have gone on to race in Formula 1 the following year. Charles Leclerc was the winner in 2017 with PREMA Racing, and has since made the step up to F1 with heavyweights Ferrari, via a season at Sauber.

Alex Albon followed in his footsteps the following year with DAMS at Silverstone and now drives for Toro Rosso in the pinnacle of motorsport, having joined them ahead of the 2019 campaign.

Not a bad statistic for whoever crosses the line first on Saturday.

Will Sette Câmara continue to rise?

Having achieved his first race win of the 2019 season last time out in Austria, Sérgio Sette Câmara will be looking to kick on in Silverstone. The DAMS’ driver has become increasingly comfortable in his new machinery and is fast emerging as one of the category’s in-form drivers.

His race win in Round 6 felt like it had been a long time in the making, but came as no surprise to those who had watched him closely in the races leading up to that point.

Now up to third in the Championship, the Brazilian can gain further ground on his title rivals in Silverstone, including teammate Nicholas Latifi, who holds a slender eight-point lead over him in second.

Overtaking opportunities

Silverstone is the most attended race weekend on the calendar and British racer Jack Aitken has already praised his country’s passionate motorsport fans who heavily attend F1, F2 and F3.

Those lucky enough to be there can expect plenty of action in F2: the track’s wide berth allows for overtaking opportunities throughout the field, with a number of high-speed, high-octane corners. The combination of turns leading towards Hanger Straight will favour those able to get the maximum speed out of their machines and allow for plenty of manoeuvring.

The first turn at Abbey will provide for an entertaining start to the races as drivers battle with the combination of hitting top speed and breaking in time to round it successfully.