<
        >

          British Grand Prix diary: Lewis Hamilton meets Spider-Man, Kimi's most Kimi moment

          • Nate Saunders
            Close
            Nate Saunders
            General Editor, F1
            Follow on X
          • Laurence Edmondson
            Close
            Laurence Edmondson
            F1 Editor
              • Joined ESPN in 2009
              • An FIA accredited F1 journalist since 2011
          Jul 11, 2019, 12:15 PM

          SILVERSTONE, U.K. -- The Formula One paddock is a busy place that hosts a lot of serious business over a race weekend, but this here we try to bring you some of the news stories you might otherwise miss ahead of the British Grand Prix.

          Positive vibes

          Lewis Hamilton isn't far from home this weekend and, as always at Silverstone, he's been soaking up the adulation of the British support since he arrived. He's got a famous guest with him this weekend -- young British actor Tom Holland, who plays Marvel's Spider-Man, is attending the race for the second year in a row.

          Mistaken identity

          Haas development driver Pietro Fittipaldi must have grown used to have a famous surname -- his grandfather Emerson won two world championships and an Indy 500. The Brazilian youngster is at Silverstone this weekend as part of his role with the team.

          During Friday practice, he was identified incorrectly on the F1 world feed, although he laughed it off on Twitter.

          Kimi goes for a ride...

          Kimi Raikkonen is usually a new meme waiting to happen. The Iceman has cultivated a cult status in his career for not really caring much about formalities -- an incident early in the opening practice session seemed to fit this image perfectly.

          After grinding to a halt in his Alfa Romeo, Raikkonen climbed out of the car and eventually sat on the front of the chassis, holding onto the Halo with one hand and steering with the other as the track marshal wheeled the car back to a place it could be recovered properly. He appeared to point in the direction he was pushed, suggesting he had simply asked to be rolled back with the car.

          Daniel Ricciardo later did exactly the same thing when his Renault broke down in FP2. His answer on why suggests Raikkonen might have simply been following instructions from the marshals.

          When asked if he had seen Raikkonen do it earlier that day, Ricciardo said: "No, they told me! I'd never done it [before].

          "I was helping them push and they said 'can you steer it?'... I was like 'OK, not sure that's my job, but anyway!' I was pushing it and he said 'no, sit on it and steer it'. So yeah, I just did what they told me so they must have told Kimi to do the same thing.

          "I was ordered to do it and I thought 'shit, this guy's gonna hit me in a minute'..."

          Hamilton takes Sir Frank for a spin, Lando reduced to tears

          Usually drivers don't get out on the circuit until Friday at a grand prix weekend, but Lewis Hamilton was on track on Thursday in Silverstone. Mercedes and Williams arranged for the five-time world champion to drive Sir Frank Williams on a hot lap in a Mercedes S 63 Convertible. Hamilton spent the majority of the lap going sideways before completing a series of donuts in the run off area at the final corner.

          Williams is celebrating his 50th year in the F1 paddock

          During the same session, Lando Norris was giving ex-F1 driver Johnny Herbert a lap in the McLaren 720s. Clearly keen to impress, he slid the car through the Maggots and Becketts, but as he reached Chapel (the third corner in the high-speed sequence) lost the rear of the car and ended up in the gravel. The mistake saw Norris beach the bright yellow 720s and Herbert borrow a spade from a marshal to try to dig it out. Eventually a recovery truck arrived on the scene to lift the car away.

          It followed a memorable appearance in the press conference for the young English rookie driver, in which he was reduced to tears of laughter by F1's biggest joker.

          During a question to Lewis Hamilton about his mixed levels of support in the U.K., which he joked might be because he can't grow a moustache similar to Nigel Mansell, Daniel Ricciardo made a slightly lewd comment to the 19-year-old Norris. We'll let you find the content of the joke somewhere else online, but you can enjoy Norris' response to it here...

          Leclerc loses... to himself

          After missing out on victory in Austria, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc experienced another defeat ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix. After buying a new copy of the official F1 video game, he went up against himself in the virtual world as he started a new season in career mode.

          "I've actually just bought Formula One 2019 and I was playing against myself yesterday," he said. "I lost! I beat myself! I'm not a huge simulator gamer, but I like doing it when I have some free time. But I'm not into it in the same way Lando and Max are."

          However, Leclerc revealed he had won the F2 title in the game, meaning he has won that title in both reality and virtual reality.

          Look who's back...

          Jenson Button returned to the cockpit of the Brawn F1 car he drove to the 2009 world championship ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

          The Englishman conducted a demonstration run with the famous BG001 car that claimed the title in fairytale circumstances. The team had been saved from the ashes of Honda's withdrawal from F1 at the end of 2008 and saved by Ross Brawn, who is now sporting chief of the championship.

          Button won six of the first seven races of the campaign and held off a mid-season resurgence from Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull to seal the championship.

          Button took to the circuit on Thursday morning in the white and florescent green car, which famously ran for most of 2009 with minimal sponsorship on it. Button wore the matching helmet he designed for that campaign.

          The demo took place before the circuit opened to the public and will be shown on UK TV channel Sky Sports ahead of Sunday's race.

          The British Grand Prix takes place following Monday's announcement of a new five-year deal between Silverstone and F1, which will keep the race at the famous Northamptonshire circuit until at least 2024. Silverstone hosted the first race of the F1 world championship in 1950.