Bottas Beats Hamilton for 70th Anniversary Grand Prix Pole

Photo Credit: 2020 Pirelli & C. S.p.A. 

Due to the complications of 2020, Formula 1 scheduled a second race at the Silverstone Circuit paying tribute to the series’ 70 years of competition. Occurring one week after the British Grand Prix, the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix is taking place on the same 5.891-kilometer track with a 52-lap main event planned for Sunday. 

Setting the field for the special event, Saturday’s qualifying for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix was another battle between the competitors of the Mercedes AMG F1 Team. While Lewis Hamilton prevailed in qualifying for the British Grand Prix with a record pole time, the return to Silverstone saw teammate Valtteri Bottas claim the top grid position. “Pole today feels really good. It’s a privilege to drive this amazing car – it’s so quick. I love qualifying when it’s like that, it was great fun.” said Bottas in a team’s press release. A qualifying performance that ultimately resulted in a very close one-two performance for the Mercedes AMG team, the Fin’s lap was only 0.063 seconds faster than Hamilton’s best effort. Recording a 1-minute, 25.154-second lap time in Q3, Bottas’ pole time with noticeably slower than the Hamilton’s qualifying winning time seven days earlier. While Bottas as well as Hamilton ran the same Pirelli C3 spec slick tires in Q3, wind conditions have been suggested as a factor to the more than 0.8-second slower top lap.  

Photo Credit: 2020 Pirelli & C. S.p.A. 

With the additional weekend at Silverstone, it’s logical to assume teams and drivers can approach the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix with a greater amount of familiarity. In the case of German Nico Hulkenberg, the second race at the track appears to have given the Racing Point relief driver a chance at redemption. Getting a late call up after Racing Point’s regular driver Sergio Perez was sidelined due to a positive COVID-19 test, Hulkenberg faced a difficult time getting acquainted with the pink-coloured race car during the British Grand Prix weekend. Unable to start last Sunday’s event due to a loose clutch bolt that prevented the start-up of his Racing Point RP20's engine, Nico Hulkenberg emerged this week with a new source of momentum. Hulkenberg was among the top-six on the time charts for all three practice sessions for this week’s grand prix including posting faster times than full-time Racing Point driver Lance Stroll in two practices. In qualifying, the #27 Racing Point RP20 race car pulled off a minor upset by registering the third-fastest time at the end of Q3. Nico Hulkenberg commented on his impressive run in post-race saying “It's been a crazy week and after the highs and lows of my comeback last week, P3 on the grid for tomorrow is a nice highlight!”

Photo Credit: 2020 Pirelli & C. S.p.A. 

Slotting into the grid spot beside Hulkenberg is last week’s race runner-up Max Verstappen. The Honda-powered Red Bull RB16 piloted by the Dutch driver continues to consistently challenge the Mercedes-Benz powered machines. A former teammate of Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo placed his factory-backed Renault in fifth place for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix starting alongside the second Racing Point car wheeled by Lance Stroll. Finishing seventh in the British Grand Prix, Pierre Gasly regained the position as a starting spot in his AlphaTauri race car. 

A loyal participant of Formula 1 since its inaugural year in 1950, Scuderia Ferrari is entering the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix continuing what has been a confusingly inconsistent 2020 outing. Charles Leclerc is starting Sunday’s race in eighth place while Sebastian Vettel failed to make the Q3 session. Vettel’s 11th place grid spot is the latest disappointment for the past multiple world championship driver.  

While the British Grand Prix ended with a wild finish as a result to several tire failures, the same circumstance is unlikely for the fifth race of the 2020 Formula 1 season. Prior to both Silverstone races, Pirelli committed to supply a softer variety of tires for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. The tire supplier anticipates all teams will choose to operate on a selection of two-stop strategies. 

2020 Formula 1
70th Anniversary Grand Prix
Starting Grid

Lewis Hamilton Spins and Wins Pole for British Grand Prix

Photo Credit: 2020 Pirelli & C. S.p.A

A feat accomplished 90 times prior by the Formula 1 superstar throughout his career, Lewis Hamilton claimed the pole position for a grand prix. Making this weekend’s pole sweeter for the 35-year-old Mercedes AMG F1 Team driver is that his latest top qualifying result came at his home country’s British Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit after a less than characteristic mishap on-track. In the middle of the Q2 qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton spun his #44 Mercedes AMG F1 W11 EQ Performance race car while travelling through turn 7. Hamilton quickly recovered from the spin but a red flag stopped was brought out to delay the session. 

Hosting the fourth and five rounds of the modified 2020 Formula 1 season, Silverstone features a long 5.891-kilometer track length and several high-speed corners. The first of the grand prix events is the legendary British Grand Prix is synonymous with the major motorsport tour with the headquarters of many teams including Williams, McLaren and Racing Point are located close to the track. 

Clocking in a lap time of 1-minute, 24.303 seconds in Q3, Lewis Hamilton’s pole was also a track qualifying record for Formula 1 on the 5.891-kilometer layout. Lewis Hamilton’s seventh British Grand Prix was a little more than three-tenths of a second faster than Mercedes AMG teammate Valtteri Bottas. Last year’s British Grand Prix pole sitter, Bottas was at the top of the time sheet in the first two qualifying sessions but settled for the second front row position. 

The second row starting the 2020 British Grand Prix will feature Max Verstappen’s Honda-powered Red Bull Racing vehicle and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Both second row occupants vastly out-qualified their teammates. For what has proven to be a difficult 2020 so far in competition, Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari is starting in 10th place for Sunday’s race recording a time more than 9/10ths of a second slower than Leclerc. The Red Bull race car of Alexander Albon narrowly missed Q3 settling for a 12th place grid position for the main event at Silverstone.

Recently securing a new sponsorship deal with Gulf Oil, McLaren’s Formula 1 team demonstrated impressive speed on Saturday. British driver Lando Norris recorded the fifth fastest time in Q3 while Carlos Sainz Jr. will start the British Grand Prix in seventh.

Starting sixth between the McLaren race cars is the Racing Point of Lance Stroll. Though breaking into the elite Q3 once again in the 2020 Formula 1 season, the qualifying outing was somewhat of a disappointment for Stroll compared his performances in the three practice sessions including posting a top time in the second practice in Friday. Cooler temperatures on Saturday proved to be an obstacle with Stroll narrowly breaking through to the Q3 qualifying session. The Racing Point driver fortunately posted his top time prior to the Alpha Tauri driven by Pierre Gasly as both cars posted a lap time of 1-minute, 26.501 seconds in the Q2 group.   

Photo Credit: 2020 Pirelli & C. S.p.A

A season that has been far from routine due to the ongoing global health pandemic due causing many changes to grand prix weekends for 2020, the turbulence of the year affected the entrant list for the British Grand Prix. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez was the first driver to test positive for COVID-19 since the season opener in a month ago in Austria. Taking the Mexican’s place in the RP20 for the British Grand Prix is Formula 1 veteran Nico Hulkenberg. Given a late call to race at Silverstone, the 32-year-old German driver was left without a ride in 2020 after nine competitive seasons. Hulkenberg’s participation with Racing Point runs deeper than this weekend’s relief drive. When the team operated as Force India, Nico Hulkenberg was a test driver in 2011 and later competed with the group in 2012 as well as a second stint between 2014 and 2016. Driving his first race for 2020 with limited prior preparation, Nico Hulkenberg registered the 13th best time.

The 52-lap 2020 British Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit is set for 2:10 pm local time or 9:10 am eastern time on Sunday.

2020 British Grand Prix
Starting Lineup