is a
Motor Racing circuit near the village of
Silverstone in the
United Kingdom . It is best known as the home of the
British Grand Prix , which it first hosted in 1948 and which has been held on the circuit every year since 1987. The circuit is also home to the
BRDC International Trophy , formerly one of the premier non-Championship F1 races in the calendar, today awarded to the winner of a race for historic F1 cars at the annual Silverstone Classic meeting.
Due to the high speed nature of the circuit, the track offers many opportunities for slipstreaming, however, overtaking can be difficult for less able drivers.
Half the circuit is in
Northamptonshire and half in
Buckinghamshire , roughly equidistant from
Milton Keynes and
Northampton . It is built on the site of a World War II bomber base,
RAF Silverstone , which opened in 1943. The airfield's three runways, in classic WWII triangle format, lie within the outline of the present track.
The first two races were held on the runways themselves, with long straights separated by tight hairpin corners, the track demarcated by hay bales. However, for the
1949 International Trophy meeting it was decided to switch to the perimeter road. This arrangement was used for the
1950 and
1951 Grands Prix. In 1952 the startline was moved from the Farm Straight to the present Finish Straight, and this layout remained largely unaltered for the following 35 years. For the
1975 meeting, a
Chicane was introduced to try and tame speeds through the mighty Woodcote Corner, and Bridge Corner was subtly rerouted in
1987 , before the track underwent a major redesign between the
1990 and
1991 races. The reshaped track's first F1 race was perhaps the most memorable of recent years, with
Nigel Mansell coming home first in front of his home crowd, prompting mass hysteria in the grandstands. On his victory lap back to the pits Mansell even found time to pick up stranded rival
Ayrton Senna and give him a lift on his side-pod, after Senna's
McLaren had expired towards the end of the race.
Following the deaths of Grand Prix drivers Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994, many Grand Prix circuits were modifed in order to reduce speed and increase driver safety. As a consequence of this, in 1995, the entry from Hangar Straight into Stowe Corner was modified so as to make its entry less dangerous (but less challenging).
In recent years Silverstone has been criticised for its deteriorating facilities. Silverstone has, in the past, been attacked due to traffic jams on race day. This problem has been largely eliminated with the completion of a dual-carriageway road, just to the north of the circuit, which bypasses
Silverstone village. When the race was moved to an April date in
2000 , rainy conditions turned the fields used for car parking into mud baths, causing chaos for spectators trying to park.
On an agreement was reached with Formula One rights holder
Bernie Ecclestone ensuring that the track would host the British Grand Prix until 2009.
news.bbc.co.uk ''Silverstone seals British GP deal''
Bernie Ecclestone has stated that he will only negotiate the future of Formula One at Silverstone post-2009 if the BRDC gives up its role as promoter of the event. In an
Autosport interview he said "I want to deal with a promoter rather than the BRDC. It is too difficult with the BRDC because you get no guarantees with them. We've said that unless they can get the circuit to the level expected from so-called Third-World countries, we are not prepared to do a deal. They know what we want them to build."
1 A new pit-and-paddock complex is the minimum redevelopment required.
Maurice Hamilton has described the attitude of the BRDC as "
to be inflexible and sometimes arrogant."
2
The
Dunlop MSA
British Touring Car Championship withdrew the track from its calendar in 2007, in favour of
Rockingham , also in Northamptonshire. However, Silverstone continues to host rounds of the FIA GT, World Superbikes, British Superbikes, British F3, British GT and Le Mans Series championships as well as many club racing series. It is also host to the Britcar 24 hour race, which is gaining in popularity, having first started in 2005.
On August 1, 2007, it was announced that a £25m redevelopment of the circuit has been approved, with new grandstands, pit facilities and a development centre planned to be built.
3
Silverstone is the current home of the
British Grand Prix , which it first hosted in 1948. The
1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race in the newly-created
Formula One World Championship. The race rotated between Silverstone,
Aintree and
Brands Hatch from 1955 to 1986, but relocated permanently to Silverstone in 1987.
''A pink background indicates an event which was not part of the Formula One World Championship.''
