Formula 1 enters the intense month of July with one of the most historic GPs on the calendar, the home of this sport, the legendary Silverstone circuit. This is where it all began about one year ago, with the presentation of the full-scale model to show the world how the Federation understood this new generation of cars. Fortunately, not only do none of the current cars resemble that model, but there were a lot of different ideas and more aerodynamic philosophies than the engineers themselves thought.
The Silverstone track layout should adapt particularly well to the characteristics of the new ground effect cars. In addition to this, there is the concrete possibility of a “Barcelona-bis” with some teams that will bring development packages, more or less important, to the UK, which will make the tour de force in July even more interesting, as we get ready for four races in the next five weeks.
Last season, Silverstone was the scene of a crash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The Dutchman will once again arrive at the Birtish Grand Prix as the leader of the World Championship, with his lagging rivals who will try to close the gap right away: this is the real goal of Charles Leclerc and Ferrari for the Silverstone weekend. Many variables will affect the weekend: from the weather, to the tires, to possible developments or updates. This is why it will be an important and crucial event for many teams.
The circuit has not changed, like its characteristics. The English track is one of the toughest for tires but also an important test for cars, especially this new generation which should bode well with the high speeds that can be reached in the many corners and straights of the Silverstone track.
The British GP track has always been a circuit that required significant downforce in order to have more grip and protect the tires from the stress they were subjected to. With the older generation of cars, however, we have seen how many corners of the English circuit were covered at full speed, in this case being more a question of efficiency than pure aerodynamic load and that is why we have seen aerodynamic choices increasingly in contrast with the previous years, which then become the norm. To make up for the shortage of engine power, in 2020 Ferrari brought a very low rear wing which nevertheless gave some positive results, so much so that the choice was ‘copied’ in the second round by many other teams. Will it be the same again this year? It would seem so, at least hearing the opinion of some technicians, according to formu1a.uno.
Since the beginning of the season there has been a lot of talk about porpoising, the aerodynamic phenomenon that develops at high speeds with the breaking of the flow passing under the car and triggering the visual bouncing that have attracted everyone’s attention since Barcelona testing. Silverstone is a track that shouldn’t be too severe for this phenomenon, which we will see more in Austria, but it will certainly affect the teams’ weekend, as well as give us some indication of who has worked best on the problem so far. A less downforce setup could help mitigate this problem and we have already seen in Canada how the rear wing that Ferrari intends to use at Silverstone is medium to low load.
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Silverstone is a very technical circuit, mainly composed of medium-fast corners interspersed with straights that allow drivers to reach very high average speeds. This data underlines the importance that the Power Unit has on this circuit, especially the hybrid part which can affect performance for a figure very close to 3 seconds per lap. The thermal component will instead be pushed full throttle on average for 70% of the lap. The stiffer suspension nature of the 2022 cars goes well with the technical characteristics of the circuit, where there are no curbs to attack or important slow corners, such as to force the teams to compromise on the settings.
The asphalt still represents an unknown factor today. After the disasters of 2020, works continued and already in 2021 we saw an improved track surface. The presence of ‘bumps’ is not excluded, which would cause problems for those cars – such as Mercedes – that suffer from bottoming. In addition, the grip between new cars and tires will have to be studied, as Pirelli will bring the hardest tyres in their range.
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