Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda’s Pierre Gasly goes into the British Grand Prix having shown strong pace throughout the season so far, he will be hoping to keep his form going at a circuit he loves.
This weekend’s grand prix isn’t like any other, with the first trial run of the brand new weekend format, featuring a Saturday sprint race. Normal qualifying will take place on Friday evening and will decide the grid for a 100km sprint race on Saturday. The results of the sprint race will determine the grid for Sunday’s race.
The new format brings a new challenge to the majority of drivers on the grid who haven’t experienced a sprint race since their junior category days. Gasly has been working hard with his team to prepare for the sprint race, at a circuit which he rates as one of his favourites.
“We’ve worked a lot with the engineers, and I’ve been in the simulator, looking at all the possible scenarios for the new format with the Sprint Qualifying race. It should be good fun. We’ve also got new tyres from Pirelli. It’s been done mainly for safety and from what I experienced, trying them in Austria, I think they will feel pretty similar.
“I love Silverstone, it’s one of my favourite tracks, especially the run through Maggots and Becketts, which is one of the most exciting sequences of the season. Although overtaking is meant to be difficult at Silverstone, it is possible and I managed some good passes last year, having some enjoyable fights including passing Seb (Vettel) round the outside at the right hander before the chicane.
“I enjoyed racing in front of the fans in Austria and for Silverstone they’re announcing a full capacity crowd, the atmosphere should be great and I’m looking forward to it.”
“I am feeling fairly confident” – Yuki Tsunoda
After a difficult triple-header filled with errors, rookie Yuki Tsunoda goes into the British Grand Prix with previous success at the Silverstone Circuit in Formula 2 last season.
Unfortunately for all the rookies they will have less time to learn the circuit, with only one free practice session before Friday evening’s qualifying meaning that making the most of track time is more important than ever before. Tsunoda does have an advantage this weekend though, having raced in sprint races last season the Japanese driver may have a good idea of what will happen on Saturday.
Overall Tsunoda is looking forward to going back to a circuit filled with good memories for him, and is especially excited to see what a Formula 1 car feels like through the famous Maggots and Becketts.
“We come to Silverstone and I have good memories from last year, when I came third in the Formula 2 Feature Race and, like the Red Bull Ring, it is a track that I have driven at quite a lot, going back to when I was in F3. That’s all positive, but the downside at Silverstone, given I have never driven a Formula 1 car there before, is that we only have one free practice session before Qualifying, as this weekend we try the Sprint Qualifying Race on Saturday.
“I am looking forward to experiencing Silverstone in a Formula 1 car, with all its high speed corners and although, as I said, the lack of free practice is going to be a challenge, I am feeling fairly confident about the weekend as I have some experience of the track from previous years, so let’s see what happens. I am particularly looking forward to seeing what the Maggots-Becketts- Chapel corners are like in an F1 car.”
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