Location: Silverstone, United Kingdom.
Fastest lap: Max Verstappen holds the lap record after setting a 1:27.097 in the 2020 race, while Sir Lewis Hamilton's 1:24.303 to secure pole for that race is the outright lap record for the current layout.
Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the current 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 circuit also hosts the British round of the MotoGP series.
The Silverstone circuit is on the site of a Royal Air Force bomber station, RAF Silverstone. The airfield's three runways, in triangle format, lie within the outline of the present track.
Silverstone was first used for motorsport by a group of friends who set up an impromptu race in September 1947.The next year the Royal Automobile Club took a lease on the airfield and set out a more formal racing circuit. Their 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 track. This arrangement was used for the 1950 and 1951 Grands Prix. In 1952 the start line was moved from the Farm Straight to the straight linking Woodcote and Copse corners. For the 1975 meeting a chicane was introduced to try to tame speeds through Woodcote Corner and Bridge Corner was subtly rerouted in 1987.
The track underwent a major redesign between the 1990 and 1991 races, transforming the ultra-fast track into a more technical track.
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. As a consequence of this the entry from Hangar Straight into Stowe Corner was modified in 1995 to improve the runoff area. In addition, the flat-out Abbey kink was modified to a chicane.
Famous event: in 1991 Grand Prix Drivers' Championship leader, Ayrton Senna, ran out of fuel in the second McLaren-Honda on the final lap and was classified fourth. During Mansell’s cool down lap, the Williams driver stopped in front of Ayrton’s McLaren. The Brazilian driver put one foot inside the cockpit of the Britton’s car, held on to its roll-over hoop ant took the most iconic ride in F1 history
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverstone_Circuit
https://www.racingcircuits.info/europe/united-kingdom/silverstone.html
edit by ascari
