Three Britons can win but Piastri has his own script
Australia's championship leader can still count on plenty of support as a McLaren driver but much of the crowd, and certainly the 10,000 in Silverstone's sold-out 'Landostand', will be cheering more for British teammate Lando Norris.
Norris won Piastri's home grand prix in Melbourne in March, an added incentive for the Australian at Silverstone, and the pair are turning the season into a two-horse race as the campaign reaches the halfway point.
Piastri is chasing a sixth win in 12 races while Norris arrives from Austria on a high after dominating every practice session he took part in, taking pole by a huge margin and holding off his teammate to win.
The two are 15 points apart, with Red Bull's reigning four-times world champion Max Verstappen third overall but now a hefty 61 points off the lead after a first retirement of the season at his team's home track at Spielberg.
"My favourite weekend of the year," said Norris, who has yet to take back-to-back wins.
"It's already a special circuit but to also have my family, friends, home fans and so many of the team there supporting us takes it to another level. I'll try to make sure I give the fans a wave as I drive past."
Piastri recalled he had fans chanting his name at Silverstone not so long ago.
"I am not sure I will get that again but they have always been very accepting of me. I race for a British team. I am expecting that there will be more Lando fans than there are for me but that's fair enough," he said.
HOME HERO HAMILTON
If Norris's support is strong, then Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton will always be the big sentimental favourite.
The last two races have been won by British drivers – George Russell for Mercedes in Canada and then Norris last weekend. Could Hamilton make it three and send the crowd crazy?
The 40-year-old won with Mercedes last year for a record ninth time and taking that tally into double figures, in what will be his first home appearance in the Italian team's red colours, would be something else.
Ferrari are the only top-four team without a win this season, other than Hamilton's Shanghai sprint success, and the seven-times world champion has yet to stand on the podium for his new employers.
He has also gone 13 races without a top-three finish, a career low.
On the plus side, Ferrari were second fastest in Austria with Charles Leclerc third and Hamilton fourth and a new floor seems to be doing what it was supposed to do.
Hamilton usually manages to produce something special at Silverstone, set to welcome a record half-million fans this time over the four days.
Last year he turned up after 52 races without a win and seized one of the most emotional triumphs of his extraordinary career.
Russell, on pole as Hamilton's teammate last year, also has a strong chance – particularly if temperatures cool – and will be eager to bounce back from a tough weekend in Austria.
Italian rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli meanwhile carries over a three-place grid drop from Austria.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Motor racing-Williams see fixes for problems, hope to stay fifth in F1 championship
Formula One F1 - Canadian Grand Prix - Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Quebec, Canada - June 13, 2025 Williams team prinicpal James Vowles during a press conference REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger LONDON (Reuters) -Williams are confident they can fix issues behind recent retirements and expect a car upgrade coming soon to keep them on course for fifth place in the Formula One championship. Team boss James Vowles told Reuters that they understood the brake problem that prevented Carlos Sainz from starting in Austria last Sunday and a fix would be in place for this weekend's British Grand Prix. "The Carlos issue, we're very clear on it, it can be replicated on a rig, it can be understood, and for Silverstone we'll have mitigation in place," he said. An issue that has sidelined Alex Albon in the last two races was more of a challenge but Vowles expected a solution by Sunday. "The issue that Alex suffered was such an instantaneous and rapid problem that it's very hard to replicate," he said at an event in London with sponsor Gulf Oil International for a fan-created livery to be used in Brazil. "Whilst the full detail of why exactly it's happening is not complete, we do have four or five different tests that will allow us to uncover that. "By the time we're going racing on Saturday/Sunday, we're in a good place but it will have compromise on the weekend." Albon has retired from his last three outings, in Spain due to collisions and a damaged car, and then in Canada and Austria due to issues that Vowles said were also seen on Sainz's side to a lesser extent. "There's evidence of it being on the other side of the garage as well. I think sometimes it's very significant and severe and other times it's more manageable," he explained. Williams are 19 points clear of sixth-placed Racing Bulls after 11 of 24 races and 107 behind Red Bull in fourth. Vowles said the upgrade, the last big one of the season, looked substantial on paper and would come either for Belgium or Hungary later this month. "We've been focused in the wind tunnel on '26, we've been trying to be clever about how we develop this upgrade so we'll see where we get to," he said. "We need to make sure the car is reliable, we don't have accidents and we operate it correctly with strategy, pitstops engineering etc. "And all of that put together, even with the car we have today, I'm comfortable we can hold on to fifth in the championship. At the performance step, that should only make our life easier." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Peter Rutherford)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Boxing-Saudi's Alalshikh says Fury will return in 2026
Boxing - Oleksandr Usyk v Tyson Fury - Heavyweight World Title - Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - December 22, 2024 Tyson Fury reacts during his fight against Oleksandr Usyk Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge (Reuters) -Former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will come out of retirement and return to the ring next year, according to Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia's General Entertainment Authority. Fury, 36, called time on his career in January after losing his rematch for the WBA (Super), WBO and WBC world heavyweight titles against Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk. "The 'Gypsy King' will be back!!! I talked with him, and I have his word to have him in Riyadh Season in 2026 ... We have a rabbit to hunt!" Alalshikh posted on social media alongside a picture of him shaking hands with Fury. Fury, whose last three fights were in Saudi Arabia, reacted to the post by writing: "Let's see what 2025 brings" along with dollar signs, a winking face and laughing emojis. He also spoke to reporters at an International Boxing Association event in Istanbul on Wednesday, naming Usyk as the boxer he most wanted to fight if he returned to the ring. "Who would I rather fight, right now? Usyk. Because I want my revenge in England," he said. "I don't believe I've got a fair shout the last two times. That's all I want. I want a fair shout, and I don't believe I've got a fair shout the last two times. "That's the one I want, but if I don't get that then it'd be (Anthony) Joshua, the biggest British fight that will ever happen." (Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Goa; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Italy needs to upgrade ageing stadiums for club revenue boost, Euro 2032
MILAN 's San Siro is one of the most famous stadiums in world football, but the storied home of AC Milan and Inter Milan is showing its age and lags behind what other major European clubs offer their fans. Italy is trying to raise its game when it comes to stadiums, pressed by foreign investors who have acquired a number of clubs including the two Milan giants, and also needing arenas that are fit for purpose when it co-hosts the 2032 Euros, with Turkey. But teams like AC Milan and Inter, as well as Lazio and Roma further south, are struggling to rebuild or renovate, wrangling with public bodies who often own stadiums, and getting caught up in red tape. The result is that only six Italian stadiums were built or redeveloped in the 2007-2024 period, compared with 19 in Germany, 13 in England and 12 in France, according to consultancy firm PwC. 'At the San Siro stadium, we can't cook anything. The little food that we sell is all microwaved three minutes beforehand,' AC Milan Chairman Paolo Scaroni told a PwC Italy event in March. He contrasted it to the situation in Britain, where Tottenham Hotspur's new stadium even features an in-built microbrewery 'because the English like to drink beer, and we can't even cook a plate of spaghetti.' The Tottenham stadium, designed by specialist company Populous, opened in 2019 at a cost of around 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) and features a retractable pitch. It also hosts other events such as NFL games. GOVERNMENT HELP The Italian government is trying to help, with a plan in the works to appoint a special commissioner with power to fast-track projects worth 5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) across different agencies, and speed up preparations for Euro 2032, the first major tournament in Italy since the 1990 World Cup. The Italia 90 tournament, when matches were played at 12 venues across the country, marked the last time Italy embarked on a serious round of stadium upgrades. 'For Italian teams, sports facilities are the real gap with European peers,' said Luigi De Siervo, Chief Executive Officer of Italy's top flight soccer league Serie A. Although crowds have risen to levels not seen since the early 2000s, Serie A clubs generated just 440 million euros in matchday revenue in 2023-24 -- according to a report from Deloitte -- less than half of what England's Premier League earned. 'More modern arenas structurally generate higher match day revenues, they usually have a higher occupancy rate, more food outlets, with different price ranges, and pricier tickets,' said Cristian Celoria, partner at consultancy firm PwC. EURO 2032 CONCERNS Besides frustrating club owners, Italy's lack of progress in redeveloping its sporting infrastructure could harm its role as a co-host of the Euros. Italy must give European soccer's ruling body UEFA a list of five stadiums to host Euro 2032 games by October next year. At present, among the 10 arenas Italy named in its initial bid document, only the Juventus one in Turin -- one of the few club-owned grounds in Italy -- is fit for the tournament, according to a UEFA official. The 41,000-seater venue was completed only in 2011, replacing the Stadio delle Alpi which was built for the 1990 World Cup. Venues needing redevelopment or new builds can be included in the final Euro 2032 shortlist, but the projects need to be fully financed and approved by next year's deadline, said the UEFA official, who asked not to be named. 'The need for a special commissioner is becoming even more urgent, as next year we will undergo a series of checks that may even result in some matches being reallocated to Turkey,' said De Siervo, the Serie A chief. However, the Italian Football Association remains confident it can meet the deadline, with work underway in Bologna and Florence and scope to bring Rome's Olympic Stadium and the current San Siro venue in line with specifications. FATE OF SAN SIRO The San Siro, with its striking spiral staircases wrapped around the outside of the stadium, was one of the symbols of Serie A's golden age in the 1990s, but much like Italian soccer in general, it has seen better days. AC Milan and Inter - owned by U.S. investment firms RedBird and Oaktree respectively - have billed as unfeasible a full revamp of the arena, officially known as the Giuseppe Meazza after a forward who played for both clubs in the 1920s-1940s. AC Milan and Inter are in talks to jointly buy the stadium, built in 1926, and the surrounding area from the Milan municipality as part of a 1.2 billion euro redevelopment including a real estate project. The plan, first presented in 2019, envisages the clubs continuing to use the 76,000-seater stadium until a new one is built nearby. Once that is ready, the old ground would be demolished except for a heritage section comprising part of its second tier. The clubs, however, face opposition from those who would like to preserve one of the temples of Italian soccer. 'It is still a functional stadium. It can be modernised, and we have fought for that, but the problem is that no one is listening to our calls,' said Luigi Corbani, president of a citizens' committee opposing clubs' demolition plans. Even rock stars who love playing concerts in the huge San Siro have chimed in. 'It is the greatest stadium in the world, it has personality, heart and soul,' Bruce Springsteen's guitarist Steven Van Zandt, aka Little Steven, told Italy's Corriere della Sera daily, calling plans to knock it down 'criminal'.
