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Formula 1: Looking back at the last five British Grands Prix

By Kevin Nguyen

NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JULY 16: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes F1 WO8 leads Kimi Raikkonen of Finland driving the (7) Scuderia Ferrari SF70H, Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB13 TAG Heuer and the rest of the field round the first corner at the start during the Formula One Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone on July 16, 2017 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Will Taylor-Medhurst/Getty Images)
NORTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - JULY 16: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes F1 WO8 leads Kimi Raikkonen of Finland driving the (7) Scuderia Ferrari SF70H, Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing Red Bull-TAG Heuer RB13 TAG Heuer and the rest of the field round the first corner at the start during the Formula One Grand Prix of Great Britain at Silverstone on July 16, 2017 in Northampton, England. (Photo by Will Taylor-Medhurst/Getty Images) /
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Formula 1 returns to Silverstone Circuit for the British Grand Prix on Sunday. Is there anything from recent history that can tell us about the 2018 race?

“It’s coming home” is now popular phrase among English fans at the World Cup in Russia. It could also be applied to the British Grand Prix, a staple on the Formula 1 calendar since 1950.

The 2018 race will be the 31st consecutive British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit, and it could be the penultimate race at the track, as Silverstone’s contract ends in 2019 and very little dialogue has occurred between the British Grand Prix organizers and Liberty Media.

In recent years, a German team with a British driver have had a monopoly on success at Silverstone. :Lt’s find out if history can repeat itself in 2018 by looking at the last five British Grands Prix.

2013

As the home favorite, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton started on pole, which was his first home pole after he left McLaren. Hamilton led the grid away and early optimism was high that Hamilton would win at home again after his maiden British Grand Prix victory in 2008.

Unfortunately, a puncture while he was leading on lap seven dropped Hamilton to the back of the grid. Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel took over after Hamilton’s misfortune before succumbing to terminal gearbox issues late in the race, gifting the race Hamilton’s teammate, Nico Rosberg.

2014

The 2014 race was a thrills and spills race from lights out, as Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen spun near turn five after going wide, and he crashed into the barriers. The race was red flagged and the barriers and guard rails were fixed before the race resumed. Once the race resumed, it was due to Rosberg’s gearbox problems that allowed Hamilton to finally win on his home soil for the first time in six years.

2015

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2015 was the year in which Hamilton guessed right and Rosberg guessed wrong. With Mercedes\ two drivers starting on the front row, the only thing that could potentially liven up the race was the weather.

Fortunately, late in the race, bad weather was predicted. While Rosberg pitted for medium tires and cut Hamilton’s lead down, Hamilton waited an additional lap to pit for intermediate tires, which was just as the rain started to soak the track.

On wet weather tires, Hamilton had the grip he needed to pull out a larger gap, as Rosberg struggled for grip before taking intermediate tires the following lap. The miscalculation resulted in a 10.956-second margin of victory for Hamilton and his second straight British Grand Prix win.

2016

Unlike 2015 when the track encountered bad weather late, the hope in 2016 was that the track would dry up quickly to allow for more overtakes. Unfortunately, the rain stayed around longer than expected and while it didn’t cause any problems for race leader Hamilton, it caused plenty of problems for Rosberg, as he lost out to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for P2, although his battle to try to regain the position from the young Dutchman was very entertaining.

2017

In 2017, Hamilton started on pole and won his fifth career British Grand Prix. The win was the fifth consecutive British Grand Prix win for Mercedes. While Mercedes ended the day with a 1-2 finish, how they did it was a little bit due to luck and Valtteri Bottas’s comeback drive from P9. The luck part of the equation was due to the fact that both Ferrari drivers, Vettel and Raikkonen, suffered tire punctures late in the race and within two laps of one another. That allowed Bottas to claim P2 while Raikkonen settled for P3 after coming in for new tires with two laps to go. As a result of the misfortune behind him, Hamilton finished 14.063 seconds ahead of his teammate.

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During the V6 hybrid era, Mercedes have been unstoppable at Silverstone. This has allowed Lewis Hamilton to tie Alain Prost and Jim Clark for the most career British Grand Prix wins with five. Can Hamilton win the race for a record six times on Sunday? He’ll need to win to recover from the disaster in this past Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, but at least history is on his side.

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