F1 Round 11 : Silverstone - UK

[Matra et Alpine]

First practise underway, live timing at http://www.formula1.com/race/livetiming/popup/724.html

DC putting it round 1/2 second faster than Raikonnen, but this is the day of whacky fuel loads

BTW, DC has seemingly been offered the test drive at McLaren.
Personally I think he'd be a fool to do that.
Ron has taken advantage of DC's development skills to produce a car for the #1 driver needs. Seldom has a car been setup the way HE wanted it. Hopefully another team needing a good #1 driver who can develop car AND a young #2 driver will buy his services

Weather in the UK looks like it could be a big factor - we're going through a VERY wet summer

[whiteballz]

we could use some more water over here thanks, and since when isnt the UK wet or miserable? ive never seen a pic thats light skied or bright from the UK...

[Matra et Alpine]

we could use some more water over here thanks, and since when isnt the UK wet or miserable? ive never seen a pic thats light skied or bright from the UK...

especially the one's I've been posting ( and the upcoming Carrera Caledonia rally pics will be the same )
The big problem with the F1 is that if the parking becomes a swamp again and lots of cars bogged down and stuck then Bernie will throw his dummy and try to take the GP away from the UK.

[henk4]

first blood, two red cars in front.

[fpv_gtho]

this would really be a bugger of a round for Webber to get caught up in the utrition. he was onto a good thing with the R5 at Mangy Cours but the low utrition stopped him getting any points

[Ferrari Tifosi]

Raikkonen fastest today, with Fisichella second and M. Schumacher third. DC was forth fastest. Hopefully McLaren can keep this pace and maybe challenge Ferrari for a win, or challenge Renault or BAR for a podium sport.

[DarkPhenix]

"My British Grand Prix weekend kicked off a bit earlier with the Regent Street parade on Tuesday evening. I was stunned by the huge numbers of people who turned up. This level of enthusiasm really made the occasion special and this type of event is ideal to bring the fans closer to the action. We now head to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, which holds special memories for me, after I led last year's race in rather bizarre circumstances. I do not expect a repeat this year, but Silverstone is my absolute favourite circuit and I always enjoy racing there. We had a productive test there in June, but I am reluctant to make predictions, so I prefer to wait and see what happens this weekend."

Race starting
13:00 (local time)

Official Website
www.silverstone-circuit.co.uk

Circuit length
5.141 km

No. of laps
60

Race length
308.355 km

Lap record
1:22.236 (R.Barrichello)

Team Talk

Cristiano da Matta (Race Driver, Car 16) on Regent Street and Silverstone

"My British Grand Prix weekend kicked off a bit earlier with the Regent Street parade on Tuesday evening. I was stunned by the huge numbers of people who turned up. This level of enthusiasm really made the occasion special and this type of event is ideal to bring the fans closer to the action. We now head to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, which holds special memories for me, after I led last year's race in rather bizarre circumstances. I do not expect a repeat this year, but Silverstone is my absolute favourite circuit and I always enjoy racing there. We had a productive test there in June, but I am reluctant to make predictions, so I prefer to wait and see what happens this weekend."

Olivier Panis (Race Driver, Car 17) on Silverstone

"Silverstone is near the top of my list of favourite circuits and I always enjoy racing there. Unfortunately, the weather is rarely in our favour normally with some rain over the weekend. Nevertheless, we put in our full efforts whether wet or dry. After the huge disappointment of Magny-Cours, we will be looking to get back in the midfield fight, but we have to make sure that our performance is consistent throughout the whole weekend right to the chequered flag."

Around Silverstone with Ricardo Zonta (Third Driver, Car 38)

"Silverstone is very enjoyable to drive and quite technical from both a driving and engineering perspective. It is a very fast circuit, starting immediately with the seventh gear start-finish straight and sixth-gear Copse corner. Then we have a series of downshifting through Becketts down to fourth gear before making our way back up to seventh for the ultra quick Hangar Straight. Through Stowe, it is important to keep up momentum because it is back up to sixth at Club followed by a relatively hard braking down to second. Back up to seventh yet again, then through Abbey and on the Bridge, which we take more or less flat. As the lap comes to an end, we have Brooklands, which is comparatively slow compared to the rest of the track, but coming to Luffield, where we need a smooth exit to make our way back up to seventh for the next lap."

Tsutomu Tomita (Team Principal) on Silverstone

"Last year, we had a very unusual situation which resulted in Toyota leading the British Grand Prix for one-third of the race, and whilst it was unrepresentative of our performance level, we showed that when we are in the lead, we are quite capable of defending it. At the French Grand Prix last week, we were unable to show our true competitiveness and the end results were very disappointing. We will again put in our full efforts to getting the most out of our TF104 in Silverstone before we start the development programme with our updated car, which is still scheduled for Hockenheim."

Mike Gascoyne (Technical Director Chassis) on Silverstone

"Silverstone is an exciting race track for F1 cars with several high speed corners. The set-up we will adopt will be similar to that of Barcelona. It is another maximum downforce track, which we know is not a positive trait of our TF104. In qualifying, I think we have demonstrated a reasonably strong performance, but at this type of circuits we generally struggle with race pace. We are working flat out to produce new parts for the updated car which will debut in Hockenheim, so we are not bringing any major new parts to Silverstone. The British Grand Prix will be the last race we run this specification of TF104, but we must remember that the car which will run in Hockenheim is merely the start of a process, rather than an end of the 2004 development process. But first we have to turn our complete attention to Silverstone, where we have to ensure our excellent reliability rate is maintained and to see if we can pick up any points on Sunday afternoon."

Stats Appeal

- Cristiano da Matta completed 274 laps of Silverstone at a three-day test in June
- Panasonic Toyota Racing led the British Grand Prix for 17 laps in 2003
- Cristiano da Matta achieved his first ever P1 in F1 at last weekend's French Grand Prix
- Toyota is currently 7th in the Constructors' Championship with 8 points
- Panis and Da Matta are 13th and 14th in the Drivers' Championship with 5 and 3 points respectively
- The three TF104s have completed 14,147km in race weekends so far this season
- The three drivers have totalled 2894 laps in the ten races of the year so far (Panis 1258, Da Matta 1119, Zonta 517)

Race Schedule

09 July , 2004
11:00 - 12:00 Practice Session 1
14:00 - 15:00 Practice Session 2

10 July , 2004
09:00 - 09:45 Practice Session 3
10:15 - 11:00 Practice Session 4
13:00 - Qualifying 1
14:00 - Qualifying 2

11 July , 2004
13:00 - Race

[Matra et Alpine]

After the comments at the London F1 event about London maybe hosting a race, a number of comments were raised by the British racing fraternity regarding the way he "negotiaites" ( ie do it Bernie-way or NO way )

Bernie's respose to this was ....

"I feel I must reply to Sir Jackie Stewart’s latest statement concerning what he has decided to call my latest threats.

"First of all, I have never threatened either Sir Jackie or the BRDC – I have merely stated facts.

"On this occasion he would seem to be referring to the deadline by which we require a promoter to make a commitment for a Formula One event at Silverstone in 2005. Ordinarily, FOA as the commercial rightsholder would have proposed to the FIA a calendar of races for the 2005 FIA Formula One World Championship season by June of this year, which means that binding contracts with all promoters should be in place by now.

"This year, as we do not yet have an agreement with anybody to stage a British Grand Prix, in order to help the BRDC, I have asked the FIA to wait until its World Motor Sport Council meets in October 2004 when I will make our calendar proposal. If the BRDC and / or Sir Jackie carry out what they have said they can do, a Formula One event will take place at Silverstone in 2005.

"As for Sir Jackie's remarks about the financial viability of staging a Formula One event in London, I am quite sure if this were to happen, the promoter would not need any advice from Sir Jackie. He should look carefully into the cost of staging an event at Silverstone and not worry about how other events are financed. I am quite sure that if the British Government cannot put any finance into Silverstone, they would adopt the same policy for other events."

Personally I hope JYS stands up to Bernie the way he led the drivers in the 70s and finally get rid of the little wisted dwarf !!! Otherwise this could be the last UK F1 on a real race circuit

[henk4]

Personally I hope JYS stands up to Bernie the way he led the drivers in the 70s and finally get rid of the little wisted dwarf !!! Otherwise this could be the last UK F1 on a real race circuit

Three cheers to that!, but what about the full BH circuit? (Closer to London anyway)

[Matra et Alpine]

Three cheers to that!, but what about the full BH circuit? (Closer to London anyway)

Poor spectator parking and only one grandstand.
Silverstone taking the GP for so many years prevented BH upgrading due to lack of funds.
I liked the days when the British GP switched each year between the 2 tracks.
The big problem Bernie has is that the motor bike races attract more spectators than the F1 circus achieves. He just hasn't relaised the reason is motorbikes is still about the rides, the bikes, the spectators and the RACE. Sponsors aren't #1. And long may it stay like that !!!!!

[henk4]

Poor spectator parking and only one grandstand.
Silverstone taking the GP for so many years prevented BH upgrading due to lack of funds.
I liked the days when the British GP switched each year between the 2 tracks.
The big problem Bernie has is that the motor bike races attract more spectators than the F1 circus achieves. He just hasn't relaised the reason is motorbikes is still about the rides, the bikes, the spectators and the RACE. Sponsors aren't #1. And long may it stay like that !!!!!

I know SS, but never been to BH, so you might be right. Moto GP in Holland is the biggest annual single day sport event, may BE stay away from that.

[Matra et Alpine]

I know SS, but never been to BH, so you might be right. Moto GP in Holland is the biggest annual single day sport event, may BE stay away from that.

It was either MotoGP or WSB he tried to muscle his way in on and the door was soundly slammed in his face. Was a few years back

[henk4]

what's his grip on WRC?

[Ferrari Tifosi]

Weather Report says it might rain for qualifying, but Sunday will be cloudy and shouldn't rain, with a chance of a random idiot in a kilt running around on the track.

[henk4]

with a chance of a random idiot in a kilt running around on the track.

Could be Bernie, trying to impersonate Sir Jackie S.