Alvin's Formula One Blog

When it comes to Formula 1, every second matters — especially when you're Lewis Hamilton, driving in front of your home crowd at Silverstone Circuit, aiming to deliver Ferrari’s first podium of the season. But sometimes, it's not the driver, not even the car, but circumstances that get in the way. And in the case of the 2025 British Grand Prix, Lewis was denied his first podium in red — by strategy miscalculations, slippery conditions, and one critical technical failure: a complete loss of GPS. For a man who has made a career out of mastering wet-weather conditions and thriving under pressure, this one hurt — not just for Lewis, but for every Lewis fan hoping to see him stand on that Silverstone podium draped in Ferrari red. The Start Of A New Era With Ferrari Lewis’s move to Scuderia Ferrari was the headline of the 2025 F1 season. A seismic shift. After over a decade with Mercedes, the seven-time World Champion decided to chase glory with the most iconic name in Formula 1. The...

Austria Weekend: Lewis Solid in Scorching Conditions In blazing heat at the Red Bull Ring, the Austrian Grand Prix was a punishing test of skill and strategy. Against blistering track temps and Mercedes-level competition, Lewis pulled off a solid P4 — impressive under the circumstances. Both Ferraris launched on medium tyres and executed a two-stop race — first cycling to hards, then back to mediums for the sprint finish. Right from the lights, Lewis was locked into an all-out scrap with Russell, Alonso and a hungry mid-pack. Tire wear was the headline — a challenge Ferrari has been tackling all season — and Lewis managed it better than his team-mate. He stayed close to Leclerc in pace, capitalizing on consistent laps and allowing Ferrari to lead the one-two team narrative. But it wasn’t all smooth into the final third — Lewis had to nurse brakes through the twists, reporting overheating issues that throttled his pace . Despite this, he delivered a composed stint, only dropping four pl...

The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire in England. The British and Italian Grands Prix are the oldest continuously staged Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. It was designated the European Grand Prix five times between 1950 and 1977, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. All British Grands Prix dating back to 1926 have been held in England; where the British motor racing industry is primarily located. Silverstone is one of the oldest races on the calendar and started life as an airfield. The end of Second World War left Britain with no major race track. An ex-farmer, James Wilson Brown, was employed by the RAC and given just two months to turn the site from a wartime airfield and farm into a race track for the first RAC International Grand Prix. On the 2nd October ...

The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire in England. The British and Italian Grands Prix are the oldest continuously staged Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. It was designated the European Grand Prix five times between 1950 and 1977, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. All British Grands Prix dating back to 1926 have been held in England; where the British motor racing industry is primarily located. Silverstone is one of the oldest races on the calendar and started life as an airfield. The end of Second World War left Britain with no major race track. An ex-farmer, James Wilson Brown, was employed by the RAC and given just two months to turn the site from a wartime airfield and farm into a race track for the first RAC International Grand Prix. On the 2nd October 19...

Here is the winners vs losers piece by Andrew Davies of PlanetF1. Original article HERE . It was a feast of brilliant overtaking at Silverstone with immaculate passes into Brooklands, Luffield, Copse, Stowe and Club: STAR OF THE RACE Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1st Given the kind of start he got in Austria last time out, it was always likely that Lewis would have clear sight of his team-mate early in the race. And rather than put the hammer down straight away, he sat back and let the gap to Rosberg go out before pegging it back. Yet again he got the faulty pit-stop, 4.1 seconds compared to 2.7, but on the hard tyre he was over a second quicker than Rosberg. However by then Nico had got his downshift problem, (although Nico still claimed a Fastest Lap on Lap 21 with the problem). It was one of those days when Hamilton looked totally dialled in, and Rosberg's retirement spoiled what could have been a lot of fun. One more retirement for Nico and a few...

The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire in England. The British and Italian Grands Prix are the oldest continuously staged Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. It was designated the European Grand Prix five times between 1950 and 1977, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. All British Grands Prix dating back to 1926 have been held in England; where the British motor racing industry is primarily located. Silverstone this year will be interesting on a number of levels; with the teams using the hybrid turbo cars on the track for the first time, as it’s one of the lowest braking energy circuits on the calendar; only 9% of the lap is spent braking, so harvesting energy for the MGU-K unit will be an interesting challenge. Silverstone has the fastest corner combinations on t...

This article was written by Matt Coch of Pitpass and is re-produced here in full. In-season testing is set to return next season under a revised set of regulations ratified by the World Motor Sport Council. While many of the new regulations are expected, such as engines having to last five Grands Prix instead of the current four, some are entirely new. POINTS PENALTIES FOR DRIVERS Following much the same lines as road drivers, F1 drivers will receive points on their license for driving offences. It's a system the FIA has been silently running throughout the 2013 season as it looks for a more structured and consistent method of penalising drivers. For 2014 if drivers accumulate twelve points in a twelve month period he will be forced to sit out a grand prix. A one-point penalty will be handed out for less serious offences, increasing to three points for the most serious. IN-SEASON TESTING Teams are currently prohibited from testing during the se...

The British GP is coming up this weekend and promises to be a special race for British fans as there will be 4 British drivers on the grid. It will be a homecoming race for them all and especially interesting for Lewis Hamilton fans as this will Hamilton's first time racing in F1 at Silverstone not in a McLaren. Hopes are high that he can score massive points and maybe even win it after doing so 5 years ago in 2008. In celebration, Mercedes Benz as most other brands and sponsors are running a host of competitions and promotions. This particular one is interesting as it is directed at you Lewis fans out there with the opportunity to win signed Lewis stuff. Mercedes-Benz is creating a virtual Silverstone racetrack asking the Twitter community to tweet #GoodLuckLewis messages in order to power his F1 car around the Silverstone track, to help him qualify for Sunday’s race. They're calling on the F1 racing community to show their support for Lewis in full force and provide him...

The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire. The British and Italian Grands Prix are the oldest continuously staged Formula One World Championship Grands Prix. It was designated the European Grand Prix five times between 1950 and 1977, when this title was an honorary designation given each year to one Grand Prix race in Europe. Silverstone Circuit is a British motor racing circuit next to the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border, with the current main circuit entry on the Buckinghamshire side. The Northamptonshire towns of Towcester (5 miles) and Brackley (7 miles) and Buckinghamshire town of Buckingham (6 miles) are close by, and the nearest large towns are Northampton and Milton Keynes. Silverstone is the current home of the British Grand Pri...

Mercedes-Benz is searching for reporters to attend their sponsored events and report on it for the brand in their own unique and original way. Recognising we’re all Social Reporters these days, from Twitter to Facebook and Instagram, Mercedes-Benz are giving fans the chance to invigorate their timelines with amazing content opportunities at this years British Grand Prix and The British Open. Launching with Formula 1, the winner will be able to attend the Silverstone Grand Prix and document the experience, a pretty great prize for any racing or sports fan. This would be a great competition for everybody so Mercedes Benz would love it if you could spread the word and inspire your followers to get out there, create and share their racing moments and become a Social Reporter for Mercedes-Benz. The competition submissions end on the 19th, with voting commencing on the 20th – 24th June. Sorry about this late post but was busy. Enter #SocialReporter and you'll get VIP access, inte...

This is an article written by my guest this week, Tom Jeffries author of BMX Racing with an interest in motorsports photography and Formula 1 on behalf of Puma hotels . It's about certain tracks which can be street viewed via Google. Interesting. Have you ever wondered what the tarmac on the Curva Parabolica at Monza looks like? How about the apex at Stowe corner? Well wonder no more – we take you through the tracks you can look at on Google Street View. Silverstone, Britain  Where better to start than our home Grand Prix? The Street View bike (yes, bike!) follows the Nissan pace car (which makes an appearance in every photo round the track) around the circuit to give you a look at what it’s like to go round the current version of Silverstone. Due to there not being the usual 100,000+ fans packing the stands, it has a strangely empty look to it. Here is a video as well, looks nice. Monza, Italy  Whilst we know we’ll (unfortunately) never dri...

At the conclusion of its second season in F1 since its return, Pirelli has issued a range of statistics relating to tyres, circuits, pit stops, overtakes and just about everything else… even mascarpone! TYRES Total number of tyres provided for the season: Race tyres: 31,800 of which 22,500 dry tyres and 9,300 wet tyres plus an additional 6,600 for the tests (not including development tyres) Of which (for race tyres only): supersoft: 6 % / soft: 25 % / medium: 21 % / hard: 17 % / intermediate: 18 % / wet: 11 % / 2 % development tyres Total numbers of tyres used: Dry tyres: 21,400; wet tyres: 2,100 Number of tyres recycled during 2012: All, i.e. 31,800 race tyres plus 6,600 test tyres Average life span of a dry compound this season: 180 km Average life span of a wet compound this season: 140 km TRACKS, RACES AND TESTS Longest continuous energy input into a tyre: India (turn 10-11) Longest race of the year: Malaysia in 2h 44:51.812 Shortest race of the year:...