A record crowd of close to 180,000 people is expected to cram into Silverstone for the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
The remarkable attendance figure is a measure not only of Formula 1’s growth as a sport but also Silverstone’s determination to make as much as it can from it at a time of a particular purple patch for British drivers.
Many in that crowd will be hoping to will on one of the home favourites to victory, either nine-time winner Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari, Mercedes’ title contender George Russell, who is yet to stand on the podium at his home race, or world champion Lando Norris, last year’s Silverstone winner, in his McLaren.
But the auguries for a home win on Sunday are not that good.
Although Hamilton and Russell start alongside each other on the second row of the grid, they are both behind their team-mates, with Mercedes’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli on pole and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc alongside him.
Hamilton, who has already lost one race to Antonelli this weekend in the form of Saturday’s sprint, does not sound optimistic, and that has nothing to do with the fact that he has been beaten in qualifying by Leclerc for the first time since Miami in early May.
“I’m not trying to be negative but the Mercedes is flat-out quicker,” Hamilton said. “If we are not able to get him on the first lap, he will just disappear into the distance.”
Not that that will stop Hamilton doing everything he can to extend his record of home wins to a remarkable 10 in his 20th race at Silverstone, a track where he has taken some of his greatest victories.
But Hamilton’s downbeat remarks are a reflection of not only qualifying but his experience in the sprint.
Hamilton took pole for Saturday’s shorter race, but although he led the first nine laps, Antonelli stalked him throughout, getting closer and closer until he blasted past him on the Hangar Straight – approaching the yellow-clad crowd in the ‘Lando stand’ at Stowe corner – as if the Ferrari was not there.
“Yesterday the car was so well balanced and was just getting quicker and quicker,” Hamilton said. “Today I was struggling under braking, the car was snapping or locking and it just wasn’t underneath me the same.
“Nothing will change between today and tomorrow. If he gets a clean run, he’ll be gone.”
