Qualifying and race pace simulations at Silverstone

On a turn, advantage Ferrari at Silverstone

As often since the start of the season, the venerable Italian brand seems to have a hand in one round, while Charles Leclerc took six of the nine pole positions this year. The data collected by F1 in EL2 on Friday let us imagine that the Scuderia has an advantage of around a tenth and a half per lap compared to Red Bull on a flying lap. Very comfortable in medium and fast turns, the F1-75 actually makes a small difference for the moment on the RB18, which seems more at ease on the straights, as the configuration at the start of the season confirmed to us.

In the dry, it's moreover Carlos Sainz who dominated free practice 2. Charles Leclerc, less comfortable on the red tires and victim of a slight engine problem, was unable to show more pace and fell 5 tenths behind the best time set by his Spanish teammate . Side Verstappen, the Batavian was not very happy with the behavior of his car. But there is no doubt that the work done on the settings until late Friday night will make the difference.  

Qualifying pace projections based on free practice 1 and 2. © F1

While Russell qualified almost 1 and a half seconds behind Leclerc in Baku and 8 tenths behind the Monegasque in the Principality, during the last two qualifying sessions held in the dry, Mercedes seems to have already made the most of its numerous improvements made at Silverstone. The same estimates show a deficit of 0 compared to Ferrari, and only 56 tenths compared to Red Bull. In the knife battle for 4th place between McLaren et Alpine, it is the Woking team which seems to have the advantage with 4 tenths better. If the gap appears so significant, it is undoubtedly due to the superb time established by Lando Norris, second in EL2 on Friday, he who is so comfortable on the Silverstone track.

In the race, Red Bull advantage

Although it is slightly behind in qualifying, the Red Bull seems to be the fastest over the race distance. While Ferrari seemed to have regained momentum in Canada, with Carlos Sainz putting constant pressure on Max Verstappen at the end of the race, the RB18 seemed the most consistent and quickest in the race simulations carried out. Friday afternoon. The data shows an advantage of 2 tenths overall over the Ferraris, with Mercedes lying in wait in third position 0 behind.

Race pace projections based on free practice 1 and 2. © F1

The visual impression, however, showed that the brand with the star was much closer than that to Ferrari and Red Bull. While the McLaren looked more to its advantage than theAlpine on one lap, the brand with the arrowed A seems to have shown better things on the long stints, positioning itself in the race around 0”93 behind Red Bull, compared to 1”27 for McLaren, which sees on its side Aston Martin getting closer to only less than a tenth of a gap per lap. As a reminder, all of this is just an estimate. Potential setting changes and the possible appearance of rain could redistribute the cards and shake up the balance. 

ALSO READ > IN IMAGES, IN PICTURES. A look at Williams' big developments at Silverstone