Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic’s F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.Welcome back to Prime Tire, where today I’m enjoying that rather rare thing at the British Grand Prix — a sunny Silverstone day.This place can feel pretty grim when it’s wet — unless you’re Emerson Fittipaldi in 1975, Ayrton Senna in 1988, Michael Schumacher in 1998, Lewis Hamilton in 2008 or Lando Norris last year — so I’m enjoying it while it lasts.I’m Alex, and Sam Joseph will be along later. (Luke Smith and Madeline Coleman are also with me here at Silverstone.)But I promise from here on out, there will be minimal interjections of that very British thing of … talking about the weather.Engine Angst … is back. But there’s plenty to celebrate, tooThere was one story in town when the British GP weekend got underway yesterday: the dreaded return of 2026 engine angst.This topic dominated the start of the season, as the new V6 turbo hybrid engines, with their added reliance on electrical systems for overall power, made their debut in preseason testing and then in the opening races in Australia, China and Japan.But ever since F1 reconvened in Miami after its unplanned spring break, the engine angst had largely faded away as a discussion point.The rule changes aimed at making the cars more intuitive for the drivers worked, and the agreement to reduce the importance of electricity systems for car power in 2027 and 2028 even seemed to have pleased the new Car Basher In Chief, Max Verstappen.But the Red Bull driver reignited the topic after he came oh so close to winning in Austria with a great drive last Sunday.“Silverstone, I love the track, but I did a few laps on the simulator, (and) I just started laughing. It felt like a different track,” Verstappen said post-race in Austria.“You barely have battery around the lap. It’s just constantly flat. It’s going to feel very different compared to what we are used to.”So naturally … cue the rest of the grid players having their say.As has always been the case, there are legitimate concerns about how the new engines work. But F1 drivers love nothing more than getting their gripes in early, so I thought I’d dedicate the rest of this section to the feel-good stories floating about the paddock ahead of the opening practice at Silverstone: