BRITISH GRAND PRIX RACE REPORT
The British Grand Prix has highlighted the complexities of the new era of Formula One. Be it battery harvesting and intuitive deployment or active aero, these devices place a substantial emphasis on complex algorithms formulated to provide the optimal package for drivers.
It is a new form of Formula One, one which perhaps rewards a driver who is able to drive within a specific parameter lap after lap, same acceleration points, same braking markers time and again to extract the most from those algorithms and intuitive aspects of their machine.
It’s all very reminiscent of Cars 3 and the arrival of the new generation of techno savvy youngsters, led by Jackson Storm, who simply wear down the now veteran Lightning McQueen with ruthless precision.
And we see in Kimi Antonelli and now the likes of Hadjar and Lindblad that new generation. In contrast the likes of Verstappen, Piastri and Leclerc talk more in terms of feelings within the cockpit and the symmetry between driver direction and car response which brings confidence. It was this very point that Charles Leclerc talked of in a post-race interview.
“I was very focused on trying to do a good start and we did,” Leclerc said to Sky Sports after having a less successful launch in the sprint race.
“I was super happy with that. The I was really focused on the car, the feeling I have been getting from the changes I have done for quite some time now.”
“I felt for the first few laps that the feeling was still there from qualifying yesterday and that gave me the confidence to really keep pushing during that first stint. The second stint was less positive and without that issue for Kimi it would have been tricky.”
Antonelli was well on course for his sixth win of the season, having overcome a slow start and a 4 second deficit to Charles Leclerc to close ominously on the lead at a second or so better per lap. It wasn’t a case of ‘if’, but ‘when’.
It took just a small amount of serrated kerb at. Copse Corner to bring his challenge undone. “Something broken on the car,” Antonelli radioed in on Lap 41.
