Car changes galore at British GP

The British Grand Prix is the second race on the Formula One calendar in which teams usually plan to update their cars, the first one being Spanish Grand Prix, the opening race in the European leg of the season.

It is also the "home" race for nine of the 12 teams, making it easier to acquire car parts, too.

Silverstone is a high-speed track that is similar to Barcelona's track, making it an aero-efficient circuit. This means that any aero-related car updates, such as wings or floors, will have a big effect on a race.

However, this race has lost some significance this season, because the field has been so close. Teams have had to be very aggressive in their updates, meaning that almost every team will be taking new parts to the European races.

One team that have shown ominous speed in the last race was Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel's pace in the first half of the race, before he retired, was staggering.

Red Bull have brought in a new exhaust and side-pod arrangements, and they will start as favourites this weekend.

You can also count on British teams, like McLaren and Lotus, to bring in lots of goodies to their "home" Grand Prix, and they will be reasonably optimistic and competitive.

The track has many long high-speed corners, and that makes it one of the more enjoyable circuits for drivers to race on.

With Pirelli supplying the soft and hard tyres, and the race's cooler conditions, tyre degradation should be less of a problem than it was in previous races.

As it is difficult to overtake cars on the Silverstone circuit, viewers can expect teams to go for one or two pit stops.

It will be a different challenge from the last three circuits, which have all been street tracks of some kind, where the emphasis had been on mechanical grip and traction.

The high-speed nature of this track may throw up some different teams at the front, like Williams, perhaps, as driver Pastor Maldonado is expected to do well this weekend.

I think that Ferrari will be very competitive this weekend. They may be leading the drivers' championship with Fernando Alonso, but that is due to the brilliance of the driver, as the car has not been a pole-position contender all year.

The fast track will suit them and, with the memory of Alonso's win here last year, Ferrari will be the most confident they have been all year about fighting for pole position.

While it looks like there are about 10 possible winners at each race this season, I think that only Vettel and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton are capable of completing a streak of wins.

They are the two drivers that Alonso will be keeping a close eye on, from now till the end of the championship.

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