FERRARI
Local hero Peter Collins finished second that day , having taken over the car of Alfonso de Portago after his own retired . In 1958 he would score a famous win in his own right , heading home team mate Hawthorn . Sadly Collins was to lose his life two weeks later at the Nürburgring .
By the end of the 1950s , the British marques had become a dominating force in the sport , and Ferrari ’ s British form duly suffered . Wolfgang von Trips won at a wet Aintree with the 156 ‘ Sharknose ’ in 1961 , but after that there was a 14-year drought . John Surtees stood on the podium three times for Ferrari , but he never managed to win , and in later seasons even when the team had a competitive car elsewhere it struggled to log a victory here .
It came closest at Brands Hatch in 1974 , when Lauda was robbed by a late puncture . The drought was finally ended when the Austrian triumphed at the same venue two years later , but only after Hunt was disqualified .
Carlos Reutemann added another Brands success in 1978 prior to a further long run of 11 years without a Ferrari victory in the UK . The streak was broken when Alain Prost won here at Silverstone in 1990 , a day that saw his frustrated team mate Mansell hastily announce his retirement – a decision that was later reversed when he signed for Williams .
The Michael Schumacher era brought Ferrari a lot of Silverstone success . The German triumphed in 1998 – somewhat controversially after he served a penalty on the last lap – before breaking his leg in a crash at Stowe the following year . He would return and win again here in 2002 and 2004 , with team mate Rubens Barrichello adding another victory in between in 2003 .
Kimi Räikkönen triumphed at Silverstone during his successful 2007 title campaign , while further successes were added by Fernando Alonso in 2011 and Sebastian Vettel in 2018 . Sainz logged the most recent victory in 2022 , having started from pole .
So what of this season ? Under the stewardship of Fred Vasseur the team has made genuine progress , with the Frenchman gradually putting all the pieces into place .
The cars were fast last season , but had a tendency to use up their tyres in races . In a year otherwise dominated by Red Bull , the only non RB success was logged by Sainz in Singapore .
The tyre issue was addressed for this year , and the cars have consistently been close to the front , although McLaren ’ s strong form means it ’ s no longer just about chasing Max Verstappen and Red Bull . However , Sainz won in Australia before Leclerc added an emotional victory from pole in his hometown of Monaco .
‘ We made a pretty good step forward on tyre management ,’ says Vasseur , who took charge at the start of 2023 . ‘ Last year , we had a clear picture of the situation , that we were performing poorly . We were struggling on some corners , while less so on some others .
‘ We worked on our weaknesses , and we made a good step forward . Perhaps we damaged the pace in qualifying a little bit compared to last year , but we ’ ve seen the benefits in races , and in the end , we ’ ve scored more points than last year .’
That overall improvement in form has been a boost for the whole camp , and the team now believes that it can regularly challenge for victories .
‘ It ’ s self-confidence for the drivers and for the team ,’ says Vasseur . ‘ As soon as you are in a position to win , you pay more attention to details , and it is a kind of snowball effect . This is part of the improvement of the last six or seven months , and we have to continue like this .
‘ I ’ m convinced we ’ ll have different tracks with different layouts with different characteristics that suit McLaren or Red Bull more , and we have to make sure we score strong points when we are not at the top .
↘ Michael won here in 2002 and 2004 , his team mate Rubens in 2003 and Kimi would be victorious in Ferrari colours in 2007 !