Provisional starting grid for the British Grand Prix - MotorSportsTalk

After a tense qualifying session on Saturday, Lewis Hamilton sent the Silverstone crowd wild as the British driver scored his second pole position of the season at his home race by over four-tenths of a second. His teammate, Nico Rosberg, joins him on the front row as Mercedes continue to enjoy their dominance on a Saturday, although they will be aware of the threat from Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in P3 and P4 respectively.

There are just two changes to the grid after qualifying:

Giedo van der Garde has a five-place grid penalty carried over from the Canadian Grand Prix
Paul di Resta was excluded from qualifying after his car was deemed to be underweight

Provisional Grid

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull
4 Mark Webber Red Bull
5 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso
6 Adrian Sutil Force India
7 Romain Grosjean Lotus
8 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus
9 Fernando Alonso Ferrari
10 Jenson Button McLaren
11 Felipe Massa Ferrari
12 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso
13 Sergio Perez McLaren
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber
15 Pastor Maldonado Williams
16 Valtteri Bottas Williams
17 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber
18 Charles Pic Caterham
19 Jules Bianchi Marussia
20 Max Chilton Marussia
21 Giedo van der Garde Caterham
22 Paul di Resta Force India

Click here for information on how to watch the race with NBC and NBC Sports Live Extra.

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”