A Brief History of the F1 British Grand Prix

Arthur Viana, July 2nd, 2022

This Sunday, we’ll have one of the most awaited races of the Formula 1 calendar: The British Grand Prix. This will be the 10o round of the F1 2022 season, and as always, at the great Silverstone Circuit.

We’re heading into the middle of the season and Max Verstappen is in comfortably the leader of the Drivers’ Championship, while his team, Red Bull, is also leading the Constructors’ Championship. Therefore, their rivals at Ferrari need to wake up as soon as possible if they really want to take another championship from the Dutchman and his team. Maybe the British GP can be the one where Ferrari shows that they’re still in the fight, but with Verstappen in such good form, it’s no absurd to assume that he can isolate himself even further at the top of the table and confirm his favoritism for yet another F1 World Title.

This will be the 73o time that the British GP is in the F1 calendar, being that it’s been part of it since the very first season, in 1950. However, Silverstone has only been the exclusive host of the Grand Prix since 1987. This race is one of the most iconic and historic not only in F1, but in motorsport in general. And that's exactly why every fan of fast cars that go around in circles, like myself, should know something, as brief as it may be, about the history of this great race. Here, you'll see a little about every track that has hosted the British GP, with some history, curiosities, and race winners.

Aintree

The British Grand Prix has had three hosts since its debut. The first one was Silverstone, from 1950 to 1954. Then, came the Aintree Circuit, a track that alternated with Silverstone as the host of the British GP. This lasted almost a decade, from 1955 to 1962, with the Aintree Circuit being the host for two consecutive years in 61 and 62.

The winners in Aintree were Stirling Moss (55 and 57), Tony Brooks (57), Jack Brabham (59), von Trips (61) and Jim Clark (62). You see how two drivers are mentioned with a win in 1957? Well, that’s no mistake. Stirling Moss and Tony Brooks, both Vanwall drivers, shared the driving duties on that race, with Brooks driving the winning car for 26 laps until he swapped with Moss, who drove 64 laps to win the race. As a result, the two men decided to share the victory. They also shared the eight points that the winner got, with Moss getting an extra point for the fastest lap of the race.

Brands Hatch

After Aintree was taken off the F1 calendar, another English circuit came to replace it: Brands Hatch. And this one lasted longer, alternating with Silverstone from 1963 to 1986, until Silverstone became the sole host of the British Grand Prix. Brands Hatch is a historic track, and one that really left its mark in F1. So much so that, in two occasions, even when it was Silverstone’s turn to host the British GP, F1 found a way to keep Brands Hatch on the calendar by having the track host the European Grand Prix, in 1983 and 1985. The last one, in fact, was the race that crowned Alain Prost with the F1 World Title for the first time in his career.

There were 12 British Grand Prix races at Brands Hatch, with 10 different winners. Jim Clark won the first (64), then came Jack Brabham (66), Jo Siffert (68), Jochen Rindt (70), Emerson Fittipaldi (72), Jody Scheckter (74), Niki Lauda (76), Carlos Reutemann (78), Alan Jones (80), Niki Lauda again (82 and 84) and to finish, Nigel Mansell (86).

Silverstone

Finally, we’ve reached our current track, Silverstone. Of course, Silverstone was never off the calendar, but only since 1987 it has been the only host of the British Grand Prix. This track was known for being one of the fastest of the F1 season, at least until the 90s came around. By that time, some chicanes and medium speed corners were added to the circuit, but that didn’t at all made it lose its attractiveness. Yes, it wasn’t as fast as before, but it had different challenges for the drivers, and it’s always great to see them using all their abilities to win a race.

Silverstone has been part of F1 since the very beginning, so it would be impossible to list all of the winners without making a two-hour long essay. Just to be clear, Silverstone has hosted the British GP in 55 occasions. So instead, I’m just going to list some of the most decorated drivers that have won a British GP in Silverstone.

The 8-time F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton holds the record of the most wins, with eight victories. 2nd place is already too far away, and it’s 4-time Champion Alain Prost, with five wins. With three, we have 7-time Champion Michael Schumacher. 3-time Champion Jackie Stewart has two victories, alongside with the likes of Alberto Ascari, Jacques Villeneuve, Fernando Alonso, and Sebastian Vettel. And last, but not least, some of the greatest drivers who have only one victory at Silverstone are Juan Manuel Fangio, Giuseppe Farina, Jochen Rindt,?Jody Scheckter,?James Hunt, and?Ayrton Senna. From the current grid, only Hamilton, Alonso and Vettel have won at Silverstone.