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By way of the steadiness of energy, there may be nonetheless plenty of turbulence in Components 1 in the course of the 2023 season. That additionally exhibits Trainings-Freitag in Silverstone as soon as extra. Behind Purple Bull doesn’t need to kind a transparent image. The most recent spotlight: Williams ends Friday because the third drive behind Ferrari, whereas Mercedes delivers a begin of chapter on a supposed parade route.
It takes coaching evaluation to kind this picture. Though that is not even all that improper. As a result of at first look there may be nothing that might be used to dismiss Alex Albon’s third place behind Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, simply 0.218 seconds behind, as luck. Identical to no unhealthy luck on the earth can clarify the Mercedes backlog.
Is Williams really that good at Silverstone?
Albon set his best lap at Silverstone in the same minute as Verstappen. Team-mate Logan Sargeant was 0.47 seconds behind Albon, but the US rookie has been struggling with tire management in qualifying trim all year. So that’s not unusual either, and there was enough time for P5 behind Sergio Perez anyway. Red Bulls Motorsport boss Dr. Helmut Marko dismisses the Williams times: “Let’s see how much petrol he had. The engine power was definitely turned up to the max.”
Albon disagrees: “We weren’t messing around with strange things, it was a normal day for us.” The critical issue is the updates. A major conversion was introduced in Canada, Albon also received a new front wing at Silverstone on Friday. “At least in the simulator it’s more effective in high-speed corners,” Albon notes.
That’s what Williams is all about. They built an efficient car there, but in its original form it didn’t handle high-speed corners well. The updates should fix that. The team remained cautious, but progress was not really verified in Canada and Austria. Silverstone is the first test on a real high-speed circuit.
Perhaps the team just got everything right in one lap. The wind is a big factor at Silverstone and not everyone takes it easy. Also, from FP1 Williams put a big focus on the absolute qualifying performance. Possibly more than others. In the long run, Albon dropped to midfield. Although he rode hard here, the top medium and soft – but the hard benchmark was Lando Norris, and he was four tenths faster in the long run average.
Is Mercedes really that bad at Silverstone?
In return, the racing trim is the only hope for Mercedes. Going by these tables alone, everything seems fine. The connection to Red Bull was maintained, albeit with an asterisk: Russell in particular first drove medium, then he switched to soft. Verstappen drove the other way around, so he had even more fuel in the tank during the soft long run.
But what good is the race pace if the car is already struggling with the Q3 climb? Actually, the W14 is supposed to like fast corners, but like in Austria, the drivers can’t get the balance right. On qualifying laps they don’t feel a jump when going from medium to soft. It is believed that the heat is causing problems again. The W14 was recently not receptive to high temperatures.
In the famous high-speed passage Maggots-Becketts-Chapel, the gap in the qualifying trim is growing instead of falling. Inconsistent driving behavior in the slow passages fills the list of problems. “Regardless of what we do with the setup, the car remains difficult to drive,” complains Lewis Hamilton.
A simulator night shift has to fix it here. The direct World Championship opponents at Aston Martin aren’t doing any better, even if you don’t generally take it easy there in high-speed corners. But the time loss is also continuous for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll when it comes to qualifying pace. Like Mercedes, Aston Martin is back at the front in racing trim.
Ferrari fights for pole – Red bull for victory
Alonso promised after the second training session that they still had something up their sleeve. It will be important for Aston Martin and Mercedes not to get completely lost in qualifying, behind troublemakers like Albon or Nico Hulkenberg, who are extremely strong on one lap but can hardly keep the same pace in the race. The main opponent in the race is Ferrari.
The Scuderia is preparing once again to at least challenge Red Bull for pole. The world champions are still struggling a bit with the new Pirelli construction introduced at Silverstone: what is the best way to prepare the tires for the qualifying lap?
That brought Ferrari, or at least Carlos Sainz, up to 22 thousandths of Verstappen. Charles Leclerc was absent from the entire FP2 after an electrical defect. Sainz alone needed to repair it and struggled with the racing trim. He might have much more qualifying tempo, however over the space he cannot sustain with Mercedes and Aston Martin for the time being.
Ferrari’s drawback turned obvious. You undergo from wind greater than most. The blows right here historically disruptive over the flat course. The SF-23 does not like tailwinds and quick turns. An issue instantly arose within the lengthy runs in Maggots-Becketts-Chapel. Right here the wind typically got here from the left, typically from the left behind. That breaks belief. Not less than the tempo remained fixed by the passage. That is progress for a wind-prone automotive.
Conclusion: Purple Bull stays – no shock – in entrance. Ferrari’s qualifying energy is of little use if the rain really comes on Saturday. On a most likely dry Sunday, Mercedes and Aston Martin assist the race tempo. They might be large winners from Saturday rain. Alex Albon and Williams are extra in the way in which. Midfield postscript: You actually should not underestimate McLaren. Lando Norris drove a powerful laborious long term. He ruined his qualifying simulation with a large rollover within the final nook. Oscar Piastri, now additionally on the street with the updates, hinted at what might be attainable with P9.
Components 1 Silverstone 2023: The schedule
All details about the Formula 1 TV schedules from Sky, ORF and Co. is right here within the overview.
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Printed : 2023-07-07 21:25:00