Main Menu This Week     Grand Prix Driver Pos Team Pos Austria Monaco Canadian European French British German GGG		| GGG Home   | Index   | Info   | This Week   | Diary   | News   | Email GGG  British Grand Prix Review 15/07/2001   Prediction - Team Stats - Friday Practice - Qualifying - Result    British History : Great Britain, like Italy, has hosted a round of the World Championship ever since it began in 1950, the first round of that new World Championship took place at Silverstone. Silverstone, is the current home, this is the 35th Grand Prix at the circuit, but there have been races at Brands Hatch(12) and Aintree(5). British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) continues to own the circuit, but Octagon Motorsports, who also run Brands Hatch and four other English circuits, actually manage and promote the circuit. Ecclestone and the BRDC are set to invest £40m in the circuit, meaning a new track layout and new facilities. Clark won it five times as has Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell won four times. Wins by David Coulthard for the last couple of years have brought McLaren up to equal Ferrari's record of 11 wins in British Grands Prix, while Williams are just behind them with 10. Last Year's Result 1 David Coulthard McLaren 1 hr 28:50.11 2 Mika Hakkinen McLaren + 01.48 3 Michael Schumacher Ferrari + 19.92 4 Ralf Schumacher Williams + 41.31 5 Jenson Button Williams + 57.76 6 Jarno Trulli Jordan + 1:19.28 1 Lap = 3.194 miles (5.140 km) Form : Historically, it's no surprise that Ferrari don't have a fantastic record in Britain. There have been too many teams over the years that know the circuit better than they do. McLaren, on the other hand, have finished in the points every year since 1988, including those wins for David Coulthard for the last couple of years. In fact he's only retired once at Silverstone in the last seven years, and has otherwise always been in the points. Teammate Mika Hakkinen might well be as discouraged as Michael Schumacher by his record at Silverstone; he has twice been on pole(Michael has never been on pole here) but has never won, although he's had two seconds and two thirds. Prediction : This looks to be the closest race of the season so far. Pure speed, and this is a fast track where good downforce is a factor in the fast corners, is a bonus here. On this note Ralf and Williams are favourites by a whisker over Ferrari. McLarens have tremendous form here and can't be counted out, we think they will close on Ferraris heels. Questions to be answered involve whether the new Bridgestones continue to work as well as the Michelins on this track which will be much cooler than the one at the French two weeks ago. We think not. The problem for Michelin users is that they must get 3 sets of scrub tyres ready from their allowance and they've struggled with this. IToo close to call but expect Jaguar to outperform the others in their pier group. Weather : Prediction of unsettled weather for Sunday +18 Celcius Team Stats To Date: (10 races gone) Ferrari Schumacher has out-qualified Barrichello 10 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.451 Schumacher's average qualifying position 1st, Barrichello's 4th from 20 starts, Ferrari have finished 16 times (80%) and in the points 16 times (80%) McLaren Coulthard has out-qualified Hakkinen 6 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.001s Hakkinen's average qualifying position 4th, Coulthard's 4th from 20 starts, McLaren have finished 14 times (70%) and in the points 13 times (68%) Williams Schumacher has out-qualified Montoya 9 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.565s Schumacher's average qualifying position 2nd, Montoya's 7th from 20 starts, Williams have finished 7 times (35%) and in the points 7 times (35%) Benetton Fisichella has out-qualified Button 9 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.575s Fisichella's average qualifying position 17th, Button's 20th from 20 starts, Benetton have finished 12 times (60%) and in the points 1 time (5%) BAR Villeneuve has out-qualified Panis 6 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.022s Villeneuve's average qualifying position 9th, Panis' 10th from 20 starts, BAR have finished 11 times (55%) and in the points 4 times (20%) Jordan Trulli has out-qualified Frentzen/Zonta 9 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.324s Frentzen/Zonta's average qualifying position 8th, Trulli's 6th from 20 starts, Jordan have finished 12 times (60%) and in the points 7 times (35%) Arrows Bernoldi has out-qualified Verstappen 5 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.115 Verstappen's average qualifying position 18th, Bernoldi's 19th from 20 starts, Arrows have finished 9 times (45%) and in the points 1 time (5%) Sauber Heidfeld has out-qualified Raikkonen 5 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.112s Heidfeld's average qualifying position 10th, Raikkonen's 12th from 20 starts, Sauber have finished 13 times (65%) and in the points 7 times (35%) Jaguar Irvine has out-qualified de la Rosa 5 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.735s Irvine's average qualifying position 13th, de la Rosa's 14th from 20 starts, Jaguar have finished 10 times (50%) and in the points 2 times (10%) Minardi Alonso has out-qualified Marques 9 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.966s Marques' average qualifying position 22nd, Alonso's 21st from 20 starts, Minardi have finished 9 times (45%) and in the points 0 times (0%) Prost Alesi has out-qualified Burti 3 times this season Average gap between drivers in qualifying: 0.514s Burti's average qualifying position 16th, Alesi's 15th from 20 starts, Prost have finished 16 times (80%) and in the points 2 times (11%) Practice 1 Mika Hakkinen McLaren 1:22.827 2 David Coulthard McLaren 1:22.894 3 Barrichello Ferrari 1:23.578 4 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:23.619 5 Frentzen Jordan 1:23.877 6 Heidfeld Sauber 1:24.096 1 Lap = 3.194 miles (5.140 km) Friday Practice Practice never reveals much about the teams, indeed Michael Schu deliberately hides performance. Him accidentally posting top time and waiting to be beaten is a sign that he has pole position already. We know the Michelin runners have difficulty qualifying so nothing has really changed from our view of the race to come.   Qualifying 1 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1min 20.447 2 Mika Hakkinen McLaren 1min 20.529 3 David Coulthard McLaren 1min 20.927 4 Trulli Jordan 1min 20.930 5 Frentzen Jordan 1min 21.217 6 Barrichello Ferrari 1min 21.715 1 Lap = 3.194 miles (5.140 km) Saturday Qualifying Track temperature basically cold as far as tyres were concerned and Michelin need to be up and running for any performance. So all Michelin's basically a second behind what their race competitiveness will be. McLaren showed that they have the technical team to respond and being only a fraction behind M.S are ready to challenge this race. The poor temperatures mean Williams are depressed about their chances and basically have none. Jaguar had mechanical problems as well as tyres. Will start well down the grid and although Irvine will pick up places his chances for points here are slim.   Result 1 Mika Hakkinen McLAREN 1 hr 25:33.77 2 Michael Schumacher FERRARI + 33.65 3 Rubens Barrichello FERRARI + 59.28 4 Juan Pablo Montoya Roldan WILLIAMS + 1:08.77 5 Kimi Räikkönen SAUBER + 1 lap 6 Nick Heidfeld SAUBER + 1 lap 7 Heinz-H. Frentzen JORDAN + 1 lap 8 Jacques Villeneuve BAR + 1 lap 9 Eddie Irvine JAGUAR + 1 lap 10 Jos Verstappen ARROWS + 2 laps 11 Jean Alesi PROST + 2 laps 12 Pedro Martinez de la Rosa JAGUAR + 2 laps 13 Giancarlo Fisichella BENETTON + 2 laps 14 Enrique Antonio Bernoldi ARROWS + 2 laps 15 Jean Alesi PROST + 2 laps 16 Fernando Alonso MINARDI + 2 laps Result Hakkinen took advantage of McLaren's new accuracy with car setup and Coulthard's unlucky clash with Trulli at the beginning of the race. Michael Schu didn't look to have the car running as he wanted and with DC out of the running he stayed clear of chasing cars and let them pass. Montoya was unlucky as well with his pit stop strategy putting him behind Barrichello after leading for a while. Later his second set of tyres weren't up to it, a continual problem for Williams.   Footnote : More British drivers have taken part in Grand Prix racing than any other nationality. There have been 136 British Grand Prix drivers and 13 who have failed to qualify. The next greatest number is 78 for Italy, with 15 failing to qualify.