F1 British Grand Prix: 5 Best Moments at Silverstone

The oldest race in F1 calendar is the British Grand Prix has been hosted at the Silverstone circuit since 1950.

Initially, the British Grand Prix which was hosted at Brooklands, Surrey for two years was shifted to Silverstone after the damage it had gone through because of World War II. Then from 1955 to 1986, the race was held alternatively at Silvertone and Aintree or Brands Hatch circuits.

Then after the modifications made to the circuit from 1987 Silverstone has been hosting the race, contracted till 2019.

Furthermore, modifications made in 2010 brought in lot more spectators and added challenges to drivers.

Now the new layout takes drivers on to the straight of Silvertone’s national circuit which joins the previous Grand Prix layout at Brooklands.

Here are five best moments at Silverstone.

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#5 Mansell gives Senna a lift

The Silverstone which underwent a major modification before the 1991 race made the super-fast track into a more technical track and it resulted in an intense race.

The local hero Nigel Mansell went on to win that race but he made more news for another incident.

Ayrton Senna’s McLaren ran out of fuel at the very last lap of the race and was classified fourth having started the race qualifying at second. The memorable incident from the race was when the rivals were seen together, Mansell gave a lift to Senna on his victory lap.

Despite the attempts of a marshal to stop them, Senna went on to take the lift back to paddock by sitting on his rival Mansell’s Williams, after the Mclaren’s car went out of fuel.

Senna had a great start to that race, went on to lead Mansell. Senna and Mansell were way ahead followed by Prost, until the last lap when Senna was forced to retire off the race during the last lap.

The spontaneity of the sport went to its peak when Mansell gave a lift to Senna on his sidepod, fading off the rival stories between them. This later turned out to be one among iconic images in Formula One history.

#4 Priest Protestor

The dancing priest

The 2003 British Grand Prix had a crazy incident where a priest was found running into the track turns out to be a protestor.

Neil Horan is a laicized Irish Roman Catholic priest is being referred as the dancing priest or the Grand Prix Priest after what he ran into the circuit wearing a kilt and waving a religious banner which stated “Read the Bible. The Bible is always right”.

This extraordinary incident happened at the 11th lap of the race on the Hangar straight course, one of the fastest sections of the race where cars travel at around 200mph.

“I could have killed the protestor,” said Mark Webber after the race who was so close to the dancing priest.

The religious protestor was running towards the car on track flats on, several drivers had to swerve around him until one brave track marshal tackled the priest and removed him off the track.

The priest-protestor was then sentenced to two months imprisonment for aggravated trespass.

#3 Scheckter chaos

The opening lap collision during 1973 Britain GP

The 1973 British Grand Prix is known for the opening lap pile-up which forced 11 cars to retire off the race.

The accident’s cause was Jody Scheckter with his McLaren spun across the track at Woodcote Corner at the end of the first lap, which lead to the major collision.

Scheckter lost control at the last corner went on to hit the pit wall and bounced back into the middle of track causing the pile-up and restart of the race. The collision is considered to be F1’s largest ever accident, ended the F1 career of Andrea de Adamich, who was badly injured.

Jackie Stewart who had gained a good lead after a wonderful start moving to first from the fourth spot within half a lap ended up finishing tenth in the race after the restart.

The angry Grand Prix Driver’s Association wanted to punish the young South African whose rash driving was the root cause of this major accident, for which McLaren reacted by withdrawing Scheckter for the following four races.

This pile-up collision was the major factor for the addition of an extra chicane at the Woodcote corner to the original layout of Silverstone.

#2 Schumacher’s tales

Schumacher crashes into the tire wall and injures his legs

The only F1 race ever to be won in the pit lane, and there was only one man who could have done it, Michael Schumacher during the 1998 race.

Mika Hakkinen who was on lead spun in the deteriorating wet conditions leading to the deployment of Safety car. Hakkinen erred once again and Schumacher took a lead over him and thus gained a 10-second stop-go penalty as it was during Safety car period.

Schumacher went to pit lane at the last lap to serve it, but while he was on pit lane having crossed the finished line, he won the race. Though McLaren appealed against this, the race stayed with Schumacher.

The next year too Schumacher was making news at Silverstone. During the 1999 British Grand Prix red flags were out as both Jacques Villeneuve and Alessandro Zanardi stalled on to the grid.

Schumacher without noticing this went on to overtake his Ferrari teammate Eddie Irvine, got his brakes locked crashed straight into the tire wall, breaking his leg.

#1 The local hero Hamilton

Hamilton's winning moment at the British GP 2008

The four-time world champion Brit, Lewis Hamilton has been exceptional at Silverstone, having won four times consecutively from 2014.

Still, his first win at Silverstone back in 2008 is regarded as one of his best races till date. British Grand Prix always accepting showers, that year was heavy and wet.

After Coulthard in 2000, no Brit had won at Silverstone until this race when Hamilton made the crowd go berserk with his win.

Hamilton came into the race with lots of pressure having erred often in the previous races of that season.

Adding to the pressure was the wet conditions. Championship title contender Felippe Massa was almost like ice skating having spun five times during the course of the race.

In such challenging circuit, Hamilton rose to the occasion went past his teammate and polesitter Kovalainen, and went on to win the race in 60th lap 68 seconds ahead of Heidfeld who finished second.

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Which is your favourite moment at Silverstone? Sound off your opinion in the comments section below!