Hitting the Apex: Silverstone Circuit

It’s British Race Week! Read on for everything you need to know about the Silverstone Circuit.

Written by Mees Drijgers

July 8, 2023

Silverstone Circuit, also referred to as Silverstone, is a permanent race track located near the villages of Towcester, Silverstone and Whittlebury in England, Great Britain. It was originally the site of a Royal Air Force bomber station (RAF Silverstone) which was operational between 1943 and 1946. The airfield’s three runways can still be seen within the outline of the present track.

Lando Norris on track (Photo via @mclaren on Instagram

In 1948, the first British Grand Prix was hosted at Silverstone. In 1950, the circuit hosted the very first British Grand Prix as part of the Formula 1 calendar at the track. The British Grand Prix rotated between Silverstone, Aintree, and Brands Hatch from 1955 till 1986, until it settled permanently at Silverstone in 1987. During the 1990s, several changes were made to the track layout to comply with the new regulations regarding safety and to guarantee driver safety.

In 2010, they changed layouts again, the Grand Prix would now be driven on the same layout as the MotoGP. New drawings for the layout included the disappearance of 5 corners and the addition of 6 new corners, making the circuit 760 metres longer than it used to be. In 2011 they moved the start-finish straight to a different part of the circuit.

Silverstone Circuit (Photo via @haasf1team on Instagram)

GENERAL INFORMATION

  • Track distance:  5.891 km / 3.66 miles
  • DRS zones: 2
  • Corners: 18
  • Elevation: 11.3 metres
  • Laps: 52
  • Race lap record: 1:27.097 Max Verstappen (2020)
  • Direction: clockwise

According to F1.com, Silverstone configuration for this year is as follows:

 

PREVIOUS TYRE COMPOUNDS

  • Selected compounds in 2022: C3 (soft) C2 (medium) C1 (hard)
  • Selected compounds in 2021: C3 (soft) C2 (medium) C1 (hard)

Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver at the circuit with 8 wins, and his 8 poles secured him the pole record. Ferrari is the most successful constructor with 15 wins. 

Sergio “Checo” Perez on track (Photo via @redbullracing on Instagram)

Silverstone is considered to be one of the fastest tracks on the F1 calendar. A few of the most famous corners at the track are Magotts and Becketts, Chapel, Club, Copse, and Abbey, some of which prove to be some of the biggest challenges for racing drivers.

PREVIOUS WINNERS

  • 2022 Carlos Sainz

  • 2021 Lewis Hamilton

  • 2020 (1) Lewis Hamilton

  • 2020 (2) Max Verstappen

  • 2019 Lewis Hamilton

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mees was introduced to the world of F1 by one of her friends in July 2020 and hasn’t missed a race weekend since. Her favourite drivers are Alex Albon, Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, and George Russell; outside of F1, she also actively supports Liam Lawson and Callum Ilott. She specialises in writing about F2, but is looking to specialise in FE and IndyCar as well, after starting to watch both series in 2022. After getting her Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Culture, she is currently getting MA degrees in Translation and English Literature & Culture. When she’s not watching motorsport, she’s either watching football matches (preferably Real Madrid), reading a book, or watching streams on Twitch.

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