Silverstone Circuit

The Silverstone Circuit is in England, close to the villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury on the border between Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. It was built on the site of a Royal Air Force bomber station that was operational from 1943 to 1946, and the three wartime runways lie within the outline of today's track. In September 1947 a group of friends staged an impromptu race there, which became known as the Mutton Grand Prix after a sheep was run over. The Royal Automobile Club took a lease on the airfield in 1948, and the first British Grand Prix at Silverstone was held on 2 October 1948. The 1950 and 1951 Grands Prix were run on the airfield's perimeter road.

The 1950 British Grand Prix was the opening race of the newly created World Drivers' Championship, and Nino Farina won it for Alfa Romeo. From 1955 the race alternated between Silverstone and Aintree, and later Brands Hatch. Since 1987 it has stayed at Silverstone permanently. In 2020 the circuit held two championship rounds on consecutive weekends, the second being named the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.

The start line was moved in 1952. A chicane was added before Woodcote in 1975, and the Bridge corner was subtly altered in 1987. Between the 1990 and 1991 races the circuit was thoroughly redesigned: the very fast Club and Stowe corners were slowed down, Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel were reshaped, and a new infield section at Luffield replaced the Farm Straight. After the deaths at Imola in 1994, safety changes followed, including a chicane at Abbey and a modified approach to Stowe. The lap length was 4.649 km in 1950 and 5.226 km from 1991 to 1993. It has been 5.891 km since 2011.

The current circuit runs clockwise and has 18 corners. Abbey and Farm are taken flat out, Village and The Loop are slow, and the fast sequence of Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel leads onto the 770 metre Hangar Straight. The pit straight has carried the name Hamilton Straight since December 2020.