The British Grand Prix in Silverstone is a home race for Mercedes-Benz, as the factories of both the MERCEDES GP PETRONAS Formula One team and Mercedes HPE are only a few miles away.
Out of the 18 British Grands Prix Mercedes took part in, Mercedes won six which is – sta- tistically – every third race. The first highlight was the race at Aintree in 1995 when the Sil- ver Arrows achieved a quadruple victory with Stirling Moss ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio, Karl Kling and Piero Taruffi.
The most recent win was in 2008 when Vo- dafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Ham- ilton started his home Grand Prix fourth on the grid and won more than a minute ahead of the field.
The Silverstone circuit was built on a former World War II airfield of the Royal Air Force.
The first Grand Prix after the war – still with- out world championship status – was organ- ised here in October 1948; the route itself was marked by bales of straw.
The British Grand Prix on 13th May 1950 marked the beginning of Formula One World Championship history. In the early days, 70 laps (329 kilometres) were run on a 4.7 kil- ometre long circuit. The first race was won by Giuseppe Farina at the wheel of an Alfa Romeo, at an average speed of 152.983 kph on his fastest lap.
Alongside Monza and the former Spa-Fran- corchamps and Spielberg circuits, Silver- stone was one of the fastest GP circuits until 1990. The fastest lap ever was achieved in 1987: Nigel Mansell reached 246.325 kph in a Williams Honda. In 1991 and again this year, the circuit was made longer and slower by additional chicanes.
For the 2010 grand prix, the circuit has been extended from 5.141 kms to 5.901 kms. The additional corners in the last sector will de- crease the average speed from about 230 kph to an estimated 220 kph.
- Lap record (old circuit)- Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) 1m18.739 (2004)
- Fastest lap 2009- Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) 1m20.715
- Pole Position 2009- Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) 1m19.509sec
