GP Racing UK July 2021

@BenAndersonF1 Formula 1 is coming home! And this year’s British Grand Prix is going to look and feel quite different – for a couple of important reasons. First, the race will take place with grandstands full, as part of the UK Government’s ‘Event Research Programme’ – designed to guide decisions on mass attendance at major public events. Silverstone won’t exactly be a guinea pig for the UK’s wider unlocking plan – the race takes place the day before Britain is due to lift all COVID-19 restrictions entirely – but it will allow up to 140,000 to watch the grand prix in person, provided they’ve had two COVID vaccinations or can provide proof of a negative COVID test as a condition of entry. For those who’ve been longing but unable to see F1 cars…

LUKE SMITH What is it, apart from his obvious qualifying heroics, that George Russell brings to Williams? Luke explains all on page 50 JAMES MANN James is the snapper of our Now That Was A Car feature. We've chosen some of his best work for a British GP special (p74) OLEG KARPOV Oleg interviews British F2 star, Alfa Romeo reserve and Ferrari test driver Callum Ilott about playing the F1 waiting game (p56) STUART CODLING A chat with Lando Norris about his ongoing development as an F1 driver is the main focus of Stuart’s output this month (p42) Thanks to Connor Bean, Harry Bull, Russell Day, Paddy Lowe, Will Ponissi, Katharina Rees, Charlotte Sefton, Damien Smith, David Tremayne, Richard Wilson…

A hair-raising restart moment I’d been at the last corner for much of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and at first I didn’t know why the race had been stopped. I jumped on a golf buggy and headed back, encountering the scene of Max Verstappen’s accident on the way. I didn’t expect them to restart the race with a couple of laps to go but I’m glad they did. To get this shot I had to lean out of the hole in the fence – which was interesting, to say the least… The light was very nice at the time, playing around the baroque architecture of Government House and backlighting the tyre smoke as Lewis made a very rare (and costly) mistake and slid off at the first corner. Photographer Charles Coates Where Azerbaijan, Baku When…

PICTURES 01 NEW TYRES AIM TO CALM TENSIONS Pirelli is to evaluate a new rear tyre design at the Austrian Grand Prix, due to take place shortly after this issue of GP Racing closed for press. The move comes as a response to the controversial failures which eliminated Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Each driver will have two sets to evaluate during Friday practice and, if the trial is deemed successful, the new construction will be introduced at the British Grand Prix. The new design incorporates a number of ideas, which were initially developed for the next generation of tyres that will be on the 18-inch rims coming next year. Pirelli’s aim is to make the shoulder of the rears more robust, addressing a potential weakness it has…

01 Apart from winning the race, what other feat did Max Verstappen achieve for the first time at the recent French GP? 02 After which GP was the last time Mercedes didn’t lead the constructors’ world championship? 03 True or false: there have been five different winners of the five races held so far in Baku? 04 How many times has Ferrari won the Monaco Grand Prix: 9, 12 or 14? 05 Three GPs topped a total three-day attendance of over 300,000 in 2019, the last time spectators were fully allowed to attend races. The British GP was one, but which were the other two? 06 Five British drivers started the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park. Who were they? 07 Which two British drivers finished in the top three of the drivers’championship during the…

@benedwardstv PICTURES FERRARI’S SPECIAL BRITISH CONNECTION Italian Anglophiles… The relationship between Ferrari and the United Kingdom has been special ever since the team’s first world championship race win at Silverstone in 1951. As the 70th anniversary of that magnificent José Froilán González victory over Alfa Romeo is celebrated this year, the Scuderia will be hoping to rekindle the association. The 1950s was a golden decade for Ferrari in the UK with six wins at the British Grand Prix. The success and passion of the Italian team was adopted by many local fans, especially when Kidderminster’s Peter Collins won the race in 1958 and his Ferrari team-mate Mike Hawthorn went on to become the first British world champion. John Surtees enhanced that connection when he became the second, and currently the last, British driver to win…