British Grand Prix Preview - 2008.

For motorsport fans in the UK, the British Grand Prix is the most important date on the racing calendar, and with question marks over the event's long-term future [see separate story - click here], the 2008 edition this weekend could just be the last of a dying breed.

On the back of a brace of frustrating and ultimately fruitless outings in Montreal and Magny-Cours - failures to score that have cost him the world championship lead - Lewis Hamilton arrives at Silverstone with a point to prove, and a memory to efface.

This time twelve months ago, he pulled a sublime last-gasp lap out of the bag in qualifying to stick his McLaren-Mercedes on pole position around the Northants circuit by barely a tenth of a second, but a misguided strategy and poor balance in the race - the legacy of having failed to test in the week leading up to the grand prix - saw the young Briton fall back to a distant and disappointed third place at the chequered flag.

Not only has the 23-year-old made no such similar mistake a year on, but he indeed blitzed the final day of the group test at Silverstone last week, with no other driver capable of getting within seven tenths of his time, proving that he means business in no uncertain terms.

Team-mate Heikki Kovalainen has also signalled his intent to challenge for the top step of the rostrum this weekend, having finally got his season back on-track again by charging through the pack from a penalised tenth place on the starting grid in the French Grand Prix just under a fortnight ago to cross the finish line fourth. The young Finn impressed at Silverstone last season by seeing off infinitely more experienced Renault team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella to collect two points for seventh position, though he will be hoping for a rather loftier result twelve months on.

Standing in McLaren's way, however, are world championship pace-setters Ferrari, who courtesy of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen have wrapped up five of the opening eight grands prix of the campaign to the Silver Arrows' two, both of which were delivered by Hamilton.

Whilst Massa has yet to finish higher than fifth in five previous outings at Silverstone, his 2007 result came from the very back of the grid following qualifying woes, and the Brazilian will doubtless be keen to preserve his advantage in the drivers' standings this time around.

Normally phlegmatic team-mate Raikkonen, for his part, has confessed to feeling 'nostalgic' when he visits the former airfield [see separate story - click here], scene of past successes for the Finn in both Formula Renault and, last year, F1. He too is sure to mount a strong challenge, on the back of failures to score in both Monaco and Montreal, and a lost victory at Magny-Cours when his exhaust pipe came loose, allowing Massa past to steal the win - and with it the championship lead.

Behind Ferrari and McLaren, BMW expect themselves to be in no-man's-land, unable to challenge the leading two teams - as was the case in France - but equally far enough ahead of the chasing pack to have the status of 'third-best' all to themselves. Canadian winner Robert Kubica can as usual be relied upon to drag every last inch of performance out of the Munich and Hinwil-based outfit's F1.08, and will be ready to pounce on even so much as the slightest error from any of the drivers ahead.

It will be interesting, meanwhile, to see if Nick Heidfeld is beginning to get to the bottom of his qualifying concerns, that have seen the experienced German struggle to keep pace with his Polish team-mate thus far in the campaign, consequently raising question marks about the 31-year-old's future at the squad.

In the midfield pack, the usual suspects are likely to be found, with Red Bull Racing, Toyota, Renault and Williams all disputing the final points-paying positions amongst themselves.

RBR and Toyota seem to have perhaps distanced themselves a little way ahead of their immediate pursuers in this group, with Jarno Trulli's podium finish in France a timely fillip for Toyota, the Japanese manufacturer mourning the tragic loss of its first team principal Ove Andersson in a rallying accident last month. The Italian is on superb form in 2008, and though he has only scored twice in eleven outings in Britain, should the car prove up to it, the 33-year-old will deliver.

Team-mate Timo Glock has also shown flashes of promise on occasion - taking a strong fourth-place finish ahead of Trulli in Montreal - whilst over at Red Bull Racing, the event will be a particularly emotional one for David Coulthard, who has today (Thursday) announced that he will retire from F1 at the end of the 2008 season, bringing the curtain down on a 15-year, highly successful career in the top flight and meaning that this weekend will mark his final British Grand Prix. Though he has won the race twice in the past, a points' finish for the Milton Keynes-based outfit this time around would certainly be a fitting send-off for the popular Scot.

Team-mate Mark Webber - who conversely has just re-signed with RBR for another year - is perhaps the energy drinks-backed squad's best hopes for a good finish, however, having already scored points in six of the opening eight races of the campaign, with the team's performances practically embarrassing the works Renault concern, which currently trails its customer-powered rival by twelve points in the constructors' standings.

Though Fernando Alonso has invariably been quick in qualifying - twice lining up inside the top three on the starting grid - the R?gie's race pace has been less consistent, and the former double world champion has played down any hopes of securing the Enstone-based outfit's first rostrum of the season this weekend. Rookie team-mate Nelsinho Piquet, by contrast, was buoyed by taking the maiden points of his fledgling grand prix career at Magny-Cours - beating Alonso in the process - and will be eager to add to that tally at a circuit that he knows well from his days spent competing in British F3.

Williams have proved to be something of an enigma this season, displaying encouraging form on occasion but - Nico Rosberg's Melbourne podium aside - failing to convert that into solid results over the early stages of the campaign. Both the German former GP2 Series Champion and increasingly impressive rookie team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, though, can be counted upon to get the best out of the Grove-based concern's package this weekend, as arguably the most staunchly British of all of the teams bids to shine on home turf.

Behind this squabbling pack, sadly it appears as though Jenson Button fans will have little cause for cheer at Silverstone, with Honda predicting another trying outing like last time at Magny-Cours, where neither the 28-year-old nor experienced team-mate Rubens Barrichello were able to even make it as far as Q2 in qualifying.

The two grand prix winners can instead expect to find themselves battling with the Scuderia Toro Rosso machines of Sebastian Vettel and S?bastien Bourdais towards the back of the order, with the two Force Indias of Fisichella and Adrian Sutil - the Silverstone-based squad bringing a whole raft of changes to the car this weekend in an effort to drive itself up the grid - likely to once more bring up the rear.

All eyes, though, will doubtless be on the action up-front, and on whether Lewis Hamilton can become the first Brit to prevail on home turf since Coulthard back in 2000, and the first Englishman since Johnny Herbert five years earlier. Watch this space...

by Russell Atkins