60 Years of The British Grand Prix At Silverstone
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Jul 04, 2008
Honda Racing F1
- In 1943, in the midst of World War Two, Silverstone opened as an airfield to service Britain’s military needs. When peace was declared in 1945, the site was chosen by the Royal Automobile Club as a location to hold race meetings. At the time the lease was arranged the centre of the circuit was a working farm and it was farmer James Wilson Brown who was asked to create the track’s layout. Brown was given just two months to complete the build. Despite the short notice the circuit, which comprised the outer taxiways and interconnecting runways of the aerodrome, was challenging and widely acknowledged as a triumph.
- On October 2, 1948, Silverstone hosted its first-ever event, the RAC Grand Prix. Twenty three cars competed and the race’s winner was Luigi Villoresi in a Maserati. Villoresi recorded an average speed of 72 mph (116 km/h) to claim the £500 prize money. A year later, the runways were eliminated from the layout following safety concerns and the track took on a form which would be much more recognisable to today’s race goers. The second event to be held at Silverstone, the Formula One Daily Express International Trophy, was won by Alberto Ascari in May 1949.
- In 1950 the circuit joined the newly established Formula One world championship. The victor of that inaugural round was Giuseppe Farina for Alfa Romeo. Watching Farina’s victory from the sidelines were King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The race remains the only time a monarch has attended a British motor race.
- With Aintree dropped from the calendar after 1962, the British Grand Prix then alternated exclusively between Silverstone and Brands Hatch until the mid 1980s. In 1963 Scotland’s Jim Clark took the second of his four successive home wins at Silverstone. He would win again at the British track in 1965 and would also dominate the ’67 event, driving the groundbreaking new Ford V8-powered Lotus 49.
- In 1981, Silverstone celebrated another home victory when John Watson took an emotional win for McLaren. Two years’ later Alain Prost would take a maiden victory for Renault at the circuit. Prost would win the race again in 1985 for McLaren. The ’85 race also saw Keke Rosberg set Formula One racing’s first-ever 160mph (257 km/h) lap in qualifying in the Williams-Honda.
- The new circuit certainly seemed to suit Mansell, who took successive victories in ’91 and ’92 for Williams. And although the British driver left to compete in America in 1993, Williams would continue to enjoy a winning streak at Silverstone, courtesy of Alain Prost. The Frenchman, who clinched a total of five wins at the circuit, remains the track’s most successful driver.
- Schumacher returned to the top of the Silverstone podium in 2004 for what would be his final victory at the British circuit. Montoya won for McLaren in 2005, while that season’s world champion Fernando Alonso was the winner in 2006. And it was Schumacher’s replacement Kimi Raikkonen who clinched victory for Ferrari last season.
