2020 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

Previous race

Hamilton won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone despite his left-front tyre delaminating in the closing stages of the final lap. Verstappen finished second, Leclerc third. Bottas suffered a puncture and finished eleventh. Daniil Kvyat had a tyre failure at high speed entering Maggotts, resulting in a heavy crash and a safety car. Carlos Sainz Jr. fell from a potential fourth to thirteenth after a late puncture.

Between-race developments

The stewards’ verdict on Racing Point’s brake ducts was published between the two Silverstone races. The ruling found that Racing Point had illegally copied the brake ducts from Mercedes’ 2019 W10. Racing Point are penalised 15 Constructors’ Championship points and fined €400,000. Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, and Renault have indicated their intention to appeal for a tougher sanction; Racing Point have indicated they will appeal to clear their name.

Entrants

Pérez tested positive for COVID-19 again ahead of this race, ruling him out for a second consecutive weekend. Hülkenberg replaces him again.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the C2, C3, and C4 compounds — softer than the C1, C2, C3 selection used at the British Grand Prix the previous week. The change is designed to force teams to use the three practice sessions rather than relying on data from last weekend, and to create strategic differences between the two races. Minimum tyre pressures are increased following the punctures seen at the British Grand Prix. Plans to run 2021 prototype tyres in the second practice session are scrapped to allow teams more time to optimise their race packages with the new pressure limits.

Practice

The first practice session passed without incident, ending with Bottas fastest ahead of Hamilton and Verstappen. Hamilton topped the second session ahead of Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo. Towards the end of the session, Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari and Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo both suffered engine failures, with Giovinazzi’s bringing out the red flag and ending the session early. The third practice session ran uninterrupted, ending with Hamilton fastest ahead of Bottas and Lando Norris.