The former World War II aerodrome often produces interesting racing, with its high-speed corners exercising the quality of car and driver, but the British race also represents the begging of the critical middle phase of the year during which Formula One teams make a spate of long-term decisions.
For some teams Silverstone and the subsequent month will be the timeframe in which they decide to move resources from the development of the current car into improving next year’s challenger.
The decision is a critical one for midfield teams, which do not have the capacity to develop two cars at once. To continue development this season could boost your points haul and prize money in the long-term, while reappropriating for next year can deliver a bigger performance jump up the championship table next year.
For the likes of Mercedes, which has the luxury of a car that is performing well this year and that will serve as a solid baseline for next season, this decision will be an easy one – the 2015 car can serve as a test bed later in the year for 2016 parts without any material impact on results.
Ferrari faces the emotional decision of choosing between pushing Mercedes this season, which it has been able to do only occasionally, or make a big push for 2016 performance in the hope of overhauling the soon to be double world championship squad.
Further down the grid and the decision becomes more arduous. Red Bull Racing is in desperate need of results, which it believes are more likely to come its way at the chassis-dependant Silverstone and Budapest circuits this month, but similarly knows that this season’s car is of limited potential, certainly with the Renault engine bolted into the back.
Coupled to those variables is the uncertainty surrounding the commitment to the sport of team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, who sensationally declared that this year’s poor results have sucked from him his love of the sport and will to continue. How to appease the wielder of the chequebook is now the primary concern for this once great team.
Silverstone similarly represents the beginning of the month in which driver contracts will be closely examined for value. The Formula One silly season is only just warming up, and a number of contenders are already staking claims or fending off their detractors.
The key to the driver market will likely be Kimi Räikkönen, whose future with Ferrari remains in doubt.
His contract with the Scuderia expires at the end of the year, and though noises from team principal Maurizio Arrivabene early in the season suggested the Finn might have his tenure extended, his qualifying performances have left much to be desired and his race performances have dropped off dramatically.
Chief amongst those bidding to replace him are Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hülkenberg, especially with the latter adding victory at Le Mans to his already impressive CV.
Valtteri Bottas, on the other hand, has played an integral part in revitalising the Williams team, and has undoubted speed and driving nous.
The dark horse of the equation is Daniel Ricciardo, who continues to toil in his Red Bull Racing machine after his breakout 2014 season.
If Ricciardo was ever going to break away from his Red Bull roots, 2016 might be the season. It wouldn’t be surprising if Arrivabene were on Ricciardo’s frequently called list…
The next four weeks will be critical to the rest of 2015 and the 2016 season beyond it, and it all kicks off with the classic British Grand Prix this weekend.