First up was the announcement that the British Racing Drivers Club, who operates the Silverstone circuit, has secured a new five-year deal to host the F1 race through to 2024.

This year's race was expected to be the last at the former World War II Royal Airforce bomber station as the BRDC announced it would invoke an exit clause not to host the race beyond this year.

That decision was made as a result of F1 owners Liberty Media advising there would be a five per cent rise to the rights fee for 2020.

Silverstone hosted the very first world championship race in 1950 and, apart from a few years when the race was held at Aintree on four occasions and Brands Hatch on 12 occasions, this will be the 53rd time the race has been held at the iconic circuit.

Also on Thursday came the news that British-based Rich Energy was withdrawing its sponsorship of the American Haas team after just nine races.

Incredibly the energy drink's CEO William Storey made the announcement via twitter citing "poor performance by the team and the political correctness of F1 which inhibited our business".

At the launch of the original deal Storey said "We aim to beat Red Bull" which quite frankly was never going to happen considering Red Bull is third in the constructor's championship and a long established successful team.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has raised more than a few eyebrows by claiming this week that his number one driver Max Verstappen is the best driver in the world.

Everyone would acknowledge that Verstappen is a brilliant driver and a future world champion but in all honesty I think it's a bit early to be making those claims, and I'm certain four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton would be somewhat bemused.

Even though there are still 12 races on the calendar already the critics are lining up to question if Pierre Gasly will retain his seat at Red Bull after he was seconded from Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso to replace Daniel Ricciardo.

His best results so far in nine races are fifth at Monaco and sixth places in China and Spain while at the latest round in Austria he was lapped on his way to seventh.

There will, no doubt, be an expectation from Horner and team adviser Helmut Marko of a big improvement.

The resurgent McLaren team has announced that they will retain the services of Carlos Sainz and talented young gun Lando Norris who continues to impress.

Supercar driver Richie Stanaway's future at Garry Rogers Motorsport remained unclear at the time of writing with team manager Barry Rogers indicating it was unlikely the New Zealand driver would be racing at the next round of the championship at the end of the month.

Stanaway was forced to withdraw from the Winton round due to an ongoing neck complaint that was the result of a huge crash while racing an open-wheel race car overseas.

He then missed the following two rounds at Darwin and Townsville and there is speculation he could be out for the rest of the year.

Stanaway replaced former GRM driver Garth Tander in acrimonious circumstances when new GRM sponsor Boost Mobile boss Peter Addison is believed to have insisted on Stanaway joining the team as part of the package.

Apart from the injury concerns his results from the 13 races completed this year have been well below par with a best of seventh place at Symmons Plains and the rest at the back end of the pack.

Critics suggest Stanaway may be dumped which wouldn't look good on his CV bearing in mind he was "let go" from his previous team Tickford Racing after a less-than-happy association.

Meanwhile GRM must decide who will replace him for the next round in Queensland.