Formula One British Grand Prix - Silverstone

The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire.

Grand Prix motor racing was first established in Britain by Henry Segrave at the Brooklands course in 1926 after his winning of the French Grand Prix in 1923 and the following year at the Spanish Grand Prix which raised interest in the sport. The first ever British Grand Prix was won by the French team of Louis Wagner and Robert Sénéchal driving a Delage 155B. During the 1930s, the race was known as the Donington Grand Prix, in reference to the host track Donington Park.

Silverstone has hosted the race regularly since the start of the F1 championship in 1950 (in which it was the first race of the first ever official World Championship) and every year since 1987; it alternated with Brands Hatch between 1964 and 1986, and with Aintree (better known as a horse-racing course) between 1955 and 1962.

Before track was heavily modified in 1991, Silverstone was one of the fastest tracks on the Formula 1 calendar. The drivers loved the challenge of the sweeping and extremely demanding Copse, Stowe and Club corners. 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg held the all-time Formula 1 qualifying lap record for 16 years after posting fastest time for the 1985 British Grand prix with an average speed of 258.983km/h(160.92mph).

In recent times Silverstone has produced some fine race wins by British drivers. Notably John Watson (1981), Nigel Mansell (1987, 1991, 1992), Damon Hill (1994) and David Coulthard (1999, 2000). -- source www.wikipedia.org

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Hill fears F1 may drop British GP from calendar

From: ap.org

Former Formula One champion Damon Hill is trying to bring the British Grand Prix back to Silverstone next year amid fears the race could be dropped from the calendar.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone seems convinced that Donington Park will fail to meet Tuesday's deadline to find the cash to redevelop its circuit. That leaves him with three options — he finds the cash himself, the race goes back to Silverstone or is dropped from the 2010 schedule.

Hill, the 1996 F1 champ, is president of the British Racing Drivers Club, which is negotiating a deal to return the race to Silverstone. But he believes Ecclestone could earn more money by giving the slot in the calendar to another country.

"He can get a value globally that is far in excess of what he can get for the UK," Hill said. "We can respect that it is a difficult position for him to be in. He has to answer to his shareholders.

"Other countries are bound to pay a premium, but their revenue streams are more open than they are to a promoter in the UK. There are options on the table. There are discussions taking place and I'm hopeful something can be sorted out."

The British GP has been held every year since 1948. It was nearly dropped in 2005 because of a dispute between Ecclestone and the BRDC, which refused to pay the race fee he had demanded. The race was left off the provisional race calendar but was reinstated after negotiations produced an agreement.

Ecclestone has long criticized the lack of investment in upgrading Silverstone. The proposed move to Donington Park on a long-term contract was announced in July 2008.

Ecclestone said there would be major development work at Donington, which has been a regular venue for world championship motorcycle races and the F1 European GP in 1993. But the owners of Donington failed to come up with the $220 million they needed to redevelop the circuit.

Ecclestone said Monday he did not regret the initial decision to give the race to Donington.

"If they could have done what they said they were going to do and what the contract said they had to do, it would have been good," he said.

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