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Silverstone circuit is the current home of British Grand Prix which it hosted for the first time in 1948. It hosted the first race of the newly created 'World Championship of Drivers' in 1950. The track used to be an ultra-fast speed circuit before 1990 when it underwent a major redesign. This transformed it into a more technical track. Nigel Mansell won the first grand prix on the redesigned circuit.
Following the major safety restructure across all formula 1 circuits in 1994, the entry from Hanger straight into Stowe corner was modified in 1995 so as to make its entry less dangerous. In addition, the flat-out Abbey kink was modified to a chicane before the 1994 Grand Prix.
In its long history, the track has seen some notable crashes involving some of the leading drivers of their generation. Let's have a look at some of them.
#1 Multiple car crash on lap 1, 1973
At the end of the opening lap, Jody Scheckter triggered huge multiple accidents when his McLaren ran wide onto the grass coming out of Woodcote, then spun back into the pit wall.
As the cars arrived at Woodcote Corner at the end of the first lap Scheckter lost control and spun across the track into the pit wall. The car bounced back into the middle of the road as the main pack arrived. Eight other cars were involved in the shunt. The race was stopped.
It was the tail of Scheckter's McLaren that began to slide out and he was too late in applying a correction. The McLaren spun right across the track and it hit the retaining wall of the pits and bounced back into the middle of the track.
Other cars barreled down on the stranded McLaren and mayhem ensued. Scheckter was hit and eight other cars were involved in the shunt and eliminated on the spot, including the entire three-car team of John Surtees, as drivers took avoiding action only to collect one another. American driver Peter Revson won the restarted race.
#2 Gilles Villeneuve, 1981
At the start of lap 5, near the Woodcote chicane, Villeneuve lost control, taking out Alan Jones (Williams) and Andrea de Cesaris (McLaren) who were both unable to avoid the Canadian, while Briton John Watson, in the other McLaren, narrowly missed the wreckage.
John Watson won his first race in five years and McLaren's first since James Hunt's victory at the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix.
#3 Michael Schumacher, 1999
Michael Schumacher crashed at Stowe corner due to brake failure while the red flags were out, breaking his leg. This would keep him out of Formula One until the Malaysian Grand Prix, ending his championship hopes.
Images from the television camera on Schumacher's car showed that while he turned the steering wheel to the right and his brakes locked up, the wheels appeared to fail to turn to the right. A brake failure was blamed. The car went straight off the track through the gravel trap and rammed into a protection wall of tires at nearly 200 kilometres per hour.
Schumacher's accident occurred after the race had already been stopped by a red flag after the cars of Rubens Barrichello and Jacques Villeneuve stalled on the starting grid.
#4 Jarno Trulli, 2004
Trulli had a lacklustre race, complaining that the car was very edgy until something went wrong at Bridge Corner on the 40th lap of the 60-lap race. The left rear suspension of his car broke as Trulli was travelling at 167mph.
The Renault went backwards into the barriers, spun around several times and flipped over as it bounced into the gravel trap. Trulli quickly popped the belts and climbed out, proving once again just how safe these cars have become.
#5 Kimi Raikkonen, 2014
Raikkonen ran wide through Aintree as the 22-car field headed on to the Wellington straight. He was aware that there is a lot of run-off area on the outside of the corner and chose to keep his foot on the throttle in an attempt to reduce the number of places he would lose, but he was launched into the air as he returned to the track over the grass.
He instantly lost control of the Ferrari, spearing right into the barrier as he passed under the bridge on the Wellington Straight and spinning back into the oncoming pack.
Massa, who was out of position due to a poor qualifying session hit the accident spot unsighted. The Brazilian hit the brakes, spinning Williams to the right and hit the spinning Ferrari with the left-rear of his car.
Raikkonen got out of the car but was visibly limping, and the Finn was taken to the medical centre. Massa dragged his heavily damaged Williams back to the grid, but the team couldn't do any immediate repairs because of the red flag. The Finn sustained an impact of 47G in the crash- 47 times the force of gravity.
