“Unprecedented,” “painful” and “sad” were just some of the words used by drivers to describe what a lap of the Silverstone circuit will be like in the latest generation of Formula 1 cars.
The home of the British Grand Prix has long been a favourite circuit among drivers for its fast, sweeping corners, but F1’s new regulations are expected to sap the enjoyment from this weekend’s qualifying sessions as drivers focus on managing battery power over driving flat out.
New power unit regulations for this season have put added emphasis on electrical power, with nearly 50% coming from the car’s battery and the rest coming from its internal combustion engine (ICE).
Multiple drivers have complained about the need to manage or harvest electrical energy in fast corners this season so as not to deplete the battery for the following straight.
The layout of the Silverstone circuit, with multiple flat-out corners leading on to long straights, is expected to show up the limitations of the new cars far more than recent races.
“I think this is going to be an unprecedented weekend in terms of the power deployment,” Lewis Hamilton said on Thursday. “All us drivers have been talking in the drivers’ group chat just how poor the power is going to be through this track.
“We run out of battery power. There’s only a few corners to charge the engine, so the [MGU]-K will be switched off for a large portion of the lap.”
Hamilton’s Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, said the bravery that was once needed for a flat-out lap of Silverstone has now been diminished.
“I think most of the drivers feel probably a bit sad,” Leclerc said. “Seeing the speed trace, also trying the track at the simulator, these were tracks where actually, I think, the bravest ones in qualifying made a difference, because you get into the high-speed corners with quite a lot of power and you need to play with the limits of the car at very high speed.
“Now the high-speed corners are more medium-speed corners, because we have a lot of clipping [battery saving]. So yeah, I don’t know exactly what to expect. I have an idea, but I’m pretty sure it won’t feel as special as it used to be.”
Last weekend, four-time champion Max Verstappen said he could not help but laugh when he first drove a lap of Silverstone on Red Bull’s simulator.
Speaking on Thursday, Verstappen added that the layout of the circuit isn’t compatible with the current cars’ power units.
“Because of how we generate our power nowadays, this track layout, unfortunately, it’s just not suited for it because of all the continuous long straights and fast corners, you don’t really dab the brake or whatever, so you can’t really recharge enough,” he said.
“When you rely only on the ICE, you don’t have enough power. So, in a lot of races around the lap, you basically just slow down a lot because that layout is just not made for the current formula of the engine. I think it’s just as simple as that.
“Some corners are completely different than last year, for example, and that also makes it a lot more easy to get around the lap, but at the same time, it’s quite painful because all your inputs matter even more. It’s just, what can I say, not the most exciting.”
The lack of power is expected to be particularly pronounced through the legendary section of corners known as Copse, Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso said the high-speed section would become a “charging station” for the car’s battery as it derates to recover energy.
“I think when you have the derate on the corner, it is a worse experience than just at the end of the straight,” Alonso said. “Because you used to have, in your memory, you used to remember those corners being very challenging and you used to feel the G-forces and you are physically demanding into those corners.”
Hamilton also rued the loss of excitement from the same section of track.
“Honestly, I think it is going to be huge. If you look at the speed traces, we start losing deployment going into Copse,” he said.
“So normally the engine’s screaming as you’re going into Copse and you’re holding on for dear life as you go through there flat out. This year, the engine will be coasting down, most likely we’ll be downshifting from eighth to seventh whilst full throttle, trying to keep the engine revs higher.
“It’ll be a long, long straight from [Turn] 9 to 10 with no deployment, basically. And then Maggotts and Becketts is not going to feel the same because I think you have to lift and coast or something through there for a period of time. So it’s just a completely different track.”
