Five themes to watch for in Britain

The charge to Copse...errr, Abbey

Silverstone's 3.667 miles of asphalt remain largely unchanged from last year, but there is going to be a huge difference at the start now that the £28 million pit complex has forced a switch of the start/finish line to the run out of Club Corner. That makes the 'new' Abbey corner the first turn. It's an exciting change because previously, when the race started on the run to Copse, the cars had pretty much sorted themselves out by the time they got to Maggots.

This time, we will get a series of first corners for the price of one. The ultra-fast Abbey corner, then heavy brake into the second gear Village Corner, which is quickly followed by The Loop, a slow left-hander where a dive up the inside is very inviting. Once they've done that, there's a long run down the Wellington Straight into Brooklands, a corner that proved it can produce plenty of overtaking in F1 last year. So even if the first corner is a little tame, you can count on drama all the way through the first sector of the lap.