Fernando Alonso survived a spin in Q1, a yellow flag in Q2 and picked the right moment in Q3 to set the pole lap for the British Grand Prix. It was the Spaniard’s first pole position since Singapore 2010, as he edged out Mark Webber by 5/100ths of a second with Michael Schumacher third. In a rain delayed qualifying session Alonso used all his experience and guile to be in the right place at the right time to take his 21st pole position. During the 10 minute final shoot out the timesheets changed constantly with Webber, Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton More…

So far this season we have seen quite a number of races won on race strategy and with uncertain conditions forecast for Silverstone and cool temperatures making the behaviour of the tyres unpredictable, it should be another interesting weekend. As always there are many things for the teams to consider when planning how they attack the weekend. Here’s how we see it: Silverstone is loved by the drivers and engineers because of the many high speed corners it offers. It provides a rigorous test of aerodynamic efficiency, like Barcelona. The track was built on a wartime airfield and is in More…

Mark Webber took pole position for the British Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Sebastian Vettel, with Fernando Alonso in third just a tenth of second off pole position. The McLarens were over a second behind with Jenson Button, while Lewis Hamilton was disappointed to be down in 10th place for his home Grand Prix. Webber said that the front row lock out didn’t prove anything after the row over the throttle mapping in the run up to qualifying. At an emergency meeting of the Technical Working group it was decided that the cars would all run with 10% More…

The F1 race strategists are pretty excited about this weekend as the new Silverstone pit lane will be used for the first time and they have to learn the best way to plan Sunday’s race. Tests in the teams’ simulators indicate that the time lost coming into the pit lane will be very short, so stops could take as little as 15 seconds. This will push them to stop more times and with the lateral loads on the tyres from the high speed corners here at Silverstone, the feeling is that the leading teams will be stopping three times on More…

As part of our look back at the British Grand Prix weekend, looking at fans’ experiences of Silverstone we had a post left by Robert yesterday, raising the following question, “Why is the pit lane in the new Club/Abbey complex so low ? Even with a grandstand opposite it will not be possible to see the cars, as the pitwall obscures the pitlane as it sits lower than the race track. Check it out please James. I thought the idea was to create a pit lane like Monaco where the main grandstand has a direct view onto the pit lane. More…

Here is an exclusive Jenson Button British Grand Prix preview for JA on F1 readers. It’s video we shot at the Westfield Shoping Centre in London last Thursday evening, a few hours after the Fans’ Forum ended – busy day! The reigning world champion, previews the race at Silverstone for us. He talks about what he found when he drove the new Silverstone layout on the McLaren simulator, describes the “buzz” of arriving at Silverstone both as world champion and in the thick of the fight for this year’s title and talks about the confidence he feels since winning the More…

The new Silverstone Grand Prix circuit was unveiled today, with a new sequence of corners on the second half of the lap which promise better overtaking, better spectating and more challenges for the drivers. At a ceremony on one of the corners, BRDC president Damon Hill called the new track, “A new circuit for a new generation of people to enjoy motorsport.” The circuit recently secured the British Grand Prix for a minimum of 10 years with the possibility of 17 years. The new layout features seven new corners and starts with a revision to Club corner. Next is a More…

Sebastian Vettel took his third pole position of the 2009 season today with a stunning lap on his final qualifying run at Silverstone. He and Red Bull team mate Mark Webber had been trading fastest laps all weekend, indicating that the Red Bull is now clearly the fastest car in F1. What is impressive about the latest round of developments on this car is that it is now clearly faster in the high speed corners, but also in the low speed corners, like the complex here in Silverstone. Brawn did a good job in Turkey of improving their car in More…