British Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton says Silverstone will be ‘completely different’ with 2026 cars
Hamilton said: “If you look at the speed traces, we start to lose deployment going into Copse. Normally the engine is screaming as we get in there and you’re holding on for dear life. This year we’ll probably downshift from seventh to sixth to keep the revs higher. It’s going to be nine (Copse) and a long straight with no opening between (Copse) and (Maggotts) 10 (Maggotts).
“The maggots and the Becketts won’t feel the same because you have to go through it for a while and move on.
“So it’s a completely different track. Maybe we can still enjoy it when our power isn’t limited, but the best parts of the track are Copse, Becketts and Stowe and the power drops off in those parts. I hope they can fix that for next year.”
He added that due to the nature of the track, Ferrari’s deficit to Mercedes could be “twice” that of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Some drivers made similar comments to Hamilton.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso said: “With no deployment at all, we can’t forget that this year we have significantly less power than last year and less power than in F2. That’s what it is when you cut deployment. So, yes, it’s (a) challenge.”
But Mercedes driver George Russell, who won in Austria, said it could have a positive impact on race action.
“We know we will have some tracks where straightline speeds will be much higher than last year and some tracks will be more challenging,” Russell said. he said.
“On the other hand, the race could be quite interesting. And on tracks where the energy has been drained so far, Melbourne has been quite exciting, especially in terms of racing.”
“And I don’t think you’d really know unless you watch the internal display. You’ve got 600,000 fans here. I’d say probably 95% of them wouldn’t notice it. And I don’t think even the hardcore fans coming in from the outside would really notice it. When you just watch the internal display, when you listen to it, it doesn’t sound good.”
Russell said the problem was exacerbated by the FIA’s governing body not allowing straight-line mode from Turn One to Turn Three and between Copse and Becketts.
This was done for security reasons. The decision could have been reversed at a meeting on Thursday morning, but five of the 11 teams voted against it.
Russell said: “All the teams had to agree. Five teams were against and I don’t really know why. If anything, you could say the Mercedes teams would be against because we had to have the advantage of deployment. But we were in favor because we thought it would be better. So I drove with and without the simulation and it made a huge difference.”
Sources said some teams had concerns about safety in certain parts of the track where straight mode could be reintroduced.
To alleviate this problem, F1 has made decisions that will change the ratio of the internal combustion engine to electric power in the next two seasons.
