Development history of Silverstone Circuit

Royal Air Force Silverstone or more simply RAF Silverstone is a former Royal Air Force (RAF) station, the site is now used as Silverstone Circuit. It straddles the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire border and is named after the nearby village of Silverstone. It is 10 miles (16 km) south west of Northampton, 11.1 miles (17.9 km) west of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and 13.9 miles (22.4 km) east of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England and was opened in 1943 during the Second World War.

Silverstone Heliport (ICAO: EGBV) is 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) north of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England and within the mid-east of the Silverstone Circuit motor racing track, formerly RAF Silverstone. Silverstone Northern Heliport had a CAA Ordinary Licence (Number P874) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction as authorised by the licensee (Silverstone Circuits Limited). The aerodrome is not licensed for night use.The site was the world's busiest heliport for one day during the 1999 British Grand Prix, handling 4,000 aircraft movements in one day. The airfield used six air traffic controllers and a continuous message broadcast (ATIS) service.Many flights relate to the annual Grand Prix events but fewer than in 1999 due to improved roads to the venue. The helipads/short strips are within yards of the southern extent of Northamptonshire (considered the East Midlands), which straddles the course.

The 2003 British Grand Prix (formally the LVI Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 20 July 2003 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. It was the eleventh round of the 2003 Formula One season. The 60-lap race was won by Rubens Barrichello driving for Ferrari after starting from pole position. Juan Pablo Montoya finished second in a Williams car, and Kimi Räikkönen third driving for McLaren. Jarno Trulli, driving for Renault, started alongside Barrichello on the front row and led the first eleven laps of the race, until a track invasion by a later-to-be-defrocked priest, who ran along Hangar straight, running opposite to the 280 km/h train of cars, wearing a saffron kilt and waving religious banners. As a result, the vast majority of cars pitted under safety car conditions, which led to the Toyota drivers Cristiano da Matta and Olivier Panis, who had elected not to pit, leading the field until Räikkönen assumed the lead on lap 30 when Da Matta pitted.

The 2004 British Grand Prix (formally the 2004 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit on 11 July 2004. It was Race 11 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The 2005 British Grand Prix (officially the 2005 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One race held in Silverstone Circuit on 10 July 2005 at 13:00 BST (UTC+1). It was the eleventh race of the 2005 Formula One season and the last race for then Minardi driver Patrick Friesacher.

The 1995 British Grand Prix (formally the XLVIII British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 16 July 1995 at Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England. It was the eighth round of the 1995 Formula One World Championship. Johnny Herbert for the Benetton team won the 61-lap race from fifth position. Jean Alesi finished second in a Ferrari, with David Coulthard third in a Williams car. The remaining points-scoring positions were filled by Olivier Panis (Ligier), Mark Blundell (McLaren) and Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber). Herbert's victory was his first in Formula One, and the Benetton team's fifth of the season. The race was dominated, however, by the fight between World Drivers' Championship protagonists, Michael Schumacher (Benetton) and Damon Hill (Williams). Hill, who started from a pole position achieved during qualifying sessions held in variable weather conditions, retained his lead during the opening stages of the race whilst Schumacher, who was alongside him on the starting grid, fell behind Alesi in the run to the first corner. Despite being held up behind the slower Ferrari until it made a pit stop, Schumacher used a more favourable one-stop strategy to move ahead of Hill, who made two pit stops for fuel and tyres, on lap 41. Four laps later, Hill attempted to pass Schumacher, but the two collided and were forced to retire from the race. This promoted Herbert and Coulthard, who were battling for third place, into the fight for the lead. Coulthard passed Herbert, but dropped to third, behind Alesi, after incurring a stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

The 2008 British Grand Prix (officially the 2008 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 6 July 2008 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, England. It was the ninth race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship. The race was held over 60 laps with a practice and qualifying round preceding the race. Heikki Kovalainen started from pole position alongside Mark Webber in second and Kimi Räikkönen in third on the grid. On the first corner, Lewis Hamilton rose from fourth on the grid to second overtaking Webber and Räikkönen. Hamilton shadowed Kovalainen for the early stages of the race, until he took the lead on lap five. The race was won by Hamilton, racing for McLaren Mercedes ahead of Nick Heidfeld for BMW Sauber in second and Rubens Barrichello third in a Honda. Räikkönen made the fastest lap of the race on lap 18. Hamilton's drive was widely acclaimed as one of Formula One's finest wet-weather drives.Of the 20 drivers competing, 13 finished the race, with eight receiving world championship points. Hamilton's win tied him for the lead of the Drivers' Championship, alongside Felipe Massa and Räikkönen. In the Constructors Championship, Ferrari's lead was reduced to 14 points over BMW Sauber, with McLaren a further 10 behind.

The 2009 British Grand Prix (formally the 2009 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, on 21 June 2009. The 60-lap race was the eighth round of the 2009 Formula One season. It was scheduled to be the last British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone, before the event moved to Donington Park for the 2010 season. However, due to Donington being unable to raise the required funds the event returned to Silverstone again in 2010, on a new layout. The race was won by Sebastian Vettel, who started on pole, with championship leader Jenson Button finishing in sixth position.

The 2006 British Grand Prix (officially the 2006 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 11 June 2006 at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England. The 60-lap race was the eighth round of the 2006 Formula One season. Ticket sales were rather slow; the race was scheduled far earlier than normal, and local Jenson Button had a rather poor season the previous year. When the race sold out in 2005, Button had been coming off one of his best years. Also, the weekend clashed with England's first World Cup game. Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya both scored their final World Championship points by finishing in eighth and sixth respectively. Button had a very poor qualifying run and started the race 19th; after a blinding first few laps, Jenson's engine caught fire on lap 9, due to an oil leak that also caused the car to spin out of the race. Scotsman David Coulthard also had a poor race suffering from understeer. Fernando Alonso became the first Spanish driver and the youngest driver (24 years and 317 days) to get a hat trick (pole position, winning and fastest lap in the same race). He fell one lap short of clinching a Grand Chelem (leading every lap, he would finally achieve this at the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix). This race also featured the first ever pit stop to have involved a woman, during a Midland F1 pit stop for Tiago Monteiro, ITV-F1's then pit-lane reporter Louise Goodman was the left rear tyre changer. The only other noticeable incident of the race happened on the first lap, when Scott Speed pushed Ralf Schumacher's Toyota right in the path of Mark Webber at the entrance on the Hangar Straight. Schumacher and Webber retired on the spot, while Speed crawled to the pits and drove straight into the garage at the end of lap 1.

The 1992 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 12 July 1992 at Silverstone, Northamptonshire. It was the ninth round of the 1992 Formula One World Championship. The 59-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell for the Williams-Renault team, the Englishman also starting from pole position, leading every lap and setting the fastest lap of the race. Riccardo Patrese finished second in the other Williams car, with Martin Brundle third in a Benetton-Ford. After Mansell won his home Grand Prix, the British spectators invaded the race track to congratulate their hero. Mansell's car was blocked by the crowd, preventing him from driving back to the pits. Eventually Mansell was returned to the pits by track marshals to attend the podium ceremony. The win was the 28th of Mansell's career, thus making him the most successful British Formula One driver of all time in terms of wins (surpassing Jackie Stewart's 27) until Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 Singapore Grand Prix. Future World Champion Damon Hill made his first start, for the Brabham team. Two further future champions, Michael Schumacher and Mika Häkkinen, scored points.

The 2007 British Grand Prix (formally the 2007 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was the ninth race of the 2007 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was held on 8 July 2007 at the Silverstone Circuit. The race was won by Kimi Räikkönen after overtaking pole position driver Lewis Hamilton during the first round of pit stops. Second place was taken by Fernando Alonso and Hamilton was third. With his ninth straight podium, Hamilton set the record for most consecutive podium finishes in a debut season.Following British driver Lewis Hamilton's win at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, circuit director Richard Phillips reported that ticket sales had "gone through the roof". Phillips added, "we haven't seen this level of interest since Mansell-mania in the late 80s and early 90s".

Silverstone University Technical College (or Silverstone UTC) is a university technical college (UTC) that opened at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, England in September 2013. The UTC specialises in High Performance Engineering and Business & Technical Events Management for 14- to 19-year-olds.The University of Northampton and Tresham College are the lead academic sponsors of Silverstone UTC, while Silverstone Circuit is the lead business sponsor.