British Grand Prix
Silverstone, 4-6 July 2008
PREVIEW
ROUND NINE
Round nine of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship
takes the Honda Racing F1 Team just seven miles from its base
in Brackley to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix. The
5.141km (3.194-mile) circuit is one of the fastest and most
famous tracks on the F1 calendar, making it popular with drivers,
engineers and spectators.
Silverstone was the scene of the first F1 World Championship
Grand Prix in May 1950, although the circuit staged its first
non-championship race two years earlier and will celebrate
its 60th anniversary this year. Formerly a World War II airfield,
the track initially used the airfield's perimeter road before
undergoing various facelifts. The layout that is used today
has been in place since June 1994, when the Abbey Chicane
was modified following the events of Imola the previous month.
The Honda Racing F1 Team's Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello
know Silverstone well, having contested much of their racing
in the junior formulas in the UK. They have regularly finished
in the points here and the most emphatic of Rubens' nine wins
took place at the track in 2003, when he overtook Kimi Raikkonen
to win the race by five seconds.
SILVERSTONE - THE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE
Generally, Silverstone is a very fast track. The fast, sweeping
bends at the start of the lap require a lot of confidence
from the drivers, so they tend to set-up their cars for Copse,
Becketts and Stowe while doing the best they can through the
slow complex of corners at the end of the lap.
As at any track, there is more lap time to be lost and found
through the slow corners, particularly at Club, the Abbey
chicane and the final complex, where traction is all-important.
As a result of the slow-speed grip needed through these slower
sections, the cars run slightly more downforce than at Magny
Cours, the last race on the calendar, and that places an emphasis
on aerodynamic efficiency.
There are several sections of the track where the absence
of traction control this year will frustrate the drivers,
particularly at the exit of Club where the cars accelerate
from second gear through to fifth while under severe lateral
load. This makes it one of the key corners, as are the two
left-handers - Priory and Brooklands - entering the final
complex.
The asphalt is quite smooth, except for a couple of bumpy
sections midway through the lap. Notably, the braking point
for Vale is very bumpy so a few cars may be swapping ends
early in the weekend as drivers work out their braking points.
Full throttle: 62% Brake wear: Light
Downforce level: High - 8/10
Tyre compounds: Medium / Hard Tyre usage: Medium Average speed:
230kph (143mph)
HONDA TEAM TALK
Ross Brawn, Team Principal
Q. How do you expect the Honda Racing F1 Team to
perform at the British Grand Prix? "As the first
of our two home races on the calendar, the British Grand Prix
is very important to the team, particularly with Silverstone
being located so close to our operational base in Brackley.
We expect to see an improvement to the performance of the
RA108 at Silverstone, certainly compared to the French Grand
Prix at Magny Cours. We have a number of new performance parts
on the car in the areas of chassis, aerodynamics and engine,
which should allow us to be on the pace with our current competitors
in the midfield. Our drivers are looking forward to the challenge
of the weekend and both rate this track as one of their favourites.
Rubens has a great history here and always performs very well
at Silverstone, and Jenson is extremely motivated to do well
at his home race."
Q. The team tested various performance upgrades last
week. Will you be running the new parts this weekend?
"The Silverstone test went very well last week and all
of our development parts performed as expected. We will complete
our performance and reliability analysis at the factory over
the next few days before making the final decisions on our
package for the race weekend. A major advantage of the test
was that it enabled us to complete a comprehensive set-up
programme and tyre evaluation with the Bridgestone Potenza
tyre compounds available for the race, which will allow us
to concentrate on pure performance gains during practice."
Jenson Button
Q. How much are you looking forward to your home
race at the British Grand Prix? "The British
Grand Prix is always a very special weekend for me and I'm
excited about racing there again in front of the British crowd.
Whatever position you are in and regardless of the performance
of your car, the fans are always so supportive and the atmosphere
from the grandstands over the weekend is fantastic. Silverstone
is one of my all-time favourite circuits and I particularly
love the section of the track around Becketts. The change
of direction is amazing as is the speed that the cars carry
through there. It's one of the best complexes in F1 and a
great place to watch the race."
Rubens Barrichello
Q. You won the British Grand Prix in 2003. What does
it take to be quick around Silverstone? "I've
spent a great deal of time testing and racing at Silverstone
since I was very young so it is almost like a home track for
me. I also have some very special memories from here, especially
my win from pole position back in 2003. To get the best from
a lap of Silverstone, you need to have good aerodynamic performance
from your car. This is a high-speed and fast-flowing circuit,
one of the few remaining on the calendar, and it's a highlight
for the drivers as you can really let the car go. The entrance
to Becketts is the quickest corner on the track, a 290kph
bend, leading into a challenging complex. Overtaking is possible,
particularly into the slower corners at Vale and Abbey. You
can overtake elsewhere and because it is such a high-speed
circuit, such moves tend to be spectacular. As one of our
home races, there is always a lot of expectation prior to
Silverstone. Following the test, I am confident that we can
have a good race this weekend."
LAP OF THE TRACK with Alex Wurz
"Having married an English girl, there's a percentage
of me that is now British. I'm not saying that Silverstone
is like a home race for me, but it's almost one and whatever
other countries claim, Britain is still the home of motor
racing."
"Silverstone is a very exciting racetrack, especially
the first half which is really quick. You arrive at Turn 1
in seventh gear and on a good day it's flat: we're talking
100 percent foot down and no braking. It's a ballsy corner
and much tougher than Eau Rouge at Spa, for example.
"Then you come into Becketts, which is an awesome part
of the circuit. The entry is very bumpy and you have to position
the car correctly for the right-hander, which you can always
do flat. Then there is a very fast change of direction for
a left-hander, but you still don't touch the brakes. You shift
down a gear and slow the car using a four-wheel drift, which
is fun. There's then another downshift for the next right
- again no braking - and you get a bit of understeer through
here, which you kill by flooring the throttle for the exit
onto the Hangar Straight.
"At the end of Hangar Straight is Stowe, which is the
first time on the lap that you actually touch the brakes.
You have to remember that they will be cold, so they will
have slightly different characteristics to normal. When you
brake, you are already turning into the corner, so it's difficult
to outbrake someone and you expect to have some oversteer
on entry.
"A short straight follows before you come to Club, which
is the first hard braking point of the lap. You want to hit
the kerbs very hard on entry to the left-hander, before turning
into the right-hander which you enter in second gear and accelerate
through to fifth gear by the exit. You need very good traction,
which will be particularly tough this year.
"The braking area for Abbey is next and it's always
very slippery. The key is to accept that and not overdrive
the car. It's bumpy at the exit and whereas you could rely
on traction control to do it flat last year, it might be quite
interesting this year. Then you come down to Bridge, which
is easy flat in sixth gear, before turning left into Priory,
which can be tricky. One day there is fantastic grip and it's
really nice to drive; the next it can be horrible with no
grip at all!
"Then it's Brooklands. You're down to second gear and
as more grip goes down over the weekend, the more you can
cut the kerbs on the inside. Luffield, a long, second gear
right-hander, is the final corner. The entry to the corner
is always quite neutral because you brake aggressively and
then there's a change in asphalt and whatever you do to the
set-up you will have mid-corner understeer. You eventually
kill it with the throttle and accelerate onto the pit straight."
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