Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, Paul Hembery: “Silverstone always produces some exciting races and there’s a fantastic atmosphere to the whole event, which is why they call it the ‘home of British motorsport’. Our tyre nomination for this race will give the teams the durability they need to cope with the demands of the circuit, thanks to the hard tyre, and also the speed with which they can demonstrate their pure performance, with the soft tyre. How they use that combination will of course be the basis of the strategy: the teams that feel they have a significant performance advantage might choose to do a series of sprints on the PZero Yellow soft tyre, whereas other teams could conclude that they might be better off staying out for longer on the PZero Silver hard tyre. The choice of strategy will naturally have an effect on qualifying as well as the race, so on Saturday we should already have a clear idea about what the teams are doing. Whichever tactic the teams choose – whether it’s multi-stopping or longer endurance runs – they should all end up fairly close together by the end of the race, which has been one of the most intriguing elements of Formula One so far this year. But of course it’s very hard to make accurate predictions, as Silverstone is one of the many circuits that we have never tested on. In Britain it can rain at any given moment too, which obviously throws all forms of strategy out of the window.”
Paul Di Resta (Force India F1 Team): “It will feel very special to come to Silverstone for my first British Grand Prix as a Formula One driver. It’s probably going to be my biggest race to date and I know it’s going to be a very busy weekend. I remember driving in free practice last year and the atmosphere was just incredible. The grandstands are always packed and the British crowd is so enthusiastic about Formula One. It’s a great lap and a place where you can really feel a Formula One car excel through the quick corners like Copse, Maggots and Becketts. And this year, with the new layout, there’s a high-speed end of the lap, so it will be interesting to see how the tyres hold on in qualifying. Any high-speed track is always demanding on the tyres because of the high cornering loads. So looking after the tyres is sure to be a key factor for the weekend and getting the strategy spot on will be critical. Getting a good understanding on the tyres over long stints will be a priority during free practice.”
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