As racing gets set to resume it’s time to take a look at the British GP, the race that kicked off the world championship in 1950
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British GP photographic delights from Motorsport Images
Lewis Hamilton wasn’t the first sportsman to crowd surf but in F1 has made the celebration his own after a British GP win. He first threw himself into his adoring crowd in 2016 and has repeated the move in 2017 (pictured here) and 2019
Karl Kling, Mercedes team-mate to winner Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio, is followed by Roberto Mieres (Maserati) in the 1955 race at Aintree. The track, situated within the grounds of the Aintree racecourse, venue for the Grand National steeplechase, opened in 1954 specifically to host grand prix racing
Strange as it seems now, the appearance of F1 cars – such as this Jaguar driven by Martin Brundle – on the streets of London in 2004 was part of a promotion for the British GP. However, it also called into question Silverstone’s hosting of the race and increased calls for an impractical London GP
Lap 11 of the 2003 race featured an unwanted guest appearing on Hangar Straight. Neil Horan invaded the track, but thankfully all the cars avoided him and the Safety Car was scrambled. Stephen Green, a marshal, caught Horan and Green was later awarded the BARC Browning medal for bravery
This picture from 1966 is the equivalent of the modern-day celebration shot where the whole team is lined up in front of the garages. After the podium Jack Brabham, the BT19 and his small team were loaded on to a truck for a victory parade lap
Nigel Mansell certainly lit up Silverstone in 1987. After a stop for tyres Mansell was just under 29secs down on Williams team-mate Nelson Piquet with 29 laps to go. On lap 63 of 65, to the delight of the crowd, he took the lead and made it to the finish first, only for his Honda engine to expire just after the line
Michael Schumacher had won for Ferrari at Silverstone in 1998, but the 1999 race was a disaster for the German. On the opening lap, as he tried to regain third from teammate Eddie Irvine, a brake failure sent him into the tyres at Stowe. He broke his lower right leg and missed the next six races as a result
Until he was confirmed at Benetton for 1995, as reigning champion Michael Schumacher’s team-mate, it seemed that Johnny Herbert’s F1 career was destined to fizzle out. That all changed at Silverstone that season. Schumacher was leading but tangled with Damon Hill on lap 46 and Herbert picked up the pieces for a very popular first F1 win
James Hunt leads Niki Lauda at a parched Brands Hatch in 1976. Due to the controversy that surrounded Hunt being allowed to restart the race, and his subsequent disqualification after he had won, it is sometimes forgotten that Lauda actually led on track for the first 44 laps until gearbox problems started to plague his Ferrari…
2013 will be remembered more for the five dramatic high-speed punctures that occured during the race than Nico Rosberg’s win. There was so much debris – which the marshals did their best to remove – that FIA race director Charlie Whiting briefly contemplated stopping the race to allow the track to be properly cleared
Sebastian Vettel had just succumbed to a Max Verstappen Drs-assisted pass for third at Stowe, on lap 38 of last year’s race, and thought he had a chance to regain the place immediately at the very next corner, Vale. Vettel braked too late and went into the back of the Red Bull, a mistake for which he later apologised
A relaxed Jim Clark in his Lotus 25 at Aintree in 1962. The Scot had retired from his first British GP at the same track a year earlier, but in this final GP at the Liverpool circuit he led from start to finish. Clark followed this with wins in 1963 at Silverstone, 1964 at Brands Hatch and 1965 at Silverstone again
It’s race day in 1960 – a Saturday as it was until 1982 – and the drivers of these brand-new Mini Coopers in a support race are the same field of F1 drivers who would take part in the GP later that day. Bruce Mclaren, Graham Hill and Jim Clark cross the line almost together, with a partially hidden John Surtees just in their wake
One of the quirky events that used to surround the British GP was a post-race cricket match. This one followed the 1974 race and though the result is not known the game included Ken Tyrrell, John Watson, Denny Hulme, James Hunt, Niki Lauda and Graham Hill among others, although some of the ‘whites’ were strictly non-regulation
In 1966, after four consecutive wins in the race, Jim Clark could only manage to finish a lowly fourth in the British GP, but returned to the winner’s circle in 1967, with the race back at Silverstone. It was yet another lights-to-flag victory for Clark, and his fifth and last world championship victory on home soil
Water, water everywhere for Romain Grosjean as his Lotus E20 aquaplanes during practice for the 2012 British GP. Grosjean topped the timesheets in Friday’s first practice but the rain was so heavy that Silverstone advised spectators not to travel to the circuit for qualifying on Saturday to save the car parks for raceday spectators
Mclaren pair Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen battle through Stowe for the lead of the 2008 race. Hamilton, on the inside, wrestled the place from the Finn and went on to win – the British driver’s first F1 victory at home – by over a minute from Nick Heidfeld and Rubens Barrichello
A very happy Mark Webber after his win in 2010 when, on crossing the line, he uttered the words: “Fantastic, guys, not bad for a number two driver. Cheers.” Webber had been displeased that a new front wing on his Red Bull had been removed after practice and put on to team-mate Sebastian Vettel’s car for qualifying
When Ayrton Senna’s Mclaren ran out of fuel on the last lap of the 1991 British GP – which dropped the Brazilian from second to fourth in the classification – he was at least lucky that Nigel Mansell, the race winner and the man who he had been unable to stay with for
58 laps, was able to give him a lift back to the pits…