F1 Team Form: Silverstone

Alfa Romeo scored the first ever F1 victory at Silverstone in 1950, only one Mercedes car has failed to finish on the podium in the last four seasons and Ferrari are the most recent winners of the British Grand Prix. Here’s how the teams’ histories compare at Silverstone!

Mercedes

Mercedes ended a five-year streak of British Grand Prix victories last season. While their winning streak ended, the team still visited the podium at the Silverstone track for a tenth time, with Lewis Hamilton finishing as runner-up. The team have never left Silverstone without scoring a point, including in their only appearance here in their first stint in the sport, in which Juan Manuel Fangio finished fourth. Nico Rosberg’s retirement as a result of a gearbox failure in 2014 remains Mercedes’ only retirement at the Silverstone circuit.

Mercedes have taken pole position seven times at Silverstone, including in all of the last six seasons. The team locked-out the front row at the track in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg’s thirteenth places in qualifying here in 2011 and 2012 are the only occasions in Mercedes’ ten visits to the circuit where one of their drivers have failed to qualify in the top ten.

Ferrari

Ferrari have been present in every Formula 1 race at Silverstone, aside from the inaugural race in 1950. With fourteen wins here, Ferrari have taken more victories at Silverstone than any other team. The team won the British Grand Prix for the first time since 2011 with Sebastian Vettel in 2018. The team have scored podium finishes in six of the last eight races at the circuit, while Kimi Raikkonen’s third place last season gave Ferrari their first double podium appearance at Silverstone since 2004. Since 2000, Raikkonen’s crash in 2014 is the only occasion where a Ferrari driver has failed to finish the British Grand Prix, as well as only one of four occasions where one of the team’s cars has failed to pick up points at the event in the last eighteen years.

Ferrari have taken pole position at Silverstone on eleven occasions, most recently with Fernando Alonso in 2012. The team have recorded front row starts in each of the last two seasons here, with their other driver starting just behind in third on both occasions. There have been just four seasons where neither Ferrari driver has reached the final part of qualifying. This happened most recently in 2014. Aside from that year, Felipe Massa is the only other Ferrari driver to have failed to reach Q3 here, being eliminated in Q2 in both 2009 and 2013.

Red Bull

Red Bull have won the British Grand Prix three times – the first time with Sebastian Vettel in 2009 and twice with Mark Webber in 2010 and 2012. Their 1-2 finish in 2009 marked the first time Red Bull had scored points at the track, and they went on to finish on the podium with at least one car in all of the next six seasons. Since then, however, Max Verstappen’s second place finish in 2016 is the only time a Red Bull driver has appeared on the podium at Silverstone.

Red Bull have taken three pole positions at Silverstone, and locked out the front row in both 2010 and 2011. The team have had only two front row starts since then, failing to qualify above fifth at the track in each of the last two seasons. Daniel Ricciardo’s Q1 exit in 2017, the result of a turbo failure, is the only time a Red Bull driver has been eliminated in Q1, as well as the only time one of their drivers has failed to reach Q3 in all of the last ten seasons at Silverstone.

Renault

The Renault team have won at Silverstone twice in their history – in 1983 with Alain Prost and in 2006 with Fernando Alonso. The team have had a further two podium finishes at the circuit, both second place finishes in 1979 and 2005. Since their F1 return in 2016, Renault are yet to see both cars cross the finish line at the British Grand Prix. Nico Hulkenberg has finished sixth at the track in each of the last two seasons – but those are the only two finishes for a Renault driver in the last two seasons. Jolyon Palmer failed to even start the race in 2017 as a result of a hydraulic failure on the formation lap.

Nico Hulkenberg’s fifth place on the grid for the 2017 British Grand Prix is the only time a Renault driver has qualified in the top ten here since the team’s return to the sport. The team have taken three pole positions at the track, and locked-out the front row in 1981.

Haas

Kevin Magnussen scored the Haas team’s first point on British soil last year with his ninth place finish at Silverstone. While the Dane scored points, team-mate Romain Grosjean crashed out of the race, scoring the team’s second retirement at the circuit – the other being in 2016 as a result of a transmission issue on the Frenchman’s car.

While Romain Grosjean reached Q3 for Haas in 2017, last season marked the first time both Haas drivers reached the final part of qualifying at the circuit. Kevin Magnussen scored their best qualifying position at Silverstone to date with seventh on the grid. He’d recorded their worst qualifying position – sixteenth with a Q1 elimination – in the previous season.

McLaren

McLaren have won at Silverstone on twelve occasions, but haven’t finished on the podium at the British Grand Prix since 2010. Between 1985 and 2001, the 1996 and 2000 events were the only ones in which both McLaren cars reached the end of the race, the latter being the team’s only 1-2 finish at the track. Points have been hard to come by for McLaren at Silverstone in recent years, with Fernando Alonso’s eighth place last year being the first time the team have scored at the track since 2015.

McLaren have taken nine pole positions at Silverstone, most recently in 2008, and locked-out the front row in 1989. In the last ten seasons, 2011 and 2014 are the only occasions where both McLaren drivers have qualified in the top ten for the British Grand Prix, while 2015 marks their only double Q1 exit at the circuit. Aside from 2015, 1983, 2009 and 2018 are the only other occasions where neither McLaren driver has qualified in the top ten at Silverstone.

Racing Point (Force India)

With their factory just a stone’s throw away from the Silverstone circuit, the team in all its various guises have always keen to impress at the track. While Jordan’s best result at the track was fourth place – which they scored three times – Force India never finished in the top five at Silverstone, with Sergio Perez’s sixth place finish in 2016 being the team’s best result. Meanwhile, in the last six years, Perez’s eleventh place finish in 2014 is the only time a Force India driver has failed to pick up points at the circuit. Aside from their double DNF on their first appearance in 2008, Paul di Resta in 2012 is the only other Force India driver to have failed to finish the British Grand Prix.

A Force India driver has appeared in the final part of qualifying in every season since 2011, with 2013, 2014 and 2017 being the three occasions where both cars progressed to Q3. The team haven’t recorded a Q1 elimination at the circuit since Force India’s formative years in 2008 and 2009. The team’s best qualifying result here came from Nico Hulkenberg in 2014, who lined up fourth on the grid. It’s a grid position only ever bettered once by a driver for the Silverstone-based team – Heinz-Harald Frentzen qualified second in the Jordan days in 2000.

Alfa Romeo (Sauber)

Alfa Romeo had a starring role in the first ever F1 race, which took place at Silverstone in 1950. Giuseppe Farina took pole position and won the event, with team-mate Luigi Fagioli finishing as runner-up, securing the first of four 1-2 finishes for Alfa Romeo in F1. With Reg Parnell finishing third for the team, it was an all-Alfa podium. Juan Manuel Fangio also scored a podium finish with Alfa Romeo at the circuit in 1951.

The Sauber team recorded their second double DNF at Silverstone, and their first since 1998, last season. The team haven’t picked up a point at the track since 2013, when Nico Hulkenberg finished tenth. Sauber have taken one podium finish at the British Grand Prix. That was in their BMW Sauber days, when Nick Heidfeld finished as runner-up in 2008. 2001, 2006 and 2007 are the only years where both of the team’s drivers have finished in the points at Silverstone.

Charles Leclerc’s ninth place in qualifying last season marked the first time that Sauber had reached Q3 since 2011. The team recorded double Q1 exits in both 2016 and 2017. The team’s best qualifying result here is fifth on the grid, scored by both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Toro Rosso

Toro Rosso haven’t scored points at the British Grand Prix in either of the last two seasons. The team have a best finishing place of eighth at the track, achieved by Daniel Ricciardo in 2013 and by Carlos Sainz in 2016. 2014 and 2016 are the only seasons where both Toro Rosso drivers have scored points at Silverstone, while 2012 is the only other year where both drivers finished the race. The team have recorded double DNFs at the track in both 2007 and 2015.

There have been just six occasions where a Toro Rosso driver has qualified in the top ten at Silverstone, with Daniel Ricciardo scoring the team’s best Silverstone qualifying result in 2013 with fifth on the grid. 2014 is the only season where both Toro Rosso drivers have reached the final part of qualifying, while both drivers were eliminated in Q1 in both 2009 and 2011. Brendon Hartley recorded the team’s first Q1 exit since 2011 last season when he was unable to partake in qualifying due to a heavy crash in Free Practice 3.

Williams

Williams have taken eight victories at Silverstone and won all but one British Grand Prix between 1991 and 1997. While the team led the opening stages of the 2015 race, success at the track has been limited in recent seasons. Valtteri Bottas’ second place here in 2014 is the team’s only British Grand Prix podium finish in the last fifteen years. The team have scored only one point at the track in the last three seasons, with Felipe Massa finishing tenth in the 2017 event. Williams have a good finish rate at the track, with Massa’s 2014 retirement being the only time one of their cars has failed to reach the end of a Silverstone race since 2006.

With eleven pole positions at Silverstone, Williams are tied with Ferrari as the most successful qualifiers at the track. The team have locked out the front row of the grid here five times – more times than anyone else. Williams have had less success in qualifying at the track in recent years, with Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa locking-out the second row in 2015 being a rare highlight. Last season, the team recorded their second double-Q1 elimination at the track as both Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin spun off the track. They started from the pit-lane as a result of overnight changes to their cars.