The British Grand Prix
The world's first-ever Formula 1 championship race was a British Grand Prix, held on a bomber airfield in 1950 with the King and Queen watching from the crowd.
Published
Quick Facts
- First held
- 1926, at Brooklands in Surrey
- Part of the F1 World Championship
- Since 1950, when it opened the very first season
- Home since 1987
- Silverstone, on the Northamptonshire–Buckinghamshire border
- Other championship venues
- Aintree, Brands Hatch and Silverstone
- Most wins by a driver
- Lewis Hamilton, nine (to 2024)
- First winner of the F1 era
- Giuseppe Farina, Alfa Romeo, 1950
- Famous corners
- Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Chapel, Stowe
- Airfield origins
- Silverstone began life as an RAF bomber training station
The day Formula 1 began at an airfield
On 13 May 1950, Silverstone staged the opening round of the first Formula 1 World Championship. The track was a wartime RAF airfield, with runways and perimeter roads turned into a circuit and hay bales for safety. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were among the crowd, giving the new championship a right royal send-off. Reigning royals have turned up at Grands Prix since, including Monaco's Prince Rainier III and Prince Albert II, but this was the sport's first world championship race. The Alfa Romeo 158s dominated. Giuseppe Farina won, his team-mate Luigi Fagioli was second, and Britain's Reg Parnell took third in another Alfa. Farina went on to become the first world champion that year.
Before Silverstone: Brooklands and the Delage duo
The British Grand Prix predates the championship by 24 years. The first was in 1926 at Brooklands, the banked concrete bowl in Surrey that had opened in 1907 as the world's first purpose-built motor racing circuit. The winners were Robert Sénéchal and Louis Wagner, who shared a French Delage, as drivers often did in those days. Brooklands hosted the race again in 1927, and it did not return until the postwar era, when Silverstone took over in 1948.
Merry-go-round: Aintree, Brands Hatch and the Moss moments
For decades the race moved around. Aintree, better known for the Grand National, hosted it in 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961 and 1962. Brands Hatch took the even-numbered years from 1964 to 1986, with Silverstone getting the odd ones. Aintree gave British fans two big moments. In 1955 Stirling Moss beat his Mercedes team-mate Juan Manuel Fangio, the champion, to win the home race. In 1957 Moss and Tony Brooks shared a Vanwall to the first Grand Prix win for a British car in a world championship race. Jim Clark was the king of this era, winning the British Grand Prix five times between 1962 and 1967.
Mansell mania and a lift for Senna
Nigel Mansell's name is bound up with Silverstone. In 1987 he chased down Nelson Piquet in the other Williams after a late tyre stop, and passed him at Stowe with two laps left as the crowd roared. In 1991 Mansell won again, and after the flag he stopped to give Ayrton Senna a lift back to the pits on the side of his car. Senna's McLaren had run out of fuel on the last lap. In 1992 Mansell won again, and thousands of fans spilled onto the track to greet him before he had finished his slowing-down lap.
Chaos, penalties and a three-wheeled finish
Silverstone has seen plenty of drama. In 1973 Jody Scheckter spun at the end of the first lap and triggered a huge pile-up that wiped out many of the cars. The race was stopped and restarted, and Peter Revson went on to win. In 1998 Michael Schumacher was given a stop-go penalty for passing under a yellow flag, but the stewards' notice came so late that he served it after the finish line, driving through the pit lane to take the win. In 2021 Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided at Copse on the opening lap. Verstappen hit the barrier, and Hamilton recovered to win. In 2022 Carlos Sainz took his first Grand Prix victory at the circuit.
Hamilton's home ground
Lewis Hamilton has won the British Grand Prix more than any other driver. He won in 2008 in streaming rain by over a minute, and he took a famous win in 2020 by limping home on three good tyres after a late puncture. In 2024 he won again, his ninth victory, ending a long wait for any win. Silverstone's corners are part of the lore. Copse, Maggotts, Becketts, Chapel and Stowe are some of the most famous names in racing. The high-speed Maggotts–Becketts sequence is regarded as a test for car and driver. The race has also become a summer fixture, with huge crowds camping around the circuit and filling the grandstands every July.
Notable people
- Giuseppe Farina
- Stirling Moss
- Tony Brooks
- Jim Clark
- Nigel Mansell
- Ayrton Senna
- Michael Schumacher
- Lewis Hamilton
- Carlos Sainz
- Max Verstappen
- Jody Scheckter
- Juan Manuel Fangio
Keep exploring
The Ashes
Published
The most famous urn in cricket is smaller than a teapot, has never been awarded as a trophy, and may contain the ashes of a bail, a ball or even a lady's veil.
The London 2012 Olympics
Published
The Queen "parachuted" in with James Bond, Mr Bean joined the London Symphony Orchestra, and Britain had its best Olympics in over a century.
The Boat Race
Published
Two universities, one stretch of the Thames, and a tradition of boats sinking, rebellions, a dead heat and a swimmer in the way.