10 Tenths BUMPER preview - British Grand Prix !

[Super Tourer]

10 Tenths Preview - British Grand Prix - Silverstone -11th July 2004

2003 British Grand Prix – 60 laps



1 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 60 1:28:37

2 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 60 +5.4 secs

3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 60 +10.6 secs

4 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 60 +25.6 secs

5 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 60 +36.8 secs

6 Jarno Trulli Renault 60 +43.0 secs

7 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 60 +45.0 secs

8 Jenson Button BAR-Honda 60 +45.4 secs

9 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 60 +58.0 secs

10 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 60 +63.5 secs

11 Olivier Panis Toyota 60 +65.2 secs

12 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 60 +65.5 secs

13 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 59 +1 Lap

14 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 59 +1 Lap

15 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 58 +2 Lap

16 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 58 +2 Lap

17 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 58 +2 Lap

Ret Fernando Alonso Renault 52 Laps Gearbox

Ret Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 44 Laps Suspension

Ret Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 32 Laps Engine

Fastest Lap: Rubens Barrichello 1:22.236

Official Result



2003 Grid


1 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari 1:21.209

2 Jarno Trulli Renault 1:21.381

3 Kimi Räikkönen McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.695

4 Ralf Schumacher Williams-BMW 1:21.727

5 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:21.867

6 Cristiano da Matta Toyota 1:22.081

7 Juan Pablo Montoya Williams-BMW 1:22.214

8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:22.404

9 Jacques Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:22.591

10 Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar-Cosworth 1:22.634

11 Mark Webber Jaguar-Cosworth 1:22.647

12 David Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.811

13 Olivier Panis Toyota 1:23.042

14 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber-Petronas 1:23.187

15 Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan-Ford 1:23.574

16 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:23.844

17 Ralph Firman Jordan-Ford 1:24.385

18 Justin Wilson Minardi-Cosworth 1:25.468

19 Jos Verstappen Minardi-Cosworth 1:25.759

20 Jenson Button BAR-Honda No time


2003 Race Review
A race that had drama and (wait for it) overtaking!

Rubens came alive to put in a great display, in what became one of THE races of 2003 and probably one of his best performances.

The race was notable for the kilted track invader that our own Stephen Green was required to tackle and remove from the circuit. This also heralded the introduction of the safety car, which pretty much coincided with the pit window and saw a mass dash for the pits and many teams having to service both cars, with one queuing.

This was in fact the 2nd safety car period, the first caused by DC’s head restraint flying off the car and landing in the track, also forcing him to pit for a replacement.

When it all shook out, unusually Michael Schumacher found himself down the order not, for once, benefiting from the safety car period as we might expect, and had to trawl through the mid-field runners, coming up to 4th behind Kimi, for a bit of damage limitation.

Trulli led at one point, but the light fuel load masked the real race pace and he slipped down the order as the race panned out.

Button put on a good show from last on the grid, finishing 8th

Ralf Schumacher had an off during the race and collected debris into his radiators which started cooking the engine and had to pit for repairs, so finished a distant 9th and putting a small dent in his championship aspirations.

Jaguar didn’t have much of a home race. Webber struggled with tyres and three stopped to 14th place in the end. Pizzonia still had the 2nd Jaguar seat (only just), little did he know that Wilson had been sneaked into the Jaguar factory to try his seat for size – it fitted. Anyway it mattered little, as he retired on lap 33 with a broken engine, it was his last time in a Jaguar.

After this race, Michael Schumacher led Kimi by 7 points.

[Super Tourer]

Silverstone Flashback

2002

Another Ferrari 1-2, but it didn’t look as if it would finish that way pre-race, as Rubens started from the back and spun off, but still passed almost the entire field to finish 2nd, a great drive.

Rain affected the race, which hampered amongst others, McLaren with both drivers finding themselves on the wrong tyres, when both McLaren’s radio’s and weather forecasting failed them. "Our weather forecasting was not as accurate as we would have liked," said team boss Ron Dennis…..To cap it all Kimi’s engine went pop in the end.

BAR scored their first points of the season in 4th and 5th places.



2001

Mika Hakkinen wins from Michael Schumacher, with Rubens 3rd. DC tangled with Trulli at the first corner, both retiring as a result. Also exchanging names and addresses were team mates Villeneuve and Panis! JV had switched to manual gear shifting after the auto system had failed on the formation lap, sadly he forgot that as he headed into the first corner, and was in too high a gear, carrying too much speed and ran into Panis, sending him into the gravel.

2000

The race was held in April and being the UK it rained, and rained and rained. Silverstone became a mudbath, the only vehicles moving outside the circuit were tractors. Bernie was not impressed. Traffic was log jammed and Police advised those at the back of the queuing traffic, that the race would be over before they even reached the circuit. BE was even less impressed.

Come the race it was a McLaren 1-2, DC scoring a home win from Mika Hakkinen. Button got points for 5th in the Williams, just behind team mate Ralf. The Jaguar marketing men had nailed branding onto every conceivable surface at Silverstone in an attempt to create the ‘sea of green’ they so envisaged. The cars however were as off the pace as ever, coming in 12th and 13th


1999

Michael Schumacher crashes at Stowe corner, breaking his leg as a result and missing most of the season.

1996
Jaques Villeneuve secures his 2nd win of the season in his debut season.



1994

Michael Schumacher given a stop and go penalty for overtaking Hill on the parade lap, he didn’t take it within the required time frame so was black flagged, which he didn’t respond to either, claiming he didn’t see it. Mean while the team and the FIA argued the point and eventually Schumacher took his stop go, rejoining in 4th and finishing 2nd on the road. However he was DSQ for his actions and the team fined £25K for their trouble. Hill took the win for Williams



1992

Two brits on the podium, Mansell scoring a win for Williams with Brundle 3rd in the Benetton. Zanardi was hired by Minardi to stand in for the Fittipaldi, who was recovering from his crash in France.


1987
A clean sweep for Honda, taking all the podium places and 4th for good measure. Mansell and Piquet scored a 1-2 for Williams Honda, with Senna and Nakajima coming home 3rd and 4th in the similarly powered Lotus


1985
Keke Rosberg achieved the first 160 MPH lap (avg speed), a feat that was broken by JPM at Monza in 2002, some 17 years later.


1982

The race was held at Brands Hatch and was notable for Derek Warwick’s performance in the Toleman Hart, who ran in the top three, passing such luminaries as Piron’s Ferrari in the process.

[Super Tourer]

Looking ahead to the 2004 race.

Silverstone has had the axe hanging over its head for the last few years as the stand off between the BRDC and Bernie E has developed. However, in the short term we have a race here for the next couple of years, whilst negotiations over improvements and funding at Silverstone continue.

With Interpublic having paid Bernie heavily for the privilege of NOT holding the race, it probably falls to Allsport’s Paddy McNally to be the promoter, his company is often wheeled in to ‘hold’ races without a current promoter, in reality his is one of the few organizations that can stage a race and face either a break even or small profit, seeing as they already take a very hefty slice of the on – event revenue.

The end of season reviews are going to make pretty poor reading for anyone other than Ferrari (BAR accepted), who have left all their much fancied rivals breathless in their wake. Once again no consistent challenger has emerged to Ferrari: BAR and Renault have both flirted briefly with Ferrari, but even then not at the same time, so the see saw of the opposition continues

This time last year Williams were riding high on a wave of Michelin led good form, this year the challenge has all but disappeared after yet another poor showing in France, where the much anticipated changes to the car didn’t look much of a step forward. Frankly, Williams have ‘burnt’ points over the last few races, and in something of a turnaround, now look a decent target for McLaren to aim at in the constructors table.

Williams desperately need a good showing at Silverstone; the team is starting to look uncharacteristically all at sea. The car lacks pace, very public errors by the team have cost them points and a bit of a reputation dent. Factor in uncertainty over the driver line up for 2005, and now seemingly a key driver down for the rest of the season, it all adds up to what Patrick Head is bound to call ‘a bloody mess’. Sam Michael has endured a baptism of fire as the new TD; surely Silverstone can’t get any worse for him?

One wonders how BMW are viewing all this, they’ve shied away from buying into the team, a la Mercedes and McLaren, and I wonder how Williams and BMW are really gelling despite renewing their contract. BMW don’t like the look of the proposed new engine format, and probably what they are seeing at the moment is not improving their mood.

We haven’t mentioned Toyota much in our previews, probably as there is little to say about a team that has turn anonymity into an art form, a casual observer would wonder if they have even entered some of the races this year; we’ve seen so little of them. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, ‘Never (probably) in F1 has so much been spent, to so little effect. By now an eye watering $1 billion must have passed through Toyota’s F1’s books, for a total of 26 points scored. We have to wait until Germany to see Mike Gascoyne’s revised car, which should be a better gauge of the future direction of Toyota.

Down at Ferrari, Rubens came alive at Silverstone last year and arguably put in one of his best ever drives, he came over all ‘racey’ in the closing stages of the French GP. He also put in a fantastic drive to in 2002 to finish 2nd despite starting from the back, so can we expect him to be ‘on it’ again this year I wonder?

BAR still hasn’t unlocked the key to getting two cars to the finish and it is punishing them in the points table, with Renault starting to stretch away. To be honest William’s run of DNQ’s and Renault’s recent DNF’s have flattered the position even more. Something is happening to Sato’s car at the pit stop, this is seemingly the common factor in his retirements. Honda can’t find anything, but as David Richards said, bad luck can’t last this long, so there must be a factor somewhere.

Button has not been on the podium for a couple of races and will be keen to get back there. The anti-stall system on the car probably cost him at least one place in France, so BAR will be looking to rectify that. In fact, it will be interesting to see how BAR fare in the 2nd half of the season. They came ‘out of the box’ with an effective car, Honda found more power and reliability, whilst their rivals floundered with car problems and reliability. Now however, the rivals will be introducing new developments and be overcoming early season gremlins, so can BAR rise to the challenge of maintaining their attack until the seasons end?

The new McLaren 19B made a decent debut in France and importantly both cars finished. Kimi set the 3rd fastest race lap as well, 4 tenths off Schumacher’s fastest lap. The team has been slowly clawing in the points recently, having moved ahead of Sauber in the table, and now only 15 points off 4th placed Williams. Both McLarens finished in the top 6 last year and Kimi started 3rd on the grid, with the recent improvements, it’s not unlikely that both could be repeated this year. DC will be looking for a good home race, as he casts his net around for employment in 2005.

It’s a home race for Jaguar and although Mark Webber set a cracking pace in the last Silverstone test, it hasn’t translated into a great uplift in pace anywhere since. However, Jaguar will undoubtedly have all the top brass at Silverstone, so who’d bet against a bit of ‘low fuel glory’ on Friday or even Saturday? - A tactic often used by Jaguar in past seasons. Therefore I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Webber higher up the grid than we would usually expect, but this is unlikely to continue in the race.

As a foot note, BE didn’t see his wish granted for a change to the qualifying format, so we continue as before – speaking of which the qualifying gap (front to back) at Silverstone last year was some 4.5 seconds, with times at the front tumbling, I would guess we are likely to see a bigger gap this year, the current average gap is around 5.5 seconds and has been as much as 7 seconds.

So, to the winner – as ever MS is the red hot favourite, but I fancy Rubens for a strong performance here, he could get pole and lead off the start, then all eyes will really be on Ferrari. Button could get back on the podium and surely Williams will do better than of late, I keep saying JPM is due a result but it hasn’t been forthcoming!


Track Information.

Track information.

Circuit Map: http://www.formula1.com/race/circuitmap/724.html
Lap length – 5.141 Km
Race distance – 308 km
Detailed Circuit Map
: http://www.silverstone-circuit.co.uk...ircuit_Map.pdf



An ex- airfield circuit, Silverstone was originally created by linking up old taxiways and the runway to from a race track. Became the ‘home’ of the British GP after rival circuit Brands Hatch, which used to share the event, lost the contract.

A technical track, with a mix of very high speed corners like Copse, with a slow infield. Luffield is the ‘long wait’ corner, which Martin Brundle says always seems an age before you can apply the power, and is a key corner as it sets you up for the start finish straight and a possible out braking move into Copse.


Spectator Information

Route finder
(removed because GreenFlag are paranoid about Google)

Road Maps: http://www.multimap.com/

Silverstone Post Code: NN12 8TN


Silverstone Direction information:

Silverstone Circuit is situated on the A43 between Towcester and Brackley.


Approaching from the M40, exit at Junction 10 (South) or 11 (North) and follow the A43 signposted to Northampton. It should take you approximately 20 minutes depending on traffic.

Approaching from the M1, exit at Junction 15a and follow signs for the A43 Oxford. It will take you approximately 15 minutes, depending on traffic.


Local Radio for Traffic bulletins: BBC Radio Northampton – 104.2 and 103.6 FM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/radionorthampton/


Silverstone website
http://www.silverstone-circuit.co.uk


Full race weekend timetable including support races.
http://www.silverstone-circuit.co.uk..._Timetable.pdf

[Super Tourer]

The Grand Prix Timetable

http://www.formula1.com/race/timetable/724.html


2004 British Grand Prix


Timetable

Friday 9th July

11:00-12:00 Friday Practice 1

14:00-15:00 Friday Practice 2


Saturday 10th July


09:00-09:45 Saturday Practice 1

10:15-11:00 Saturday Practice 2

13:00 Saturday Pre-Qualifying

14:00 Saturday Qualifying


Sunday 11th July
13:00 Race – 60 laps


LIVE Timing - for the race and all practice/qualifying sessions.
http://www.formula1.com/



Time Zone

Check the time difference from your region – World Clock

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/full.html




UK TV Schedule - ITV.

Qualifying: Saturday 10 July, 1310-1520

Main Race: Sunday 11 July, 1200-1520

Highlights on ITV1: Sunday 11 July, 2345-0045

Highlights on ITV2: Monday 12 July, 1800-1900

Replayed: Tuesday 13 July, 0110-0410

[Kicking-back]

Great stuff as ever, Super Tourer.

A lot of work's gone into that, and it makes for great reading.

[Super Tourer]

Championship Tables


Drivers

1 M.Schumacher Ferrari 90

2 R.Barrichello Ferrari 68

3 J.Button BAR 48

4 J.Trulli Renault 46

5 F.Alonso Renault 33

6 J.Montoya Williams 25

7 T.Sato BAR 14

8 D.Coulthard McLaren 12

=8 R.Schumacher Williams 12

10 G.Fisichella Sauber 10

=10 K.Raikkonen McLaren 10

12 F.Massa Sauber 5

=12 O.Panis Toyota 5

14 C.da Matta Toyota 3

=14 N.Heidfeld Jordan 3

=14 M.Webber Jaguar 3

17 T.Glock Jordan 2

18 Z.Baumgartner Minard 1


Constructors

1 Ferrari 158

2 Renault 79

3 BAR 62

4 Williams 37

5 McLaren 22

6 Sauber 15

7 Toyota 8

8 Jordan 5

9 Jaguar 3

10 Minardi 1



10 Tenths Tyre Maker Standings

1. Michelin 211 points
2. Bridgestone 179

[Super Tourer]

Thanks!

[Super Tourer]

And finally to the weather......

The weather has played it's part in previous British Grand Prix. Recently this region of the country has been plauged with very showery conditions. It can literally be bright sunshine one minute, and then black cloud and a sharp shower the next, and blustery with it, which is significant as Silverstone is an old aerodrome and susceptible to crosswinds.

The local BBC forecast.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?id=2835

Essentially - Looking cloudy with sunny spells for Friday practice, and about 17 degrees.

For qualifying, It's indicating the familiar sunshine and showers, which if anything like what we have been experiencing, could make qualifying very tricky and produce an interesting grid.


UK weather.com are going for a bleaker picture, with showers on Friday and Saturday, but cloudy on Sunday.
http://uk.weather.com/weather/local/...code=code&y=12



Regional Forecast

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northamptonshir...ain_sum1.shtml

http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=4...48&RegionID=-1

May be worth checking these for updates!

[Pitstop]

Thanks ST - super, super, review, as always.

Thinking cap on now for my predicts competition entry!

One question?

Why are you not in the lead in this competion?

[Adam43]

Silverstone is upon us. There are a lot of Brits on 10-10ths and there are a lot going to the GP. We expect a review and picture you know!

The weather is uncertain at the moment. France gave us a comprimised build up - no one got decent running in on Friday. However Silverstone might be wet for Q or the race.

Hmmm. Are those Bridgestones still the tyres to have in the wet? Are the Michelin slicks still the best in damp conditions? I guess they are, but...

Also is Jenson like Nige? Does Silverstone give him 1s a lap? All comedy, but maybe?

Whatever there is a man who is above everyone else. Michael Schumacher. There is a man to be beaten.

Scary!

[Adam43]

There are quite a few threads in trackside concerned with the British GP. Do's and Dont's* - that sort of thing. Click here to go to trackside!

*how do you write dos and don'ts and it not look stupid

[Super Tourer]

Originally posted by Pitstop
Thanks ST - super, super, review, as always.

Thinking cap on now for my predicts competition entry!

One question?

Why are you not in the lead in this competion?

Thanks for the comments, glad you found it useful.

Good question on the comp front!

My excuse is that I've only entered a few rounds, although I did sneak a joint win in the French GP round...

Looking to do a 'McLaren', during the 2nd half of the season...!

ST
ST

[Pitstop]

"Looking to do a 'McLaren', during the 2nd half of the season..."!

I wish you luck my friend - but wondering why!

[Mr V]

Well done as ever ST

One question, how do you ever arrange a social life when you have to type that all out every race?

[Super Tourer]

Multi-skilled - obviously....