STAR FORMULA 1 PREVIEW: British Grand Prix 2026

A jam-packed summer of British sport is well underway, and a record crowd is set fair to enjoy this weekend’s British Grand Prix, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.

Things have changed a lot since last year’s epic race, won by Lando Norris as his title rival Oscar Piastri incurred a 10-second penalty for erratic safety car braking and Nico Hulkenberg delighted the Formula One world with his first podium in a thriller. We have very different cars, a different pecking order, and a clear title leader at the moment – but nothing can be taken for granted at one of the most iconic venues in motorsports.

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2026 British Grand Prix 
Silverstone, Towcester, Northamptonshire
1️⃣ Practice one: Sky Sports F1, 12.30pm Friday
🔥⏰ Sprint Qualifying: Sky Sports F1, 4.30pm Friday
👟  Sprint: Sky Sports F1, 12.00pm Saturday
⏰ Qualifying: Sky Sports F1, 4pm Saturday
🏆 Race: Sky Sports Main Event HD and F1, 3pm, Sunday

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The Story So Far

The 2026 season ushered in Formula One’s biggest technical overhaul in more than a decade, with new power units, active aerodynamics and smaller, lighter cars transforming the racing.

🔋 New Power Units

The MGU-H has been scrapped, with almost 50% of the car’s power now coming from the electrical system. Drivers also have much greater control over battery deployment during races.

🌱 Sustainable Fuel

All teams now run on 100% sustainable fuel, allowing Formula One to retain its turbocharged V6 engines while significantly reducing emissions.

🏎️ Smaller, Lighter Cars

The new regulations introduced shorter, narrower and lighter cars to improve agility and make wheel-to-wheel racing easier.

🪽 Active Aerodynamics

Movable front and rear wings switch between high-downforce and low-drag modes, helping increase straight-line speed while reducing drag.

⚡ The Racing So Far…

Mercedes have adapted better than anyone to the new regulations, with rookie Kimi Antonelli emerging as the standout driver and championship leader, for all that he’s had a clearer run at times than George Russell, now second having won the Austrian Grand Prix. Ferrari have also taken a significant step forward due to their excellent chassis, with a back-to-form Lewis Hamilton making history with a famous win in Barcelona, while McLaren and Red Bull have struggled to consistently match the pace shown under the previous rules. Hamilton is loving life with the SF-26, whilst Charles Leclerc, having started the season well, has struggled with his brakes and car setup direction recently. That said, both are working on upgrading their challengers. Red Bull have managed impressive weight reductions and appeared to take a major step forward in Austria, where McLaren didn’t bring their practice pace to the main Sunday. Alpine have taken a big step forward whilst Racing Bulls have also benefitted from a very impressive performance from Red Bull and Ford’s powertrains to be amongst the leading lights of the midfield. Williams and Aston Martin have been the biggest disappointments, with an overweight and delayed car costing Williams badly whilst Aston Martin have been behind even newcomers Cadillac after a horrendous start with vibrations that threatened to cause nerve damage to their drivers’ hands. They are waiting for a major upgrade to arrive around Hungary but it looks unlikely to take them past anyone.

🔧 FIA Tweaks Already Made

After feedback from teams during the opening races, the FIA has introduced a number of technical directives and regulation tweaks, including adjustments to energy deployment, active aerodynamic operation and floor flexibility tests to improve reliability, reduce safety concerns and ensure closer competition across the field.

🏁 New Manufacturers

2026 has also marked Audi’s arrival as a full works Formula One team, Ford’s return through Red Bull Powertrains, Honda’s official partnership with Aston Martin, and Cadillac’s debut as the championship expands to an 11-team grid.

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Race winners/Pole Sitters:

Standings 📊

Driver / Car / Points:
🇮🇹 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 171 pts (5 wins, 7 podiums)
🇬🇧 George Russell (Mercedes) – 131 pts (2 wins, 4 podiums)
🇬🇧 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 125 pts (1 win, 4 podiums)
🇦🇺 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 80 pts (2 podiums)
🇬🇧 Lando Norris (McLaren) – 79 pts (2 podiums)
🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 79 pts (2 podiums)
🇳🇱 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 73 pts (2 podiums)
🇫🇷 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) – 42 pts
🇫🇷 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – 41 pts (1 podium)
🇳🇿 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – 30 pts

Constructors:

⚪ Mercedes – 302 pts (7 wins, 11 podiums, 16 Top 10 finishes)
🔴 Ferrari – 204 pts (1 win, 6 podiums, 15 Top 10 finishes)
🟠 McLaren – 159 pts (4 podiums, 15 Top 10 finishes)
🔵 Red Bull – 115 pts (2 podiums, 14 Top 10 finishes)
🔷 Alpine – 57 pts (1 podium, 10 Top 10 finishes)
⚫ Racing Bulls – 44 pts (10 Top 10 finishes)
🟡 Haas – 21 pts (6 Top 10 finishes)
🔵 Williams – 11 pts (4 Top 10 finishes)
🟢 Audi – 2 pts (1 Top 10 finish)
🟢 Aston Martin – 1 pt (1 Top 10 finish)
⚪ Cadillac – 0 pts

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Track Guide 🚦

One of the most historic circuits in World Racing, Silverstone – formerly Royal Air Force Silverstone – was turned into a motor racing circuit organised by the Royal Automobile Club in 1948. The first race was held there in October of that year (with 100,000 fans in attendance), and on May 13, 1950, Silverstone Circuit was the track chosen for the inaugural race of the new FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Silverstone has undergone many changes, and the most important of them took place in 1991. This was when Maggots, Becketts, and Chapel Curve were introduced, making one of the most famous sequences in all of motor racing.

2010 saw slight modifications in the track made to certain circuits, but otherwise nothing’s changed since, and it’s widely acknowledged as one of the best tracks in the world.

A 5.8km track with 18 turns, Silverstone is one of the highest speed tracks on the circuit and tests both car and driver immensely.

The highest speed sections are the Wellington Straight (after Aintree, which is Turn 5), Hangar Straight (after Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel, which are turns 10-14), and the Hamilton Straight (the home straight, which is named after Sir Lewis Hamilton, a nine-time winner here).

There are overtaking opportunities at almost every stage of the lap, and tyre management is vitally important.

The new generation of cars manage energy very differently from their ground effect predecessors – with electrical power now accounting for almost half of the car’s total output and the removal of the MGU-H, drivers have to carefully manage battery deployment over the course of a lap rather than relying on a constant flow of hybrid assistance.

This means that around high speed circuits with long full throttle sections like Silverstone, – – think of the Red Bull Ring, Suzuka, Spa and Monza, whilst there were sections of Albert Park and China that saw this – when cars have to cover a significant distance without having the opportunity to harvest energy under braking, whether in a straight line or in a high-speed corner where significant braking isn’t required, we have the phenomenon of super clipping, where cars charge the battery against the engine on the straight, while staying on full throttle.

Silverstone, with four straight mode zones, is one of the most demanding and fastest tracks on the calendar, and will push this to the max. The recharge limit has been pulled back from 7.5MJ to 6.5MJ for qualifying, with 8MJ in the sprint and grand prix, but one can still expect there to be charging before the Wellington straight, Brooklands to prepare for Copse, and also a top up expected before Maggotts and Becketts due to the length of the Hangar Straight. With precious little braking between Luffield and Stowe, expect to see a very different style of driving through some of the most iconic sections of the circuit.

The impact of the reduced drag has also made straight-line speed critical – an area where Mercedes in particular, Red Bull and VCARB have all excelled. McLaren performs better than Ferrari on this point but have struggled with the efficiency of the Mercedes HPP compared with their works rivals.

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Weather 🌥️

Friday – FP1 and Sprint Qualifying

Conditions: Expect a sunny day with temperatures ranging from 12°C in the morning to a high of 24°C, accompanied by moderate winds averaging around 15 km/h and gusts possibly reaching 35 km/h. There’s no chance of rain as a ridge of high pressure builds over the area, providing dry conditions for racing. Lastly, track temperatures may reach the low 40s during the afternoon given ample sunshine, otherwise expect track temperatures to top out around 39°C if conditions are cloudier.

Maximum temperature expected: 24 Celsius
Minimum temperature expected: 12 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%

Saturday – Sprint and Main Qualifying

Conditions: This is currently set to be warmer, with temperatures ranging in the mid-20s and no rain expected. If high pressure evolves further southwest, allowing more unstable west to northwest condtions to fly over Northampton and the general area, rain showers would likely persist north of the circuit, and crucially breezy afternoon conditions will develop, with common gusts from 35-45 km/h and peak gusts perhaps approaching 50 km/h. A track temperature reaching near 40-41°C could trend higher given greater afternoon sunshine as well.

Maximum temperature expected: 26 Celsius
Minimum temperature expected: 15 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%

Sunday – Race

Conditions: The current forecast from F1’s own website suggests excellent weather for racing. A peak of 24°C is expected with track temperatures reaching at least the low 40s again amid a potential mix of clouds and sun. Winds will remain moderate at an average speed of 15 km/h with gusts up to 35-40 km/h.

Maximum temperature expected: 24 Celsius
Minimum temperature expected: 16 Celsius
Chance of rain: 0%

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Pre-Weekend Selections

The nature of Silverstone and the demands it puts on the car should play right into the hands of Mercedes, whose W17 has been the class of the field with seven race wins out of eight, the one exception being Barcelona where a stunning Lewis Hamilton drive and upgrades to Ferrari’s challenger proved to be just enough.
A sprint weekend presents an extra challenge for the grid with only one practice to prepare for the action but based on what we’ve seen so far the stage is set for another battle between championship leader Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

Max Verstappen’s heavily upgraded Red Bull showed exceptional pace at points during the Austrian Grand Prix and with their straightline speed continuing to be a strength (they were judged to have F1’s best engine, although Red Bull are contesting this due to the fact they would not receive ADUO upgrades due to that verdict), they can also look forward to a strong weekend here.

Friday will tell us a lot about the exact nature of the pecking order but the Mercedes are the clear team to beat and Kimi Atonelli can serve the gauntlet down to Russell once again this weekend. It’s impossible to know if he’d have beaten Russell to pole but for the single yellow flag in Austria but he was right there on pace and was faster on time during the race despite a terribly messy opening couple of laps.

Russell was managing his pace to preserve tyre life later on but Antonelli had the eight fastest laps in the Grand Prix and 11 of the 15 quickest, continuing a trend where he generally has been the quicker driver since Austria. Russell has had some poor strategy and bad luck but 13/8 on Antonelli for sprint pole – he’s taken two of the three sprint poles so far and was only marginally beaten by Russell in Canada – and then 6/4 for the race victory on Sunday make strong appeal.

The upgraded Red Bull impressed in Austria as said previously and it’s worth remembering that Max Verstappen was the only driver to challenge the McLaren pairing before conditions and downforce eventually got the better of him, with a phenomenal pole lap and competitive pace before a spin after the safety car restart to boot. Verstappen is behind Lewis Hamilton in the betting, a position that’s surprising given Ferrari’s straightline speed deficit to the Red Bull in Austria – Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton recorded only 325 km/h, leaving them 6 km/h slower than Verstappen and 4-5 km/h behind Mercedes – whilst the lack of low speed corners here (there are barely any here) will make a fairytale result for Hamilton difficult despite the brilliant form he’s shown this season.

Verstappen is 7/10 for a podium on Sunday and 13/10 for a sprint podium, both prices which look fair enough based on track characteristics and upgrade performances. Also, eagle eyed betters might notice that George Russell has a 7-4 advantage in Q1 sessions this year – so some might be interested in 11/5 on him to win Q1.

These subjects can’t be discussed without discussing McLaren, who have been the third best team this season so far arguably for all that they’ve had reliability issues that have wrecked Lando Norris’ title defence with three DNF’s so far (one of them a DNS in China). Norris is arguably driving as well as he ever has – in Miami and Barcelona particularly he was outstanding – but a variety of components have them behind Mercedes, Derrari and arguably an upgraded Red Bull at the moment.

Speaking of the Red Bull-Ford engine, the Racing Bulls are having a fine season at the head of the midfield, with Liam Lawson in a rich vein of form and Arvid Lindblad proving the team right to step up in at this age. They’ve had double points finishes in the last two rounds and 15/8 on them doing the same again looks very fair.

Williams have endured a very tough season after the promise of excellent results last year for a team in the midfield and despite a set of upgrades arriving this weekend, they look far away from the points. That said their intra-team battle presents an opportunity – Carlos Sainz leads Alex Albon 9-2 in the head-to-heads for all qualifying sessions so the 4/6 that Sainz gets the better of Albon in sprint qualifying makes plenty of appeal.

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BACK Carlos Sainz to beat Alex Albon 3 pts at 4/6 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)

RECOMMENDED BETS – Grand Prix
BACK Kimi Antonelli 5 pts win at 13/8 (⭐ ? CLICK TO BET NOW)
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PROFIT/LOSS (JULY 2026): PROFIT +1.81 points

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