In the 12th race of 2024, the balance of power at the top of Formula 1 seems to be leveling off for the first time. Wait, what is Nico Hülkenberg doing up there in fourth place ahead of Max Verstappen? McLaren had it much easier than Red Bull on Friday in Silverstone. The training analysis by Motorsport-Magazin.com is a first warning for Lando Norris’ competitors.
Norris took both fastest times on Friday and finished the second practice session 0.331 seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri. Sergio Perez was the first non-McLaren driver and was already more than four tenths behind, Max Verstappen more than six tenths. McLaren was the quickest of the top teams to be eliminated. Only at the start of FP1 was Norris dissatisfied with the balance of the MCL38.
“But over the course of the session we have made some adjustments and are in a much better window,” said Norris. Important in Silverstone, one of the classic driver circuits on the F1 calendar. Many high-speed corners require trust in the car. It is all the more impressive that Nico Hülkenberg took fourth place within just a few minutes with a heavily updated Haas VF-24.
What is Nico Hülkenberg doing up front at Silverstone?
Haas has a completely new underbody, a new sidepod with the now increasingly popular protruding upper lip and other new details on the rear brake cooling on the car in Silverstone. Haas explicitly stated that tackling the high-speed weakness was a goal. In FP1, only Ferrari tester Oliver Bearman drove the package before Hülkenberg was allowed to drive it in FP2.
“You can definitely feel a few differences and it was positive right from the start, but we still need to understand and optimise more,” says Hülkenberg. Such a strong training session on a track with so many difficult high-speed sections is clearly a positive sign. However, fourth place in the final standings should not be overestimated. If you compare Haas with its direct rivals Leclerc in the Ferrari and Hamilton in the Mercedes, they lose a suspicious amount on the straights. This indicates a more revved engine.
Where Red Bull’s problems lie at Silverstone
The real calibers did not turn up the performance so much. Although after the training Norris suspected the competition, especially the weak Mercedes, of playing hide and seek. Less Red Bull. They also do not believe that they have enough reserves to catch Norris – as of Friday evening.
The RB20 only gained time over the MCL38 through the high-speed corners from Copse, via Maggotts, Becketts and into Chapel. Barely more than one and a half tenths. That’s quite a problem when you lose three tenths just in the two slow corners at the start of the lap. “The car slides too much, I think it’s more mechanical,” suspects motorsport consultant Dr. Helmut Marko. The update doesn’t play a significant role. A slightly modified underbody brings barely more than half a tenth.
The balance left a lot to be desired, especially in qualifying trim with soft tires and empty tanks. The RB20 was also a bit too unstable at high speed. Verstappen lost the rear end on his second attempt into Chapel and had to write off a lap that had brought him at least six tenths closer to Norris. Marko’s conclusion: “One to two tenths. As I said, we lost them in sector 1, in turns 3 to 4.”
Verstappen and Norris drive their own Silverstone race
In the long run, Verstappen was, as so often, happier with the balance. Marko’s observation that it is a two-man race is confirmed by the times. The final minutes distort the result somewhat, as a rain shower drifted across the track late on. With slicks, it was still driveable without any problems, but it was slippery, and so the final laps were no longer really useful.
That doesn’t change the fact that Verstappen and Norris were at the front on medium tires. All in all, they were more or less evenly matched. Norris drove better individual times on older tires. The rest of the leading field came in a large block with a small gap behind them. Sergio Perez, who was in a respectable position for the first time in weeks, took third place in the qualifying simulations, but was still clearly not at Verstappen’s level in the long run.
Oscar Piastri also moved away from his teammate. He primarily drove on soft tires, however, and only had the Mercedes and Sainz for company. This is a completely different tire. A good 1.2 seconds faster than the medium on one lap, it is the only one of the three compounds in Silverstone to have a problem with the surface overheating, which immediately results in graining.
A one-stop race is guaranteed, and is also possible with soft tires. Anyone who wants to use the significant soft advantage in terms of time from a standing start must be prepared for significantly more tire management in the first third of the race. Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari only have one set of hard tires and one set of medium tires per driver. McLaren is the only top team to save two medium tires. However, they are missing an additional set of soft tires.
Question mark Ferrari: In test mode on par with weak Mercedes
As mentioned, Norris suspected that Mercedes’ engine mode was very weak after training. But Lewis Hamilton was six and a half tenths short, George Russell seven and a half. That’s quite a big gap. What’s even more surprising is that the team was on a par with Ferrari. The Scuderia was busy with other things on Friday in Silverstone.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz drove two different cars with a mishmash of parts. The track is practically perfect for testing the high-speed bouncing problems caused by the Barcelona update. Test setups are no fun in terms of performance, as Leclerc noted: “It wasn’t particularly fast, but it was productive. Now we’re looking at everything.”
“It seems like Red Bull and McLaren are way ahead,” says Leclerc nonetheless. Mercedes didn’t seem to need any experiments to avoid being particularly fast. “FP2 was a difficult affair,” wonders George Russell after a positive first practice session. “It was much windier and I don’t think we got the tires in the right window. Which could explain a lot of that.”
Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, who have not yet found a setup sweet spot, are in for a pretty complicated night. They cannot look at the problems in isolation. On the one hand, Pirelli is theorizing about increasing the tire pressures for safety reasons. The cars are significantly faster than the simulations predicted. This could exacerbate the graining problem on the soft tires.
There is also rain in the air. As is usual at Silverstone, no one really knows when it will come, but everyone is firmly convinced that Formula 1 will not be able to avoid it. This must also be taken into account when calculating the ideal downforce level. Too much of it could be very costly in the dry.
Surprises in the backfield? Opportunities for everyone at Silverstone
We can now come full circle with Haas. With their new parts, they are definitely well positioned for the battle in the midfield. Williams was surprisingly good on the long runs, as Alex Albon also noted: “We experimented a lot with the setup and tires. The long run looked very promising. That shows that the pace is in the car.”
Valtteri Bottas also showed signs of life for Sauber with a twelfth place in qualifying trim. The gaps at the back are narrow. It is really not possible to make any predictions here yet.