Grand Prix of Britian Preview | |
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Silverstone, Towcester, England 11th - 13th July 1997 |
by Max Galvin, England |
The British Grand Prix not only marks the first race in the second half of the planned season, but also marks the beginning of the end of the 1997 silly season. The paddock is sure to be awash with rumours about who will drive for whom in 1998 and several combinations are set to be announced either before or just after the race.
The paddock may also be awash with muddy water as England is suffering the wettest summer for some time. A brief sunny period has settled over Northamptonshire the past few days, the rain may return with a vengeance despite forcasts for the weekend.
A lap of Silverstone
Circuit length: 3.194 miles / 5.140 km Race length: 61 laps (194.834 miles / 313.540 km)
What happened last year?
1996 Race Results | ||||
1. | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 1hr33m00.874s | |
2. | Gerhard Berger | Benetton-Renault | + 19.026s | |
3. | Mika Hakkinen | McLaren-Mercedes | + 50.830s | |
4. | Rubens Barrichello | Jordan-Peugeot | + 1m06.716s | |
5. | David Coulthard | McLaren-Mercedes | + 1m22.507s | |
6. | Martin Brundle | Jordan-Peugeot | + 1 lap | |
Pole position: | Damon Hill | Williams-Renault | 1m26.875s | |
Fastest lap (21): | Jacques Villeneuve | Williams-Renault | 1m29.288s | |
The Field
Arrows-Yamaha
Whispers over the weekend suggested that Damon Hill was making his
way from Arrows to Prost in an effort to secure Mugen-Honda power for
the TWR run team in 1998. Sadly for all parties involved this has
proven to be little more than a whisper, especially in the light of
Mugen appearing to have signed with Jordan. For Damon and Pedro,
things look even less rosy than they did at Magny-Cours because
although the team have tested exhaustively here over the years, so
have most of the other teams and all the others seem to have their
cars much better set up. Damon will be spurred on by the home crowd,
and as such will dig extra deep over the whole weekend, but it would
take more than the Arrows-Yamaha has got to give him a shot at
points… that is unless, of course, that it rains!
Rothmans Williams-Renault
Williams should win. It is their home circuit, both drivers know the
track intimately and the FW19 and Renault engine are well suited to
Silverstone. What cannot be ignored is the knack that Williams have
developed for losing races that they should win. Jacques Villeneuve
ran well in testing and will be keen to kick-start his Championship
with a win. Team mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen will be looking to
re-establish his credentials after a firm, if unspectacular, second
place in the French Grand Prix. There will be massive pressure from
team, sponsors and public alike to perform, but can the drivers take
the pressure?
Marlboro Scuderia Ferrari
One team that is not cracking under the pressure is Ferrari. Since
the start of the season and the arrival of the Benetton technical
team (Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne) performance has been climbing and
the smiles at the Scuderia have been getting bigger. Michael
Schumacher can no longer hide his Championship challenge behind
non-committal words and has grudgingly admitted that he could take
his third in 1997. Eddie Irvine is currently lying third in points
table looking ever more confident within the team and will be looking
to improve his score at his home Grand Prix. If the race was any
other apart from the British Grand Prix, Schumacher would certainly
be favourite for a race win, and Irvine for a podium, but the
extensive testing of the British teams could prove too big a hurdle
to get over.
Mild Seven Benetton-Renault
Benetton will again be without the services of Gerhard Berger at
Silverstone and Alex Wurz will again fill in for his compatriot. This
should be the team to watch, at the very least because the sparks are
sure to fly when Wurz outqualifies and out-races his experienced
team-mate, Jean Alesi. Benetton are always one of the fastest teams
in testing at Silverstone and will be looking for their first win in
three seasons to raise their stock in F1. However, as the saying goes
"testing is testing".
West McLaren-Mercedes
McLaren come into the race weekend having set top times in the recent
Silverstone test sessions and both drivers will be keen to erase the
memory of Magny-Cours from their minds. The MP4/12 seems to be
getting better and the Mercedes is arguably the best engine in F1 at
the moment, so what is going wrong? Both drivers are beset by bad
luck and neither can be working at their best whilst their futures
are in doubt. Sadly for Mika Hakkinen, he appears to be the one in
need of a new job. David Coulthard has come out of every race weekend
looking the better of the pairing, regardless of the final result and
I fully expect him to beat Mika here. Whilst the cheers for David
will help somewhat, Mika is starting to look very much a beaten man.
If things go well a McLaren driver could be standing on the top step
of the podium, but with their luck who would bet on it?
Benson and Hedges Total Jordan-Peugeot
I am running short of things to say about Jordan. Short of repeating
the "They could win" mantra, there is little to say. With a good
engine landed for 1998, the team may well relax and concentrate on
the job in hand rather than trying to impress the Peugeot top brass
and this could be the key to unlocking their undoubted potential.
Ralf Schumacher was head and shoulders above Giancarlo Fisichella in
France (although big brother was really responsible for the point
Ralf scored), but will be pushed much harder this time out. Both Ralf
and Giancarlo have both completed hundreds of practice laps here and
with the team factory just beyond the circuit gates, they will be
feeling right at home. If it comes down to a choice between the two
drivers I would tip Giancarlo as the higher placed in qualifying, but
I would expect Ralf to do better in the race (yet again).
Gauloises Blondes Prost-Mugen Honda
Alain Prost has one of the best combinations in F1 with the
Mugen-Honda engine and Bridgestone rubber, yet has been unable to
capitalise on it so far in 1997. Silverstone, however, could be his
race. With the rain already falling at the track, the Bridgestone
rubber looks like being the tyre of preference for this weekend.
Jarno Trulli has proved that he can handle the Prost car well and is
comfortable in wet conditions so there is no reason why he shouldn't
be on the podium come 4pm on Sunday. Shinji Nakano on the other hand
has little experience at Silverstone and even less talent to call
upon to cover this gap.
Red Bull Sauber-Petronas
After a decidedly average French Grand Prix, things seem to be
looking up, once again, for Sauber. Test times indicate that the
chassis and engine work well here and number one driver Johnny
Herbert will have the crowd behind him urging him on. Norberto
Fontana looks to be the chosen driver for the second Sauber seat and
was respectably close to his team-mate in the recent tests so things
could be looking up after the farce that he inflicted on the team in
France. A question mark hangs over his fitness, but I hope that he
does himself, and the team, justice.
Johnny Herbert has the ability to do succeed, the chassis looks much
better suited to this track than several of the recent ones, and the
engine is certainly capable of delivering the goods. Will it be
enough to get a podium finish?
Tyrrell-Ford
As mentioned before, the Ford engine has transformed the neat Tyrrell
chassis from back marker to midfield runner. Jos Verstappen and Mika
Salo are revelling in the new-found performance of their mounts and
are keen to get themselves noticed. Both drivers have spent a long
time testing here and know the circuit as well as each other, so who
will come out top? Recent trends would suggest Jos will prevail in
qualifying and the race, but that would be unfair to Mika who seems
to be a match for the Dutchman in every way. All that can be said for
certain is that both drivers will give their best.
Minardi-Hart
Minardi are having a terrible time and must be counting the days until
the alleged take-over by Reynard and BAT happens. The little Italian
team tries as hard as it can, but are held back by the Hart engine
(or so it appears). Ukyo Katayama has massive amounts of experience
at Silverstone and will be looking to dominate his team-mate in an
attempt to re-establish his reputation. Tarso Marques had a
disastrous 1997 debut at Magny-Cours and will be hoping for a better
run this time round. Katayama seems an almost sure bet for top dog
within the pairing, and if the track is wet, he could be seen in
places that you wouldn't expect.
Stewart-Ford
Reliability or lack thereof, must be the thing foremost in the mind
of Paul Stewart as he approaches the first home Grand Prix for the
new team on the block. Press attention will be massive and it would
be too easy for the team to slip up and become too engrossed with the
media circus. The chassis appears to be well balanced and the new
Ford engine is said to be a massive improvement over its predecessor,
so a Stewart driver could be up there in both the race and
qualifying. Most likely to succeed in this is Rubens Barrichello who
has certainly got over his final year at Jordan and is looking more
and more the successor to Senna that he was billed to be. Jan
Magnussen was another "New Senna", but has failed to live up to the
hype so far. Jackie Stewart says that they have discovered the
problem with his driving, but he will need to improve by a massive
amount to convince most observers. The ace in the hole for Stewart is
their Bridgestone rubber and if it rains, don't be surprised to see
Barrichello near the front.
Enjoy the race...