British GP data: McLaren vs Red Bull, Ferrari in trouble? Aston Martin revival?

After a Friday with changing conditions, the teams have given us a first glimpse of how the British Grand Prix weekend is shaping up.

The first two practice sessions at the Silverstone circuit have given us some initial data that allow us to get some ideas and questions after a busy two-week period of eye-catching performance trends and surprising changes in the grid order.

McLaren holds the early edge over Red Bull

McLaren has made a promising start to the British GP. Lando Norris, after fighting for victory in Austria and being forced to retire, is sure to want revenge against Max Verstappen at Silverstone.

The Papaya team has shown a very good pace in both one lap and long run. A 1-2 in FP2 with Norris and Oscar Piastri confirms this first affirmation.

And also, Norris’ race simulation with the medium tyre was slightly ahead of Max Verstappen’s with an average of one tenth of a second per lap advantage.

Of course, this must be taken with a pinch of salt as we don’t know the fuel load and the engine map each car ran with. But the feeling is that McLaren has a slight early performance advantage over Red Bull.

Haas upgrades look promising

The Haas team after an incredible weekend in Austria has arrived at Silverstone with a big package of upgrades: new floor body, floor fences, floor edge, sidepod inlets, engine cover, mirror stay and wing rear corner.

A total of seven modifications to the old car with the team looking to maintain high top speed and improve aerodynamic efficiency.

A package that has already borne its first fruits with a fourth place finish for Nico Hülkenberg and a positive feeling for the team in terms of running time, Oliver Bearman helped during the long runs in FP1 with the hard tyre and gave good feedback for the American team, while the German tried the medium tyre and later the soft tyre in FP2.

Ferrari struggling again: a step behind Mercedes

Ferrari was one of the few teams that did not bring any changes to their car for Silverstone.

And the Italians need to keep evolving their car because right now they are one step behind Mercedes and two behind Red Bull and McLaren. The numbers don’t lie.

In the fast sector 2 of fast hairpin corners the SF24 continues to suffer. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc each drove with a different spec.

The Spaniard with the pre-Barcelona aero version while Leclerc used the new spec that was introduced in Spain and that didn’t give the expected results.

Aston Martin back in the midfield pack?

FP1 was a surprisingly strong session from Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll looked much more comfortable than in the last two weekends with the AMR24.

Speaking to DAZN’s Spanish broadcast, Aston Martin ambassador and former F1 driver Pedro de la Rosa confessed that Alonso is happier with the car’s performance, but is concerned about tyre overheating once Sector 3 arrives.

No doubt this will be an aspect that all teams will be looking at in qualifying to optimise their lap times.

In terms of race simulations, Aston Martin seems to be close again to Haas and Alpine. All three are within a tenth of a second per lap. At the home GP of all the team members, it is certainly the best scenario to get back on a positive trend.

Will the rain come to spice things up?

The threat of rain this weekend is going to be constant. FP2 ended with light rain in the last minutes. And the weather forecasts also maintain the possibility of rain tomorrow and, especially, on Sunday.

In a weekend that already promises to be exciting by itself, the rain could be one more element to elevate the show to another level and pack the whole grid together even more.

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