Silverstone Circuit

The historic home of the British Grand Prix, where F1's first world championship race was held.

The Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was the first race in the newly created World Championship of Drivers. The race rotated between Silverstone, Aintree and Brands Hatch from 1955 to 1986, but settled permanently at the Silverstone track in 1987. The circuit also hosts the British round of the MotoGP series.

Quick Facts

Location: Silverstone

Lore & Background

The Silverstone Circuit is on the site of a Royal Air Force bomber station, RAF Silverstone, which was operational between 1943 and 1946. The station was the base for the No. 17 Operational Training Unit. The airfield's three runways, in classic WWII triangle format, lie within the outline of the present track. The circuit straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border and is accessed from the nearby A43. The Northamptonshire towns Towcester (5 mi) and Brackley (7 mi) and the town Buckingham, in Buckinghamshire (6 mi) are close by, and the nearest city is Milton Keynes, the home of Formula One team Red Bull Racing. Many F1 teams have bases in the UK, but Aston Martin is the closest to the track, with a new base having just been built under a kilometre from the race circuit.

Reader's Guide

The Hamilton Straight leads into Abbey (Turn 1). In a modern F1 car, this is a flat-out, eighth-gear right-hander. This leads immediately into Farm (Turn 2), another flat-out left-hander. The first heavy braking point arrives at Village (Turn 3), a slow right-hander taken in fourth-gear.

Drivers must sacrifice the exit of Turn 3 to get a perfect line for The Loop (Turn 4), the slowest corner on the circuit, approached at 56 mph. Getting the power down early here is vital for the blast through Aintree (Turn 5) and down the Wellington Straight, the first of two DRS zones. At the end of the Wellington Straight, drivers brake hard for Brooklands (Turn 6), a sharp left-hander that rewards a late apex. It flows immediately into Luffield (Turn 7), a long, 180-degree right-hander that requires immense patience on the throttle.

Exiting Luffield, drivers flick through Woodcote (Turn 8) and accelerate down the Old Pit Straight towards Copse (Turn 9). This is a fast right-hander, taken in seventh or eighth gear at 180 mph with only a slight lift sometimes. Then comes the high-speed esses of Maggotts and Becketts (Turn 10–13). This is a rapid-fire left-right-left-right sequence where the car experiences lateral g-forces exceeding 5g, with the goal to carry maximum momentum through the final part, Chapel (Turn 14), which opens up onto the Hangar Straight.

The 770 m Hangar Straight provides the best overtaking opportunity under DRS with speeds reaching 202 mph before reaching Stowe (Turn 15). This is a fast, sixth-gear right-hander with a blind entry and a downhill exit. A short burst of speed leads to Vale (Turn 16), the hardest stop on the track. Drivers drop down to second gear for this tight left-hand kink, then immediately navigate Club (Turn 17–18), the final complex.

This is a long, accelerating right-hander that requires the driver to 'unwind' the steering wheel carefully to maximize traction as they cross the finish line to complete the lap.

Did You Know?

Silverstone was first used for motorsport by an ad hoc group of friends who set up an impromptu race in September 1947.
Following the deaths of Senna and fellow Grand Prix driver Roland Ratzenberger at Imola in 1994, many Grand Prix circuits were modified in order to reduce speed and increase driver safety.