Silverstone – A lap with DC
As you head under the lights on the start-finish straight, take a deep breath, you are about to hit Coppice in seventh gear. If the weather is good you will be able to take it easy flat, at 170mph, trusting in the physical phenomenon of downforce to keep you glued to the track. It is a daunting prospect.
From Abbey you would previously veer left towards Bridge but you now loop infield through Farm Curve. I think you might have a chance of a second overtaking opportunity through Village Corner, a tight right-hander taken in second gear, although you will almost certainly have to scrabble to make the move stick.
As you exit Club, newly tightened, bask in the colour and noise up on the banking; a sea of spectators and Union flags, utterly unique. Then head on up the back straight – which will in 2011 become the start-finish straight – and prepare yourself for the new Arena Section.
After hitting seventh gear again down Hangar Straight, stand on the brakes to take the downhill, medium-fast right-hander at Stowe, then get back on the throttle up to Vale, one of few overtaking opportunities. This is the first time you brake properly – down to first gear – and you are already halfway. This sets Silverstone apart.
Maggot’s-Becketts-Chapel. A classic sequence of corners, up there with Eau Rouge at Spa and Turn Eight in Istanbul, this is a roller-coaster ride. You enter at over 180mph in seventh gear and although you have dropped to fourth by the time you exit the complex, the right-left-right combination has been taken at an average of 120mph.
The Loop is a classic hairpin and from there you will pick up speed through Aintree Corner, a left kink with a bump in the middle, then it is back on the throttle in a big way, reaching maximum speed under the bridge down the Wellington Straight with the BRDC building on your right.
Brooklands is where the new section rejoins the old but watch out: the left-hander drops away and the track is very wide, which means you have no reference point and makes it very hard to nail the braking point. I think we may see a few guys lock up. Then it is straight into the never-ending Luffield Corner.
Final corner Woodcote is a super-fast right-hander taken in seventh gear with the new, elevated main pits grandstand on the outside. It was here that Jody Scheckter caused an almighty pile-up in 1973 that took out half the field.
Then it is time to take a deep breath again, you are fast approaching Coppice …
David Coulthard writes on the Telegraphs F1 pages on behalf of Red Bull Racing F1, for whom he acts as a consultant.