» Formula 2: 2018 Race of Britain Preview

The FIA Formula 2 Championship heads to the historic Silverstone circuit for the final leg of the mid-season triple-header, staging a home event for a number of drivers and teams.

The Circuit

Silverstone Circuit
Location	Silverstone, UK	Circuit Length	5.891 km
Opened	1947	Direction	Clockwise
Capacity	150,000	Lap Record	1:38.427, Charles Leclerc (2017)
2017 Feature Race Winner	Charles Leclerc	2017 Sprint Race Winner	Nicholas Latifi

George Russll (ART Grand Prix): “Silverstone is one of my personal favourite circuits, it’s an incredible track to drive and it’s extremely flowing with a lot of high-speed corners. It’s very tricky to master, and so many corners lead onto another so it’s easy to make a mistake and lose grip. It’s going to be a tricky weekend, it’s a circuit that’s very demanding on the tyres and in the race we’ll have the hard compound so that’s going to be new for all of the teams. It’s one I’m really looking forward to.

“One of the main overtaking spots has to be coming out of the high-speed corners, particularly on the run out of Maggotts and Becketts into Stowe, but also going into Turn 3 – which is a big braking zone after Turns 1 and 2, and there’s a few variants of line going into that corner so it gives the drivers more options to fight for an overtake. The weather’s been pretty decent over the last few years and I’ve never raced here in the rain, so it would be nice to have a clean, sunny weekend – especially for the fans!”

The Event

2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship Race of Great Britain – Schedule
Event Dates	06-08 July 2018	Pirelli Tyres
Free Practice	Fri 11:55-12:40	Qualifying	Fri 16:10-16:40
Feature Race (29 laps)	Sat 15:45-16:45	Sprint Race (21 laps)	Sun 09:20-10:00

Session times quoted in British Summer Time (UTC / GMT + 01:00)

The Form Guide

George Russell now leads the championship standings by a 10-point margin after overhauling this year’s original runaway title leader Lando Norris at last weekend’s round in Austria. Local fans will have an all-British battle at the top of the standings to cheer for, and on current form the momentum is certainly with Russell who has claimed back-to-back pole positions and Feature Race wins in France and Austria.

Among the chasing pack, it would be foolish to discount the likes of Artem Markelov, who vauled into third in the Drivers’ Championship standings thanks to a great pair of races in Austria. The Russian’s major challenge has been in qualifying, and the Renault driver will have to unlock more consistency over one lap if he is to mount a credible threat for the overall championship.