Official British F1 Grand Prix thread

Just goes to show how un-interesting F1 has become - three days before Silverstone Quali and there's no discussion thread yet...

I'm taking both my lads for their birthdays - not a cheap weekend, but we haven't been since 2007, so rather looking forward to it

I'm not looking forward to the lack of engine noise, but I think we have a realistic prospect of a British winner this year, although I fear Nico is on a bit of a roll after Austria, and Lewis will find a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory for his home GP

Quali

1) Lewis
2) Nico
3) Valteri

Race

1) Nico
2) Lewis
3) A Ferrari, probably Seb

Aah, the days of my youth when I could roll up with a BBC ID card and just ask if the rest of the crew was here yet

The crew.......

Man you were bad-ass before bad-ass was invented

I can't really raise a huge amount of enthusiasm for the British GP tbh. Too many boring races and fairly predictable results. I doubt I'll be renewing my SKY F1 subscription at this rate.....

Quali -

1) Hamilton
2) Nico
3) Seb

Race

1) Nico
2) Hamilton
3) Seb

Quali

1 Nico
2 Hamilton
3 Bottas

Race

1 Hamilton
2 Seb
3 Massa

I'm there too with Eve and Charlie in the Club Silverstone bit. Looking forward to quality time with the kids. Good racing would be a bonus

I will be there as usual in the helipad

Silverstone is always an amazing event, regardless of the racing. Anyone who goes should go and see elder81 - poor lad is stuck at the helipad (though he assures me he does get to watch the race!)
Have fun everyone!
The race? I can't decide between Hamilton and Rosberg, but I have a hunch the home boy will do it.

That's where I was back in the 90's. I was there providing maintenance support for the Fire Vehicles of my former Fire service colleagues

We didn't have to do a lot but we got in for FREE

Do you know Pete Edwards Barmy Bob? I am pretty sure he runs the fire crew at Silverstone these days.

Cheer Jim, it's a hard life working on the Helipad with all the VIP's but someone has to do it .

I shall get to watch the race which is nice, but was much better a few years back when the Helipad was in the centre of the circuit. Many more viewing points and no public to deal with

I think this will be Rosbergs race, although I do want Lewis to win. (After all he is flying with is ;))

Cars amazingly quiet. Rosberg stopped just across from our grandstand. Hondas sound different from everything else in sound. Lovely day.

Looks like Rosberg's car has a gearbox problem. He was stuck in 5th as he coasted to a standstill.

Neither McLaren have set a lap time yet. Lots of in garage head scratching and a very grumpy looking Spaniard.

Looks like a lovely day Rich

So are ear plugs no longer needed?

Have a great weekend with the kids Richard.

GP2 cars much louder! Especially on the over-run. F1 cars very quiet and ear protection not required though possibly sensible.

Surely you can just hover above the track and give yourself the best seat in the house?

Apparently 85,000 fans there today. Certainly loads busier than the Friday was 2 years ago. Grandstand was 80% full for FP2.

Much cooler today. Lewis looked great. Nico struggling with his gearbox.

I'll be there tomorrow for the race (surprise pressie from my GF )

For anyone who's attended on race day in recent years what time would you recommend trying to get there to avoid the worst of the traffic?

The traffic normally isn't bad these days. The A43 from M1 is dedicated to Silverstone traffic

I have never had a problem getting in, as such, but if you've not got a grandstand seat, finding and keeping a good spot is always the issue.

I am planning on being there for between 7.30 & 8.


Getting out can be another matter altogether....

Yup - these days there's nothing on after the GP so almost everyone leaves at the same time. In the "good old days" they used to have BTCC on after the GP so only some of the crowd left.

Thanks guys - it had been suggested we should be there for gates-open at 6am, which means a 4am start that I wasn't keen on, but looks like we can leave it a little later <phew>

Definitely. The first race is 8.25 (GP3). The only advantage of getting there early is getting a good spot if you don't have a grandstand ticket. But Silverstone is better than somewhere like Spa because there's lots of viewing space around the circuit.

Dead easy getting in this morning. Parked at the school parking just over an hour after leaving home, 15 min walk to the gate, and got my chair set up eaxactly where I wanted it.... Need another coffee though...and some bacon

I am on the helipad waiting for the VIPs to arrive. Got Jackie Stewart, Nikki Lauda and Lewis confirmed with the potential for more

What do you do with them when they arrive, Elder? Put them in a box until you have the full set?

Yes - easiest trip in today of all 3 days. Friday was in rush hour traffic and yesterday I don't think the event people had got their act together.

They get in a VIP panamera and go to the various hospitality tents. (Or teams)

Yes - seemingly loads of Panamera and other Porsche taxis ferrying people about

Hey elder81 are you the meet n greet person or do you fly the things?

Fingers crossed for the Nikki Lauda moment, elder81!

Well that was an interesting start...

Great racing

Great race - very exciting here

Good race but gutted for the Williams team and to some extent Kimmi. Vettel lucked in big time, his position is so undeserved after his performance over this weekend.

Either an excellent call or blind luck to put Lewis when they did.

Good race overall though. About bloody time!

Apparently he called it himself

In which case, it was a brilliant call - he went from losing two seconds a lap to a charging Nico, to at least 10 seconds in front (after Nico pitted on the following lap) and simply managed the gap until the end of the race

From our grandstand, Lewis was cheered EVERY time he went past - amazing atmosphere and well worth the four (gulp) figures it cost for the weekend

Excellent weekend all round I thought, just enough rain to make it interesting, but not enough to make it miserable (like 2008).

Would have loved to see a Williams at the front for a bit longer, but you can't have everything I suppose.

Getting up for work this morning was a bit of a struggle though.....

I agree about the Williams - it initially looked like Massa Jnr's prediction (2nd place) might be a possibility. In fact, I think if the rain had held off, Nico wouldn't have got past either Williams - they were definitely holding the Mercs up, but were going just fast enough to keep them behind - even when Nico had DRS on Valteri (and Valteri didn't have it on Felipe), the Merc couldn't get past on Hangar Straight - the Williams was very fast in the dry - would have been nice to see at least one of them on the podium, instead of the Ferrari, which lucked into 3rd

I was there too. Still exhausted from the weekend of non stop walking, drinking, sunburning and cheering for Hamilton each lap.

I was at Vale on the grassy bit, then camped from thursday at Woodlands campsite. Everything is very very well organised but it felt busier this year than before. We saw some brilliant live bands over the weekend too - the Cuban Brothers had us all in stitches.