F1 Driver Form: British Grand Prix

Max Verstappen finished on the podium at both of 2020’s Silverstone races, taking victory in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Verstappen has one further podium finish at Silverstone, having also finished in second in 2016. Last year, Verstappen’s British Grand Prix came to a premature – and controversial – end, following a collision with Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap. Verstappen suffered further retirements in 2015 and 2018, but has finished in the top five on all of his five finishes at the track.

The Red Bull driver took pole position at Silverstone for the first time last season, qualifying on the front row here for the first time. 2015, when he qualified 13th, is the only occasion on which he has not reached Q3 at the circuit – as well as the only time that he has not qualified in the top five. 2015 is also the only time he has been out-qualified by a team-mate at the track.

Sergio Perez returned to Silverstone in 2021 for the first time since 2019, having missed both races in 2020 after testing positive for coronavirus. Perez has not scored at Silverstone since finishing tenth in 2018.

His best result here is sixth, recorded with Force India in 2016. He has scored points on five occasions at the British Grand Prix. Perez recorded DNFs in 2012 and 2013. He was out following a collision with Pastor Maldonado in 2012, and fell victim to Pirelli’s tyre failures at the circuit in 2013.

Perez has reached Q3 only three times at Silverstone, qualifying in seventh in both 2014 and 2017 before setting the fifth fastest time in 2021. However, Perez ultimately qualified last for last year’s British Grand Prix, being the only retiree from the Sprint Qualifying event. Perez has out-qualified his team-mate here only twice; in 2017 and 2019.

Lewis Hamilton took his eighth home victory at the 2021 British Grand Prix. From the last nine races a the circuit, the 2018 British Grand Prix and the 70^th Anniversary Grand Prix are the only races which Hamilton has not won. In those two races, he finished as runner-up.

Hamilton has never failed to finish at the track, with a worst result of 16th in 2009. Hamilton’s qualifying record at Silverstone is just as impressive, with 2009 again being the only year that he has failed to qualify in the top ten.

A run of four successive pole positions was ended by his team-mate in 2019 by the narrowest of margins. He last took pole here at the 2020 British Grand Prix. Since 2012, the 2018 British Grand Prix is the only Silverstone race in which Hamilton has not led a lap.

George Russell has a 100% finish rate at Silverstone, with a best finishing position of 12th in the 2020 and 2021 British Grands Prix. He finished 14th in 2019 and 18th in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020.

After qualifying on the back row in 2019, Russell reached Q2 and qualified in 15th in both of 2020’s races at the track. However, he started at the back for the British Grand Prix after failing to slow for yellow flags during the qualifying session. He reached Q3 in 2021, setting the eighth fastest time. He went on to qualify ninth as a result of Sprint Qualifying. He then started 12th on the grid following a three-place penalty for a collision with Carlos Sainz in the sprint race.

Prior to Formula 1, in F3 in 2015, Russell won the second race of the Silverstone meeting. He won the first of the two races in the GP3 series at the track in 2017, and finished fourth in the second. In 2018, Russell finished as runner-up in both the F2 Feature and Sprint Races at the Silverstone Circuit.

Charles Leclerc very nearly won the 2021 British Grand Prix, leading for much of the race. He ultimately finished in second place, recording his best result of the season. It was his third podium result at the British Grand Prix, having finished third in both 2020 and 2021.

Leclerc’s first British Grand Prix appearance in 2018 did not go to plan, as he retired following a botched pit-stop. He had been performing well up until that point, reaching Q3 on Saturday and qualifying in ninth place. He has a 100% Q3 appearance rate at the circuit, with a best qualifying result of third in 2019. He is yet to be out-qualified by a team-mate at the circuit and, in the four races which he has finished here, is yet to lose a position from where he has started.

In 2015, Leclerc raced at Silverstone in Formula 3, where he took a win in the third race. Leclerc appeared in Free Practice 1 for the 2016 British Grand Prix with the Haas team and finished on the podium in GP3 in both races that weekend. In 2017, he won the F2 Feature Race here.

From eight Silverstone appearances, Carlos Sainz has scored on three occasions. His best result here is sixth, recorded in 2019 and 2021. His only other points scoring appearance was in 2016, when he finished eighth. Sainz has recorded three retirements here, his most recent being in 2018.

Sainz has reached Q3 on four occasions at Silverstone, but has qualified in the top ten only once in the last six Silverstone races. His best qualifying result here is seventh, recorded at the 2020 British Grand Prix.

Sainz has not out-qualified his team-mate at Silverstone since 2016. Last year was only the second time, after 2019, that Sainz has finished in a better position than where he started.

Daniel Ricciardo has had one podium finish at the British Grand Prix, and has finished in the points at Silverstone in all of the last six seasons. While the latter statement is true, he scored in only one of 2020’s two races at the circuit. While he finished fourth in the British Grand Prix, he came home only 14th in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

Ricciardo made his Formula 1 debut at this track in 2011 with the HRT team. His only podium here so far came in 2014, when he finished third, while his only retirement at the circuit came in 2015. In the last nine seasons, 2017 is the only time that Ricciardo has failed to reach Q3 at Silverstone. He was out in Q1 due to power unit issues. Ricciardo’s best qualifying result at the circuit is fourth, scored in 2016.

After finishing just outside of the points on his home Grand Prix debut in 2019, Lando Norris scored in both races at Silverstone in 2020, recording a best result of fifth at the British Grand Prix. He finished ninth in the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. He bettered that with fourth place in 2021.

Norris has reached Q3 on all four appearances at Silverstone, with a best qualifying result of fifth at the 2020 and 2021 British Grands Prix. He is yet to be out-qualified by his team-mate here.

Norris has previously won at Silverstone, taking victory in the first race of the F3 meeting at the track in 2017. In 2018, Norris competed here in F2, finishing tenth in the Feature Race and taking a podium finish with third in the Sprint Race.

Fernando Alonso has won the British Grand Prix twice – in 2006 and 2011. He has four further podium finishes at Silverstone, his latest being a third place finish for Ferrari in 2013. 2003 and 2017 are the only years in which Alonso has retired from the British Grand Prix. He has scored points here on his last two visits, with eighth place in 2018 and seventh in 2021.

Alonso has taken three pole positions at Silverstone – in 2005, 2006 and 2012. He last reached Q3 at the circuit in 2016, but qualified in seventh place last year as a result of Sprint Qualifying. That was his best qualifying result at the circuit since his pole in 2012. From his last twelve British Grand Prix outings, 2017 is the only year in which Alonso was out-qualified by his team-mate.

Esteban Ocon has scored on all five appearances at Silverstone, recording his best result so far at the track in the 2020 British Grand Prix, with sixth place.

The 70th Anniversary Grand Prix marked the first time that he failed to reach Q3 at the circuit, qualifying in 11th place. In that session, he also picked up a three place grid penalty for impeding another driver. He also failed to reach Q3 last year, but moved into the top ten during Sprint Qualifying.

His best qualifying result at Silverstone is eighth, recorded on his first F1 visit to the track in 2017. 2018 is the only year in which Ocon has out-qualified his team-mate at Silverstone.

Pierre Gasly has scored points on two of his five appearances at Silverstone. He recorded what was at the time a career-best fourth place at the 2019 British Grand Prix, before finishing seventh for AlphaTauri at the 2020 British Grand Prix. Gasly holds a 100% finish rate at the track.

The Frenchman has reached Q3 here twice, qualifying in fifth for the 2019 race and seventh at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Gasly also raced here in GP2, scoring a podium in the 2015 Sprint Race and victory in the 2016 Feature Race.

Since his victory at the 2018 British Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel has scored only one point at Silverstone, with tenth place in the 2020 British Grand Prix. Last year, Vettel recorded his third retirement at the circuit, having also retired in 2008 and 2013. He has recorded five podium finishes at Silverstone, winning in both 2009 and 2018.

Vettel took two consecutive Silverstone poles in 2009 and 2010, and also started from the front row in 2011, 2014 and 2018. The 70th Anniversary Grand Prix is the only time in his 15 appearances that he has failed to reach Q3 at Silverstone.

Lance Stroll has scored in all of the last three F1 races at Silverstone, with a best result of sixth place in the 70^th Anniversary Grand Prix. He failed to score in his first three appearances at the circuit, but holds a 100% finish record here.

He reached Q3 at the venue for the first time in 2020, qualifying in sixth for both the British and 70^th Anniversary Grands Prix. It was the first time he was not eliminated in Q1 at the track, as well as the first time he out-qualified his team-mate here – though he was helped somewhat by Nico Hulkenberg deputising with short notice. He was out in Q2 last year, qualifying six positions behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Valtteri Bottas is yet to win the British Grand Prix, but has finished as runner-up three times. He finished in second place in 2014, 2017 and 2019. He also finished on the podium with third places finishes at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix and the 2021 British Grand Prix.

While Bottas has a 100% finish rate at Silverstone, he failed to score in the 2013, 2016 and 2020 British Grands Prix. He suffered a puncture in the late stages of the 2020 event.

Bottas qualified in 17th in both 2013 and 2014, but has reached Q3 in every year since, taking his first pole position at the track by a small margin in 2019. He also took pole for the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020. Bottas has not finished a Silverstone race in a better position than where he started since 2017.

Kevin Magnussen has failed to finish on four of his seven appearances at Silverstone – including all of his last three outings at the track. Magnussen’s best result here came in his maiden season, in 2014, when he finished seventh. His ninth place in 2018 is the only other time that he has scored points here.

2014 and 2018 are also the only times that Magnussen has reached Q3 here. His best qualifying result at the track is 2014, when he qualified fifth for McLaren.