2021 British Grand Prix
| 2021 British Grand Prix | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 10 of 23 in the 2021 Formula One World Championship
| |||||
 Layout of the Silverstone Circuit | |||||
| Race details | |||||
| Date | 18 July 2021 | ||||
| Official name | Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021[1] | ||||
| Location |
Silverstone Circuit Silverstone, United Kingdom | ||||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||||
| Course length | 5.891 km (3.660 mi) | ||||
| Distance | 52 laps, 306.198 km (190.263 mi) | ||||
The 2021 British Grand Prix (officially known for sponsorship reasons as the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2021)[1] is a Formula One motor race scheduled to be held on Sunday 18th July 2021 at Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire , England , United Kingdom. It is scheduled be the 10th round in the 2021 Formula One World Championship. This will be 55th British Grand Prix held at Silverstone Circuit ,[2] the 56th the World Championship race at Silverstone overall (when including the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix held in 2020) and the 72nd running of the British Grand Prix overall as part of of the World Championship. Lewis Hamilton will be the defending race winner having won the 2020 event.
Background[edit]
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic[edit]
This year's British Grand Prix is currently scheduled to be the only F1 race at Silverstone in 2021,[3] after the venue had held two races behind closed doors in 2020 – the British Grand Prix won by Lewis Hamilton and another one-off race the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix which was won by Max Verstappen. In February 2021, the organisers at Silverstone Circuit said it remained ever hopeful that it could welcome a capacity 140,000 crowd for the race but was dependent on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom which had forced the two race at Silverstone F1 races in held in 2020 to be behind closed doors.[4] Lewis Hamilton will be aiming to win the event for a record breaking 8th time having won the event 7 times previously including the previous two seasons.[5]. The date scheduling of the Grand Prix means the race avoids a date clash with the final of the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 football tournament scheduled to held on UK soil at Wembley Stadium in London as well as the men's singles final of the 2021 Wimbledon Championships with both of these events due to be held on 11 July 2021.[6] The UK Government allowed fans to return to live major sporting events on 17 May 2021 in limited numbers.[7] On 14 June 2021 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that a planned further easing of lockdown restrictions in England would be delayed from an original date of 21 June 2021 to 19 July 2021 – a delay of 4 weeks and the day after the Silverstone race is due to take place.[8] This meant Silverstone would require special exemption to gain a capacity crowd and the circuit began work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to try and establish what fan numbers the Silverstone race could have at maximum.[9][10] On 24 June 2021 it was confirmed that the British Grand Prix would be allowed a full capacity crowd as a part of UK Government's Events Research Programme with ticket holders either required to provide evidence of negative lateral flow test carried out 48 hours before their attendance of the event or proof of double vaccination against the virus 14 days before attending the first day of the event.[11] Upon being asked for his reaction to news about Silverstone being permitted to have a capacity crowd Lewis Hamilton said in a press conference prior to the Styrian Grand Prix that he feared allowing such big numbers of spectators to attend the event were "premature" but some his fellow drivers notably George Russell and Max Verstappen were more positive about the news.[12]
Entrants[edit]
Tyres[edit]
Sole tyre supplier Pirelli has allocated the C1,C2 and C3 compounds of tyre to be used in the race.[13] . The weekend is also expected to see the race debut of new rear tyre construction following a successuful test in practice at the previous event in Austria . The new construction designed to improve safety by preventing rear tyre failures such as those that happened to Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier in season.[14][15]
Championship standings before the race[edit]
In the Drivers' Championship, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen entered the round with a 32 point lead over Mercedes driver and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, with Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez a further 46 points behind Hamilton. Red Bull Racing held a 44 point lead over Mercedes, with third-placed McLaren 101 points behind them.[16]
Weekend format differences[edit]
The 2021 British Grand Prix is set to see see the first of three potential 2021 season trials of a different weekend format to normal which involves a new idea that will be referred to as sprint qualifying which hat this event will be run on Saturday at 16:30 BST on Saturday 17 July in an attempt to improve the weekend spectacle and create an alternative way to the traditional Qualifying session to decide the grid for Sunday's main Grand Prix.[17] Under this new format the normal three part knockout qualifying system used which usually sets the final grid order for Sunday's Grand Prix will instead set the starting order for sprint qualifying which is a 100 km (62 mi) short race, the finishing order of which sets the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix. Drivers will also now have free choice of starting tyres for Sunday's main race. Pit stops are not mandatory during sprint qualifying and if sprint qualifying is wet teams and drivers will be allocated an extra set of intermediate tyres by Pirelli. The top three finishers in sprint qualifying will receive World Championship points with 3 points to winner 2 points for 2nd place and 1 point awarded for 3rd place. The winner of sprint qualifying will officially be considered as the polesitter for Sunday's Grand Prix.[18] Furthermore the sprint qualifying winner will receive a trophy. However, there will no podium ceremony after sprint qualifying. The normal three part knockout qualifying will see drivers only use the softest available tyres will take place at 18:00 BST on Friday 16 July after which parc ferme will commence. There will only be two Free Practice sessions one at 14:30 BST local time on Friday 16 July and the other at 12 midday BST on Saturday 17 July a the same day as sprint qualifying. The Grand Prix itself will take place at 15:00 BST over 52 laps on Sunday 18 July.[19][20] Teams will receive additional money from the FIA as compensation to cover any any damage that may be caused in sprint qualifying.[21] F1's Director of Data Systems Rob Smedley said the sport would do the best it could to make sure that sprint qualifying races don't become a "blur" for fans.[22] Whilst ex-World Champion Sebastian Vettel has voiced his scepticism over the sprint qualifying idea drivers such as Lewis Hamilton , Carlos Sainz Jr , Fernando Alonso , and George Russell have reacted positively with F1 willingness to try a new format. [23] Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc suggested the sprint qualifying experiment should not continue in the future if they were proven to be unsuccessful. [24]. Leclerc also said he believed that sprint qualifying would enable drivers to push "for a whole race".[25] Changes to sporting regulations to accommodate sprint qualifying were approved by teams prior to the Austrian Grand Prix ready for approval from the FIA.[26]
Practice[edit]
Two free practice sessions of one hour each are scheduled to take place over the weekend. The first practice is scheduled take place at 14:30 BST local time on Friday 16 July. The second practice session is scheduled to take place at 12pm BST on Saturday 17 July.
Qualifying[edit]
Qualifying will be split into three knockout sessions and is scheduled to be held held Friday 16 July at 18:00 BST local time. Drivers will only be permitted to use the softest compound of tyre during the session which at this event will be C3 compound. As only one compound will be permitted for use in qualifying unlike a standard F1 weekend teams/drivers will not be required to start Sunday's Grand Prix on tyres they used to set their best Q2 times. Each driver will be permitted to use 5 sets of the softest avaliable tyre in qualifying . Drivers and teams who get through to Q3 are obliged to save a least one new set of tyres for use in Q3.[27]
Sprint qualifying[edit]
Sprint qualifying is scheduled to be held on Saturday 17 July at 16:30 BST local time. It will be held over a distance of approximately 100 km (62 mi).
Race[edit]
The Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on Sunday 18 July starting at 15:00 BST local time over a distance of 52 laps.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Standings". Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website.
- ↑ "Grands Prix Britain • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com.
- ↑ "F1 Schedule 2021 - Official Calendar of Grand Prix Races". Formula 1.com.
- ↑ "Silverstone hopeful of hosting 140,000-capacity crowd for British GP". The Independent. 24 February 2021.
- ↑ "Lewis HAMILTON - Result by circuit • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com.
- ↑ "British GP to take place after Wimbledon and Euros". 28 October 2020 – via www.rte.ie.
- ↑ "Boris Johnson confirms up to 10,000 fans allowed from 17 May". BBC Sport. BBC Sport Online. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
- ↑ "Covid: Lockdown easing in England delayed until July 19". BBC News Online. BBC News. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
- ↑ Noble, Jonathan. "British GP to still welcome fans, but numbers may be restricted". www.motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
- ↑ Rumsby, Ben. "Government close to naming Open Championship and Challenge Cup final as pilot event for fans return". The Telegraph Online. The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 June 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "2021 British Grand Prix at Silverstone gets green light for full capacity crowd". www.formula1.com. Formula 1. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ↑ Mitchell, Scott. "Hamilton fears full cacapacity crowd at British GP "premature"". THE RACE. The Race Limited. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ↑ "Pirelli unveils tyre choices for 2021 F1 season". www.autosport.com.
- ↑ Cooper, Adam. "New Pirelli F1 rears set for Silverstone after Austria test". www.autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
- ↑ Straw, Edd. "FIA approves British GP switch to new F1 Pirelli tyres". THE RACE. The Race Media Ltd. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
- ↑ "Audtria 2021 -Championship". STATS F1. STATS F1. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
- ↑ "F1 Sprint Qualifying approved for three Grands Prix in 2021 season in shake-up to weekend format". Sky Sports.
- ↑ Cooper, Adam. "F1 sprint race winner will be credited with pole position". www.motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ↑ "British Grand Prix 2021 - F1 Race". Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website.
- ↑ "Everything you need to know about F1's new Sprint Qualifying format – including how it works | Formula 1®". www.formula1.com.
- ↑ Noble, Jonathan. "F1 sprint race plan set for green light after team agree financial deal". www.autosport.com. Autosport. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ↑ Smith, Luke. "F1 keen to ensure sprint races aren't "a blur" for fans". www.autosport.com. Autosport. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ↑ Morlidge, Matt. "Sebastian Vettel 'open' to Sprint Qualifying idea". www.skysports.com. Sky Sports. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
- ↑ Dieter Rencken, Hazel Southwell. "F1 should drop Sprint Qualifying plan if trial proves "negative" -Leclerc". racefans.net. Racefans. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
- ↑ Noble, Jonathan. "Drivers 'pushing for a whole race' an F1 sprint benefit". Autosport. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
- ↑ Cooper, Adam. "F1 set to sign off sprint qualifying rules amid parc ferme concern". www.motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
- ↑ Noble, Jonathan. "The strategy consequences of F1's sprnt race rule changes". www.autosport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
External links[edit]
| Previous race: 2021 Austrian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 2021 season |
Next race: 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2020 British Grand Prix |
British Grand Prix | Next race: 2022 British Grand Prix |
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