This weekend F1 is heading back to where it all began – Silverstone Circuit for the 76th world championship British Grand Prix.

It’s a 5.891km track with 18 corners and two DRS zones set on an old World War Two airfield. While you may expect this to mean that it’s flat all around the lap, there’s actually 11.3 metres of elevation change – most notably out of Stowe (Turn 15) before dropping down to the final two corner sequences of Vale and Club.

Speaking of Stowe, Vale and Club, as a track with a rich history it’s one where every corner has a name – most of which acknowledge this history itself. As an example, Turn 1, or Abbey, is named after the 11th century monastery remains that were discovered close to the circuit.

The straights also have names – Wellington (from turns 5-6) after the Vickers Wellington bombers aircraft that used the strip as a training base during the second world war, and Hamilton (the start/finish straight) named in honour of Lewis Hamilton in 2020.

Silverstone’s almost 80 year history as a motor racing circuit also means it’s seen many different layouts, with the current and most recent being used since 2011 following the creation of the now iconic ‘the Wing’ pit building and movement of the grand prix pit lane to connect Club and Abbey.

It created a highly technical track that’s a real driver’s challenge with its high speed, rapid changes of direction through sections such as Maggotts and Becketts and Chapel. These generate very high lateral forces that put pressure on the tyres but also mean that the drivers experience some of the highest G-forces on the calendar. In fact, the Maggotts-Becketts complex sees the drivers subjected to up to 5G.

All of this means that it’s a track where Formula 1, and its cars, really come to life.

Compound range

This year, as we’ve seen a few times already, Pirelli have moved the compound range a step softer in an effort to create increased strategic variation and tempt the teams to consider a two stop race – against what’s been typically the case here.

The C2 will be the hard, the C3 the medium, and C4 the soft. Pirelli are hoping that having what was last year’s soft as the medium this year will mean it plays a more critical strategic role for the teams. Last year, it was used as the soft by 13 drivers through the field, mostly following the period of rain and intermediate running from the mid-phase of the grand prix. Its maximum stint was 19 laps by Ocon in the Alpine who opted to open his race on this red-walled tyre.

But the constructions of the tyres have undergone changes from last year to this to increase their durability and minimise the impact of overheating and graining on their performance. So while the C3 is still in play at Silverstone this year, the evidence from its use so far in 2025 indicates that it is a durable, all-rounder, middle of the road compound.

Even so, Pirelli are hoping that where a team wants to run a one-stop race using the medium they will have to manage their stints more carefully and “accept a longer total race time”, according to the manufacturer themselves.

What happened in 2024?

Last year’s race was one of mixed conditions that meant all slick compounds, plus the intermediates, were used throughout the field. The track being dry to begin with meant the majority of drivers opted for the medium at the start, except for Ocon and Zhou who ran the soft, and Perez who ran the hard from his pit lane start.

The rain started to fall around lap 15 and those who’d started on the yellow-walled C2 were able to benefit from its increased flexibility in managing the crossover and deciding when to make the stop for intermediates.

This moment came between lap 26 and 27 for most of the field, but Leclerc, Ocon, Perez and Zhou had already switched for the intermediate much earlier on lap 19. This gave them almost no benefit in the end though as they all boxed again for new intermediates in that more typical window of lap 26-28 as their existing intermediates were too worn to last through the worsening conditions. The rain was never as intense as had been seen during FP3 the day before, which increased the wear rate of the intermediates to begin with.

Ten laps later the track had sufficiently dried to allow the drivers to move back to the slicks, with most opting for the softs, some returning to the mediums, and Verstappen and Sainz being forced into running the hards by the allocations they had remaining for race day – namely with no more new or used mediums, and no new softs. It was a decision that ultimately compromised Verstappen’s ability to chase down Hamilton for the lead or win once he was past Norris in the closing stages.

Hamilton emerged victorious, claiming a ninth win of the British Grand Prix to secure his record as the driver with the most wins of a single grand prix in F1 history.

The weather

As is always the way in the United Kingdom, the weather will be a critical consideration for the teams and drivers this weekend. The forecast is suggesting a rain affected Saturday or even Sunday at Silverstone, so expect the intermediates or even the extreme wets to feature over the weekend. Where we see a wet qualifying, but also in the event of a wet race, managing the crossover period and final moment will be vital.

Temperature will also play a significant role – where it’s cooler, expect the Mercedes to come alive, but if it’s warmer, the McLaren’s typically superior tyre management will play into their favour.

Unfortunately making any concrete weather predictions for the British Grand Prix is incredibly tough, as its a volatile, open environment that infamously has its own microclimate, with showers and sun appearing independently of the surrounding areas.

A dry race in Silverstone is usually a one-stopper, with even the soft being in play in that case in the past – for Verstappen in 2023 for example. Whether that will remain the case with Pirelli’s softer selections this year will be interesting to see!

The British Grand Prix begins with free practice 1 at 12:30 local time on Friday July 4th. The rest of the timings for the weekend are as follows (all in local time):

• FP1: Friday 4th July, 13:30-14:30
• FP2: Friday 4th July, 16:00-17:00
• FP3: Saturday 5th July, 11:30-12:30
• Qualifying: Saturday 5th July, 15:00-16:00
• British Grand Prix: Sunday 6th July, 15:00