2016 Great Britain - Thursday Press Conference

2016 British Grand Prix preview

Nino Farina in his Alfa Romeo. Silverstone 1950.

Silverstone is one of the most legendary F1 tracks in the calendar. Did you know that the whole F1 series started back in 1950 at Silverstone? That's why this circuit is so important!

In the first GP Giuseppe "Nino" Farina won from pole position also setting the fastest lap of the race (1'50.600). The current lap record is from last year by Mark Webber 1'33.401. The track has changed several times so it's hard to compare.

So what happened last year in the previous Silverstone race?

Some of my readers said that the race was boring but in my opinion it was one of the best races in 2015 thanks to Williams!

The start was amazing for both Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas. Massa overtook both Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton and so did Bottas. He just couldn't keep his position and lost one spot to Hamilton.

On lap 3 Hamilton did a very stupid move on Massa and almost took both of them out of the race. Lucky for them both he only went off track but Bottas was right behind and took 2nd place from Hamilton. Why take risks like that when you have the best car of the grid? Patience Lewis!

On lap 9 Williams told Bottas to back off and didn't let him overtake Massa even though he was faster.

Now I know it's easy to make race strategies at home while watching the race on TV but it doesn't take a genius to realize that Williams were making a big mistake. If you were in Bottas' shoes what would you do?! The two fastest cars of the grid are behind you and trying to overtake you and your own team tells you to slow down because the slower car must be in front. What is the point of this?! 

I have criticized Williams before for making poor decisions but this was one of the worst in years. Bottas was braking behind Massa for several, several laps destroying his tires etc. and then suddenly they gave him the permission to overtake but it was too late. His tires weren't in good condition any more and Massa didn't leave him any room to overtake. I understand why Massa did this because I wouldn't wanna let anybody pass me either but I can not understand why Williams were working the way they were. Just stupid.

If they had decided to move Bottas to the front right away he could have pulled away for 20 laps, maybe 0,5 sec per lap. Instead they wanted him to stay between a driver who was slower and the two fastest drivers. I have difficulties to calm myself down after all this :D

When they finally pitted, Hamilton managed to overtake both of the Williams' which was no surprise for me. This was because they couldn't pull away in time and had Hamilton behind them from the beginning.

Rosberg didn't pass them during the pitstops but did that on track afterwards anyway. His new tires were working much better and when the rain started it was all over for Williams. The fight for the victory I mean.

Kimi Räikkönen did a mistake because he pitted right away when the rain started. Instead he should have stayed out like his teammate Sebastian Vettel. Vettel knew just when to pit. He overtook Kimi and later both of the Williams' thanks to his better tire strategy.

Ferrari's Arrivabene said after the race that if the rain would have increased when Kimi pitted he would have won the race. Probably true but it didn't happen so it is no point of talking about that any further. I already spoke so much about what could have happened with Williams. No more please. I am done. It was a great race but the ending gave it a boring taste. You know... HAM, ROS, VET.

Here are my predictions for this year's Grand Prix at Silverstone:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes

Surprise: McLaren might get some more points in Silverstone.

Come onboard if you want to be a part of our league!

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW, MH, JI & PM. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.