Silverstone extends to 2034!

Last week Silverstone, the home of the British Grand Prix, announced their contract with Formula One has been extended and is on the calendar till 2034! Let’s look back at the top five moments to happen at Silverstone since its introduction!

5. The first ever Formula One Championship race!

The World Drivers’ Championship began in 1950 with the first stop being Silverstone, making the track even more iconic! The race was on May 13th and was dominated by Alfa Romeo with Giuseppe Farina pinching the first ever win. The event was also the only British Motor Event to be attended by a reigning British monarch, with King George VI observing from the stands. 

4. Senna gets a lift from Mansell

Despite the pair battling on track early on for the lead, come the end of the race they were sharing a car!! Nigel Mansell came out on top winning the race in front of a home crowd. Meanwhile on the 59th lap, which was the final of the race, Ayrton Senna ran out of fuel. To help get him back to the pits Mansell let him ride on the back of his Williams whilst doing a victory lap. 

3. Schumacher wins race despite having stop-go penalty 

In 1998 Schumacher was searching for his first win on English soil, and it didn’t come easy! The German lost out on pole to Mika Hakkinen putting him already on the back foot. Luckily for him, rain on the Sunday caused a safety car late on. Schumacher managed to gain the lead on the restart but was given a stop-go penalty for overtaking Alexander Wurz under a safety car, he served it on the final lap of the race and still managed to come out ahead and get the checkered flag first!

2. Hamilton’s dominance 

British driver, Lewis Hamilton, has taken home advantage to a whole new level being the most successful F1 driver at Silverstone winning eight races. His first came in 2008, his home debut, the former World Champion managed to overtake his McLaren teammate, Heikki Kovalainen, on lap five and battle the touch weather conditions for the remainder to cross the line first! 

Another noticeable win came in 2020 when Hamilton crossed the line in first place with a puncture! This was the first time in history Silverstone had hosted two races in the same calendar year following the Covid outbreak, the first of the two had a chaotic ending with multiple drivers having issues with their tyres. Hamilton was told to look after his tyres but did end up getting a puncture on the final lap, he had a strong lead out in front and despite the gap with Max Verstappen slowly closing he managed to cross the line in first with only three tires! 

1.     Sainz earns first F1 victory

Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari on pole for the first time in his career in the 2022 British Grand Prix. The race had a scary start with Zhou Guanyu being involved in a nasty crash forcing a red flag in the first lap. When the race restarted Sainz had a number of battles with the likes of Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton and Sergio Perez. Towards the end of the race there was another safety car which put the Spaniard under lots of pressure, but the number 55 kept his cool and crossed the line in first place securing his first win of his career!

Honourable mention – Norris leading the British Grand Prix

2023 was a tough year for everyone except Verstappen with his dominance the whole season. Come the British Grand Prix in July the Dutchman had won seven of the nine previous races, and after taking pole on Saturday, looked on track to have another easy race … in comes Lando Norris! In his home race the Brit took the lead on the first lap overtaking the Red Bull driver into the first corner, earning a huge cheer from the crowd. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, almost found a way through too but the Red Bull was too fast for him. Norris held the lead for 5 laps before DRS helped the Dutchman regain the lead for the remainder of the race. There was an interesting battle of the Brits between Hamilton and Norris towards the end, with the latter managing to keep the lead! This is my personal favourite memory of Silverstone and being in the crowd was extra special, let us know yours in the comments below!