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Lewis Hamilton stormed to another impressive victory at his home race, the British Grand Prix, on Sunday a win that saw a major boost to the Mercedes Drivers' Championship ambitions after late drama for main rival Sebastian Vettel.

Though that was the main headline from Silverstone, there was plenty more stories to tell up and down the grid, so here's our 'Winners and Losers' from Round 10 of the 2017 Formula 1 season.

Biggest Winner: Lewis Hamilton

This should be no surprise after the Briton could have never expected a better scenario to play out on home soil. The 32-year-old started from pole and led every lap in a faultless drive. Hamilton now ties the record for most British Grand Prix wins with five and, to top it all off, a puncture just two laps from the finish for Vettel see the two men just a single point apart heading into the second half of the season.

Winners:

Valtteri Bottas:

Bottas is on a mission of defying the odds to remain involved in the championship fight and has been bolstering his reputation along the way. The Finn started ninth after requiring a gearbox change but started with a series of overtakes, later produced the most significant passing Vettel at Stowe before taking advantage of Raikkonen's bad luck to take a well-deserved second place.

Daniel Ricciardo:

Ricciardo delivered another remarkable comeback this time hauling his car from 19th on the grid to finish the race fifth at Silverstone. The Australian’s race seemed to feature an overtake on every single lap as he made his way through the field and certainly dispelled any theories you can't make a move with the 2017 cars. If any driver deserved a post-race shoey it was him, instead, a 'Driver of the Day' accolade will do very nicely.

 Nico Hulkenberg:

The Renault driver built his race on a solid qualifying session, maximising another team error by Force India not to tell Esteban Ocon to allow a much faster Sergio Perez through. If it wasn't for a late engine issue, he could have kept Ricciardo at bay, as it was, sixth place and 'best of the rest' was still a good return.

Max Verstappen:

After a recent miserable run of form, with five retirements in the last seven races, the 19-year-old needed a good race and duly got it with fourth position at Silverstone. Though he was a little frustrated not to be able to match Ferrari and Mercedes, it will surely be satisfying for the Dutchman to put in a solid performance.

Biggest Loser: Sebastian Vettel

No one can compete with the German here. A bad start, followed by a struggle to pass Verstappen and, just when everything seemed to be under control even re-inheriting third after Raikkonen's tyre failure, a puncture of his with one lap to go dropped Vettel back to seventh position. With his title rival Hamilton winning, the lead the Ferrari driver built in the first half of the season just vanished with Mercedes increasingly looking a dominant force.

Losers:

Kimi Raikkonen:

It seems that whenever the former world champion is having a good race, bad luck manages to eventually find him. Raikkonen drove a calm, steady race keeping his second position, even if the inability to challenge Hamilton concerned a few. It all seemed lost when he was the first of the Ferrari's to have a tyre failure but he still got some recognition of his performance as the podium and a third place trophy would return to his grasp a lap later.

McLaren:

McLaren was hoping for a solid home Grand Prix; however, that wasn’t the case on Sunday. A fuel pump issue for Fernando Alonso led to another disappointing retirement, having started at the back of the grid due to engine penalties. While Stoffel Vandoorne, who made it to Q3 and had high hopes of the performance of the car, slipped back to 11th having started P8, meaning the Woking-based team finished pointless for the ninth time this season.

Daniil Kvyat:

The man they call the 'torpedo' unfortunately lived up to the nickname yet again at Silverstone as he and teammate Carlos Sainz collided on Lap 1. It marks the second straight race he was deemed responsible for a first lap crash and also the third Grand Prix in the last four that the Russian has been awarded a mid-race penalty, leaving him with nine points on his superlicence, three short of an automatic race ban.

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Fresh from Valtteri Bottas securing his second Formula 1 win Austria, the sport swaps Spielberg for the place where it all began 67 years ago, Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix.

Well at least until 2019 anyway after the news on Tuesday the famous circuit has activated a break clause in its contract, meaning there could just be three more races left in the Northamptonshire countryside.

That's for another day, however, as negotiations will no doubt begin to save the British Grand Prix once again, but instead let's focus on this weekend and another crucial return home for three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

After his commanding victory in Canada at the beginning of June, it appeared the momentum was about to swing firmly in the man from Stevenage's favour, but a headrest issue in Baku and a grid penalty at the Red Bull Ring have been unwanted obstacles that have denied Hamilton from maximising the pace he showed both weekends.

As a result, the 32-year-old heads to a venue he has won at each of the last three years and four times in total in need of another good result to get his championship back on track.

The gap between himself and likely pantomime villain this weekend Sebastian Vettel currently stands at 20 points with an increasing threat from Mercedes team-mate Bottas, who is now just 15 behind the Briton.

Considering where the advantage may lie is hard to tell with the downforce-dependent layout at Silverstone much different to any circuit raced at since Spain. There it was Mercedes who had the edge thanks to an upgrade but aerodynamics has usually been Ferrari's strong suit so it will be interesting to see if that is the case again.

Another likely factor will be tyres as Pirelli brings the supersoft rubber for the first time. The Italian supplier is predicting a two-stop race and the grip differential between the compounds is likely to be much bigger than it was in Austria.

Ferrari and Mercedes have taken slightly different routes too, with the Italian team more aggressive with three more sets of the fastest compound than their British-based German rival.

At their second home race in a week, Red Bull is also likely to be much more competitive with the RB13 seemingly now more than a match for the top two at least from a chassis perspective. Daniel Ricciardo is on a roll with five straight podiums but in stark contrast his team-mate Max Verstappen has had that many retirements in the last seven races. Add a little British summer weather into the mix and a thrilling three-team battle could well be on the cards.

The midfield battle also took an interesting twist in Austria with Haas emerging as the leading team thanks to a sixth place finish for Romain Grosjean as well as team-mate Kevin Magnussen potentially looking even faster before two freak failures on the Saturday and Sunday.

The worry for the American team and others who wish to challenge current fourth-placed Force India is the Silverstone-based team are bringing a major updates to their home race. That means they could well return to potentially annoying Red Bull ahead rather than being in reach of those behind.

One team potentially at risk from those behind is Williams as the high-speed corners typically don't suit their car. Add to that, how they had problems optimising the upgrades introduced in Spielberg and Haas, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Renault could well fancy their chances of challenging for the tail end of the top 10.

Certainly McLaren, after a miserable year, will hope to give their legion of fans something to cheer. Recent improvements could offer the opportunity to do just that providing no grid penalties are required and reliability holds.

Carlos Sainz too will likely be under the spotlight after his comments in Austria, while Jolyon Palmer will look to end his points drought in front of his home crowd.

A crowd that is full of knowledge, passion and likely a little gamesmanship in their desire to see another home win, all ingredients that make the British Grand Prix so special and why it needs to be a mainstay now and forever.

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The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire in England.

The British and Italian Grands Prix are the oldest continuously staged Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. It was designated the European Grand Prix five times between 1950 and 1977, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe.

British Prix, Round Ten of the 2017 Formula 1 season

Circuit Name: Silverstone

Race Laps: 52

Circuit Length: 5.891 km (3.66 mi)

Race Length: 306.291 km (190.32 mi)

Number of corners: 18 (10 Right, 8 Left)

DRS Zone: Two Zones (zone 1 Between turn 5 and 6, Zone 2 Between Turn 14 and 15)

Circuit Direction: Clockwise

Pole Position 2016: Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Time 1:29.287

Race Lap record: Mark Webber 2013 – Red Bull Renault 1:33.401

Ultimate track record: 1:29.243 (HAM, Q2, 2016)

Distance from Pole to T1 Apex: 296.3 m

Pole Position Side: Left

Pit Lane Length Under Speed Limit Control: 376.4 m

Drive-Through Time at 80 km/h: 16.9 s

Lap Time at Full Throttle: 58 %

Lap Distance at Full Throttle: 70 %

Gear Changes per Lap: 40

Braking Events (>2G)         8

Heavy Braking Events (<0.4s @ >4G) 3

Fuel Consumption: Medium

Maximum Lateral G-Force: 4.8G

Maximum Speed: 328 km/h

Track Evolution (P1 – Qualifying) Low

Key Overtaking Opportunities T2/3, T15

Silverstone Circuit

  

Pirelli used compounds

Tyres that must be available (one of them to be used) at some point in the race:

One set of P Zero White medium

One set of P Zero Red Yellow soft

Tyres assigned for Q3 in qualifying:                     

One set of P Zero Red Super-Soft

Teams/Drivers compounds choice

Driver Soft Super-Soft Ultra-Soft
Lewis Hamilton 2 3 8
Valtteri Bottas 1 4 8
Daniel Ricciardo 2 2 9
Max Verstappen 2 2 9
Sebastian Vettel 1 5 7
Kimi Raikkonen 2 4 7
Sergio Perez 1 2 10
Esteban Ocon 1 2 10
Lance Stroll 1 4 8
Felipe Massa 2 3 8
Stoffel Vandoorne 1 2 10
Fernando Alonso 1 2 10
Daniil Kvyat 2 3 8
Carlos Sainz 2 3 8
Romain Grosjean 1 5 7
Kevin Magnussen 1 5 7
Nico Hulkenberg 2 3 8
Jolyon Palmer 2 3 8
Marcus Ericsson 2 4 7
Pascal Wehrlein 3 3 7

THE CIRCUIT FROM A TYRE POINT OF VIEW:

 

MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF CAR RACING

“The decision to bring softer tyres to Silverstone than we had originally planned was taken by Pirelli, but with the full approval of the drivers, FIA, teams and promoters, who have appreciated what we are trying to do with this more aggressive nomination. This should open up extra possibilities for different strategies and push teams towards more than one pit stop, although we’ll obviously have a better idea of exact wear and degradation rates when we get there, especially with the supersoft that makes its Silverstone race debut. With Silverstone being among the most demanding tracks for tyres of the entire season, it will be interesting to see how one of the softest tyres in the 2017 range performs there. A lot will depend on the weather: in the past, we’ve seen an extremely wide range of conditions and temperatures”.

SILVERSTONE MINIMUM STARTING PRESSURES (SLICKS)

 

EOS CAMBER LIMIT

British Grand Prix Winners 1950 – 2016

Year

Driver

Constructor

Location

2016

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

Silverstone

2015

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

2014

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

2013

Nico Rosberg

Mercedes

2012

Mark Webber

Red Bull-Renault

2011

Fernando Alonso

Ferrari

2010

Mark Webber

Red Bull-Renault

2009

Sebastian Vettel

Red Bull-Renault

2008

Lewis Hamilton

McLaren-Mercedes

2007

Kimi Raikkonen

Ferrari

2006

Fernando Alonso

Renault

2005

Juan Pablo Montoya

McLaren-Mercedes

2004

Michael Schumacher

Ferrari

2003

Rubens Barrichello

Ferrari

2002

Michael Schumacher

Ferrari

2001

Mika Hakkinen

McLaren-Mercedes

2000

David Coulthard

McLaren-Mercedes

1999

David Coulthard

McLaren-Mercedes

1998

Michael Schumacher

Ferrari

1997

Jacques Villeneuve

Williams-Renault

1996

Jacques Villeneuve

Williams-Renault

1995

Johnny Herbert

Benetton-Renault

1994

Damon Hill

Williams-Renault

1993

Alain Prost

Williams-Renault

1992

Nigel Mansell

Williams-Renault

1991

Nigel Mansell

Williams-Renault

1990

Alain Prost

Ferrari

1989

Alain Prost

McLaren-Honda

1988

Ayrton Senna

McLaren-Honda

1987

Nigel Mansell

Williams-Honda

1986

Nigel Mansell

Williams-Honda

Brands Hatch

1985

Alain Prost

McLaren-TAG

Silverstone

1984

Niki Lauda

McLaren-TAG

Brands Hatch

1983

Alain Prost

Renault

Silverstone

1982

Niki Lauda

McLaren-Ford

Brands Hatch

1981

John Watson

McLaren-Ford

Silverstone

1980

Alan Jones

Williams-Ford

Brands Hatch

1979

Clay Regazzoni

Williams-Ford

Silverstone

1978

Carlos Reutemann

Ferrari

Brands Hatch

1977

James Hunt

McLaren-Ford

Silverstone

1976

Niki Lauda

Ferrari

Brands Hatch

1975

Emerson Fittipaldi

McLaren-Ford

Silverstone

1974

Jody Scheckter

Tyrrell-Ford

Brands Hatch

1973

Peter Revson

McLaren-Ford

Silverstone

1972

Emerson Fittipaldi

Lotus-Ford

Brands Hatch

1971

Jackie Stewart

Tyrrell-Ford

Silverstone

1970

Jochen Rindt

Lotus-Ford

Brands Hatch

1969

Jackie Stewart

Matra-Ford

Silverstone

1968

Jo Siffert

Lotus-Ford

Brands Hatch

1967

Jim Clark

Lotus-Ford

Silverstone

1966

Jack Brabham

Brabham-Repco

Brands Hatch

1965

Jim Clark

Lotus-Climax

Silverstone

1964

Jim Clark

Lotus-Climax

Brands Hatch

1963

Jim Clark

Lotus-Climax

Silverstone

1962

Jim Clark

Lotus-Climax

Aintree

1961

Wolfgang von Trips

Ferrari

1960

Jack Brabham

Cooper-Climax

Silverstone

1959

Jack Brabham

Cooper-Climax

Aintree

1958

Peter Collins

Ferrari

Silverstone

1957

Stirling Moss

Vanwall

Aintree

Tony Brooks

1956

Juan-Manuel Fangio

Lancia-Ferrari

Silverstone

1955

Stirling Moss

Mercedes-Benz

Aintree

1954

José Froilán González

Ferrari

Silverstone

1953

Alberto Ascari

Ferrari

1952

Alberto Ascari

Ferrari

1951

José Froilán González

Ferrari

1950

Giuseppe Farina

Alfa Romeo


Multiple Winners
(Drivers)

Wins

Driver

Years

5

Jim Clark

1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967

Alain Prost

1983, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1993

4

Nigel Mansell

1986, 1987, 1991, 1992

Lewis Hamilton

2008, 2014, 2015, 2016

3

Jack Brabham

1959, 1960, 1966

Niki Lauda

1976, 1982, 1984

Michael Schumacher

1998, 2002, 2004

2

Alberto Ascari

1952, 1953

José Froilán González

1951, 1954

Stirling Moss

1955, 1957

Jackie Stewart

1969, 1971

Emerson Fittipaldi

1972, 1975

Jacques Villeneuve

1996, 1997

David Coulthard

1999, 2000

Fernando Alonso

2006, 2011

Mark Webber

2010, 2012

 


Multiple Winners
(Constructors)

# of Wins

Constructor

Years won

15

Ferrari

1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1961, 1976,

 1978, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011

14

McLaren

1973, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985,

 1988, 1989, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2008

10

Williams

1979, 1980, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1993, 

1994, 1996, 1997

8

Lotus

1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972

5

Mercedes

1955, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

3

Red Bull

2009, 2010, 2012

2

Cooper

1959, 1960

Tyrrell

1971, 1974

Renault

1983, 2006


Numbers and Facts

(*Underlined in Silverstone)

Most winning driver: 5, Jim Clark (1962 – 63 – 64 – 65 67) and Alain Prost (1983 8589 90 93 )

Most wins (constructor) 15, Ferrari (most recent 2011 – they also have 1 win with Lancia-Ferrari in 1956)

Wins from pole position 25, Most recent 2016 (Lewis Hamilton) – 18 wins from pole at Silverstone

Lowest grid for past winner 8, 1978 (C.Reutemann at Brands Hatch). At Silverstone lowest grid is 7 (1975 – E.Fittipaldi)

Most recent 1-2 finish 2015, Mercedes (Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg)

Most emphatic win 1 lap, 1952 56 69 75 (all Silverstone)

Closest winning margin 0.2s 1955 (Aintree). Closest at Silverstone was in 2013 – 0.765s

Rain-affected races 12, (1953 54 – 61 – 66 – 75 88 98 2002 08 11 15 16)

Safety Car-affected races 12 (1993 97 98 99 2003 04 05 06 10 13 14 15 16)

Red Flag (and result declared) races 1, 1975

Fastest race 1985, 65 laps @ 1hr 18m 10.436s

Slowest race 1956, 101 laps @ 2hrs 59m 47.0s (1955 race at Aintree lasted 3hrs 07m 21.2s)

Most pole positions (driver) 5, Jim Clark (1962 – 63 64 65 67 )

Most pole positions (constructor) 15, Ferrari (recent 2012)

What Happened last race here?

During Saturday's qualifying session, Hamilton achieved the 55th pole position of his career to start from the front of the grid, ahead of Rosberg and Max Verstappen.

The race began behind the safety car due to rain shortly before the start.

Hamilton was able to convert his pole position into a third straight victory at the British Grand Prix, leading home Rosberg and Verstappen in changing conditions.

Rosberg came under investigation by the race stewards after he received detailed instructions by his team how to work around a gearbox problem in the closing laps of the race, a practice forbidden under Formula 1 regulations.

He was later handed a ten-second time penalty, demoting him to third place.

2016 Race Classification

Pos

Driver

Constructor

Time/Retired

Grid

1

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:34:55.831

1

2

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer

+8.25

3

3

Nico Rosberg

Mercedes

+16.911

2

4

Daniel Ricciardo

Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer

+26.211

4

5

Kimi Raikkonen

Ferrari

+1:09.743

5

6

Sergio Perez

Force India-Mercedes

+1:16.941

10

7

Nico Hulkenberg

Force India-Mercedes

+1:17.712

8

8

Carlos Sainz Jr.

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

+1.25.858

7

9

Sebastian Vettel

Ferrari

+1:31.6542

11

10

Daniil Kvyat

Toro Rosso-Ferrari

+1:32.600

15

11

Felipe Massa

Williams-Mercedes

+1 Lap

12

12

Jenson Button

McLaren-Honda

+1 Lap

17

13

Fernando Alonso

McLaren-Honda

+1 Lap

9

14

Valtteri Bottas

Williams-Mercedes

+1 Lap

6

15

Felipe Nasr

Sauber-Ferrari

+1 Lap

21

16

Esteban Gutiérrez

Haas-Ferrari

+1 Lap

14

17

 Kevin Magnussen

Renault

Gearbox

16

Ret

Jolyon Palmer

Renault

Gearbox

18

Ret

Rio Haryanto

MRT-Mercedes

Spun off

19

Ret

Romain Grosjean

Haas-Ferrari

Transmission

13

Ret

Marcus Ericsson

Sauber-Ferrari

Power unit

PL

Ret

Pascal Wehrlein

MRT-Mercedes

Spun off

20


Did you know?

DRIVERS

Sebastian Vettel has still not won back-to-back Grand Prix since he won the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix. That race ended a 9-race run of victories that started in Belgium,

(BEL, ITA, SIN, KOR, JAP, IND, ABU, USA, BRA)

Vettel has now finished 150 different F1 World Championship GP in the points

Vettel and Lewis Hamilton are the only drivers to have finished in the points in all races so far this season

Hamilton needs just 1 more top ten finish to = Jenson Button’s 162 GP in the points, an all-time record for a British driver. Most all-time for a driver of any nationality is

221 races in the points by Michael Schumacher

Hamilton is just 2 pole positions from equalling Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 68 F1 GP pole positions. Since he has been at Mercedes he has taken pole 40 times already. That is nearly 50% of all races he’s started for the team (40/ 84 = 47.6%).

Hamilton has won (56) 28.4% of all GP he’s started (197) and is in the top 10 drivers races to win ratio of all-time. Here’s how he compares:- 1. Fangio 47.0%, 2. Ascari 40.6%, 3. Clark 34.7%, 4. M. Schumacher 29.7%, 5. Hamilton 28.4%, 6. Ja. Stewart 27.2%, 7. Prost 25.6%, 8. A. Senna 25.5%, 9. Moss 24.2% 10. Vettel 24.1% (45/187)

Hamilton starting to trouble Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 116 front row starts. Hamilton has to date started 111 Grand Prix from the front row

Kimi Raikkonen’s next win if ever it comes will be the 21st of his F1 career and will also be the most by a Finnish driver in F1. Currently he shares the record of 20 wins by

a Finn with Mika Hakkinen

The Spanish Grand Prix marked the first anniversary of Max Verstappen’s first Grand Prix win. He has until the Singapore Grand Prix in September to win a second while still a teenager. (20th birthday on September 30th 2017). He is of course, so far the only teenager in F1 history to win a F1 World Championship Grand Prix and could still become the only teenager to take pole position too for a F1 World Championship Grand Prix. Max and Ricardo Rodriguez who started the 1961 Italian Grand Prix from P2 in his Ferrari when aged 19 years and 208 days are the only teenage drivers to date to have started a Grand Prix from the front row (Max the youngest, at the 2016 Belgian Grand Prix where he started P2 he was aged18 years and 333 days

The British GP is scheduled to be Verstappen’s, Carlos Sainz’s and Kevin Magnussen’s 50th F1 GP starts

Sergio Perez needs just 1 more podium to become the Mexican driver with the most F1 podiums (currently = with Pedro Rodriguez on 7)

The British GP is likely to be the 50th race since Nico Hulkenberg last led a GP, Brazil 2014. The only race he’s led since Brazil 2014 is the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours which of course he won sharing a Porsche 919 Hybrid with New Zealander Earl Bamber and British driver Nick Tandy

CONSTRUCTORS

Mercedes next win will be its 70th in the F1 World Championship as a constructor

Mercedes in Great Britain will be aiming to lockout the front row for the 50th time. The all-time record is 62 and is jointly held by McLaren and Williams

Mercedes as a constructor has set the same number of race fastest laps in F1 World Championship GP as Red Bull (52)

Mercedes now led the same number of F1 World Championship GP as a constructor as Renault - as a constructor (88)

Ferrari has still not scored consecutive pole positions since Fernando Alonso took pole for the Scuderia at the 2012 British and German Grand Prix and has still not

scored a consecutive front row lock-out since Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa lock-out the front row for the 2006 US and French Grand Prix

Ferrari last season was the only team to score championship points at all 21 events

Mercedes and Red Bull are just 2 podiums apart. Mercedes has 139 podium places to date while Red bull has 141. The most is Ferrari with 716

Red Bull has achieved a podium result for at least one of their drivers in 105 different F1 Grand Prix. Mercedes has achieved their podium score in 89 Grand Prix

The current Williams team traces its origins back to the setting up of Williams Grand Prix Engineering by Frank Williams and Patrick Head in 1977. This year the team will

be celebrating its 40th anniversary. The team began by running a March for Belgian Patrick Neve who sadly died earlier is year and later in 1978, became a constructor

running a single FW06 car for Alan Jones. In 1979 the team expanded to 2 cars with Clay Regazzoni joining Jones. Regazzoni won Williams’s first Grand Prix, at Silversone

in 1979 while Jones claimed Williams’s first driver’s and first constructor’s titles in 1980. Frank Williams had made his first forays into F1 in 1969, running a Brabham for

Piers Courage. Campaigns with De Tomaso, private March’s, with his own cars and ex-works Heskeths latterly in conjunction with Canadian-Austrian entrepreneur Walter

Wolf followed but it wasn’t until Williams teamed up with Head and started a new team all over again that Williams’s F1 fortunes really took off

BRITISH GRAND PRIX

A fifth pole position on Saturday for Lewis Hamilton would equal Jim Clark’s all-time record. His 4 poles to date is already a record for British Grand Prix at Silverstone

Hamilton can equal Jim Clark’s and Alain Prost’s all-time record of the most F1 World Championship-qualifying British Grand Prix with a fifth win on Sunday. If Hamilton does win it would be his fourth in a row and would equal the record for the most consecutive British Grand Prix wins set by Jim Clark between 1962 and 1965.

Hamilton if he wins would also become the first driver ever to win 4 British Grand Prix in a row at Silverstone (Clark’s 1962 win was at Aintree and his 1964 win was at

Brands Hatch

Mercedes currently share the record for the most consecutive British Grand Prix wins with Lotus and Williams (4). A win on Sunday would be their fifth in a row

Driver’s Championship standing

Pos

Driver

Points

1

Sebastian Vettel

171

2

Lewis Hamilton

151

3

Valtteri Bottas

136

4

Daniel Ricciardo

107

5

Kimi Raikkonen

83

6

Sergio Perez

50

7

Max Verstappen

45

8

Esteban Ocon

39

9

Carlos Sainz

29

10

Felipe Massa

22

11

Lance Stroll

18

12

Nico Hulkenberg

18

13

Romain Grosjean

18

14

Kevin Magnussen

11

15

Pascal Wehrlein

5

16

Daniil Kvyat

4

17

Fernando Alonso

2

18

Jolyon Palmer

0

19

Marcus Ericsson

0

20

Stoffel Vandoorne

0

21

Antonio Giovinazzi

0


Constructor’s Championship standing

Pos

Team

Points

1

MERCEDES

287

2

FERRARI

254

3

RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER

152

4

FORCE INDIA MERCEDES

89

5

WILLIAMS MERCEDES

40

6

TORO ROSSO

33

7

HAAS FERRARI

29

8

RENAULT

18

9

SAUBER FERRARI

5

10

MCLAREN HONDA

2


Driver’s penalty points
:

Driver

Penalty points

Sebastian Vettel

7

Carlos Sainz

7

Daniil Kvyat

7

Kevin Magnussen

5

Jolyon Palmer

5

Sergio Perez

5

Stoffel Vandoorne

5

Nico Hulkenberg

4

Esteban Ocon

3

Romain Grosjean

3

Pascal Wehrlein

2

Felipe Massa

2

Lewis Hamilton

2

Jenson Button

2

Max Verstappen

1

 

 

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As Formula 1’s annual ‘silly season’ slowly gathers speed, so has speculation surrounding the futures of three Red Bull-backed drivers.

Much has centred on the highly-rated Spaniard Carlos Sainz, particularly in recent days, but Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have also being linked with a move away from the Austrian energy drinks giant.

In all three cases, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner and motorsport advisor Helmut Marko have spoken about loyalty and how each driver will be staying as a way to repay the financial backing and support the company has shown during their careers.

The issue is that argument doesn’t really hold much weight. Of course, Dietrich Mateschitz, the big boss in Salzburg, has got his cheque book out and invested likely a few million Euros in each of them but since when was Red Bull so concerned on getting a return on that investment?

Think of the names that have come and gone at Toro Rosso in recent years, Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Bourdais, Jean-Eric Vergne even Sebastien Buemi, though he remains as a reserve driver.

Multiple drivers that the company helped to grow through junior formulas, gave a year or so in the junior team, then dumped for the next shiny toy.

So already that argument can be torn to shreds and, ultimately, what this comes down to is not seeing that investment in creating world class racing drivers go off to another team.

The Carlos Sainz predicament is the most obvious example of this right now. Here we have a driver that Renault, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren have all shown interest in, in the last 12 months.

The 22-year-old is more than ready to race for teams of that calibre and in Austria made it clear that his patience was running out and proclaimed it was either a promotion or he’ll look elsewhere for 2018.

Whether intentional or not, the timing of it, at Red Bull’s home race, was telling and quite a statement to make in front of the bosses.

The scramble to respond from Horner, who would effectively confirm Sainz as a Toro Rosso driver next year, was one of a man desperate to look in control of the situation and Red Bull are desperate to avoid seeing that talent go to a rival team that could come back to hurt them in the future.

There's another very significant reason Red Bull won’t let him go, should either Verstappen or Ricciardo somehow force their way through the door, in the minds of Marko and Horner, there is no-one within the Red Bull family right now they consider fast enough other than the Spaniard.

Of course, there’s Daniil Kvyat and Buemi as possible options but given their prior status of rejects, it wouldn’t look good if the hierarchy had to eat humble pie.

There is nothing that says Red Bull can’t ignore Sainz’s wishes to leave, after all he does have a contract for next year, but if they can’t meet the demands of what another team could for the second generation driver, why risk hurting the relationship now if he does earn a promotion in a year or two's time?

That then brings us on to the two current senior team drivers, Ricciardo and Verstappen. According to reports, the Australian has been linked to Ferrari should Sebastian Vettel leave and now the Dutchman could also be eyeing Maranello but in 2019.

For Ricciardo, the loyalty claim absolutely doesn't apply because he has certainly paid his dues. He took Red Bull over after the departure of Vettel and he has won in three of his four seasons with the team and finished third in the championship in two of the three full years, all in cars that were far from the best on the grid.

That alone should be enough for Horner and Marko to acknowledge a desire to go to a team that could potentially offer a world championship.

The only driver that may need to repay some loyalty is Verstappen. Yes, he’s been with the Red Bull brand for the shortest time but he has signed a longer-term contract to the company and, while any team would have the 19-year-old, to snub that commitment, at least for now, would be wrong.

That being said, he and his father Jos are quite the negotiators and, though this might sound harsh, they don't always come across as the loyal type.

While Red Bull will continue to claim that the status quo shall remain in place for next year, it is likely to be a story that rumbles on for the duration of the summer if not longer. It's a situation the team hasn't been in before and it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.

 

         

 

 

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