Valtteri Bottas must be like a man possessed. At least, in Austria, he behaved like one. From pole to podium, the Finn had an absolutely perfect weekend at the Austrian GP, aboard his Mercedes, taking the checkered flag a fraction of a second ahead of a charging Sebastian Vettel, who was 0.658 seconds behind. “If I had one more lap, I would have taken him,” quipped Vettel.
Meanwhile, thanks to Daniel Ricciardo romping home in third place in his Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer car, the home ground of his team, the Red Bull Ring was accorded the required colour; his teammate Max Verstappen DNF-ed right at the start.
As the Formula One circus heads towards Silverstone for the 2017 Rolex British Grand Prix, let us look at where the drivers and teams stand in their rankings.
Ferrari’s Sebastial Vettel of Germany still leads the table with 171 points followed closely by Briton Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes with 151 points. The third in the ranking is held by Lewis’ teammate Valtteri Bottas of Finland with 136 points.
In the Constructor Standings, Mercedes leads with 287, followed by Ferrari with 254 and Red Bull Racing with 152. Interestingly, Force India Mercedes is in fourth place with 89 points. Their drivers Sergio Perez is in sixth place with a tally of 50 points and his teammate Esteban Ocon is in eighth with 39 points. Said Perez, after the weekend in Austria, “I am feeling really upbeat after our strong weekend in Austria where we picked up some important points. I think we can do the same in Silverstone, too.” For Ocon, it will be his first British GP and says, “I can’t wait for the race. Also, our team headquarters are just across the road, so the race feels extra special for us.”
Meanwhile, for the Williams Martini Racing team, the British GP will be a special occasion. The team won both its first and 100th Grand Prix at the circuit. Williams has won 10 times, including four consecutive years from 1991 to 1994. This year’s British Grand Prix will be a special one for the team, as they continue celebrating their 40th anniversary.
England and Formula One have some extraordinary link-ups. Silverstone is the oldest race on the F1 calendar. Seven F1 teams have their home base, in full or in part, in England—McLaren, Williams, Red Bull, Lotus, Force India, Mercedes and Marussia and the sport’s commercial management is based in London. The win statistics show that 11 Britons have won the British Grand Prix in earlier years—Stirling Moss, Peter Collins, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, John Watson, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert, David Coulthard and Lewis Hamilton.
Silverstone is a former World War II aerodrome. The Silverstone Circuit saw its first GP in 1950. The layout consists of 52 laps with a circuit length of 5.891km and a race distance of 306.198km. The lap record here is held by Mark Webber who clocked 1:33.401 in 2013. The Silverstone Circuit is at Silverstone, Towcester, Northamptonshire, England.
