BRITISH GRAND PRIX

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. The British and Italian Grands Prix are the oldest continuously staged Formula One World Championship Grands Prix.

Grand Prix motor racing was first established in Britain by Henry Segrave at Brooklands in 1926 after his winning of the 1923 French Grand Prix and the San Sebastián Grand Prix the following year, which raised interest in the sport. The first ever British Grand Prix was won by the Frenchteam of Louis Wagner and Robert Sénéchal driving a Delage 155B. The second British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands in 1927.

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 it 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 258.983 km/h (160.92 mph).

In recent times Silverstone has produced many race wins by British drivers, such as John Watson(1981), Nigel Mansell (1987, 1991, 1992), Damon Hill (1994), Johnny Herbert (1995), David Coulthard (1999, 2000), Lewis Hamilton (2008) and Jenson Button (2009).

A dispute between Silverstone's owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), and the Formula One authorities in 2003 over the funding of necessary improvements to the track's facilities led to doubts over the future of the race.

In October 2004 the British Grand Prix was left off the preliminary race schedule for 2005 because the BRDC refused to pay the race fee demanded by Bernie Ecclestone. However, after months of negotiation between the BRDC, Ecclestone and the Formula One constructors, a deal was made for the Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone until 2009.

Despite the controversy and political bickering that has surrounded the future of the race in recent years, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone remains one of the world's premier motor racing events.

On 4 July 2008, it was announced that Donington Park had been awarded the contract to host the British Grand Prix for 10 years from 2010.. However, Donington failed to secure the necessary funding to host the race, and it's contract was terminated in November 2009. On the 7th December 2009 Silverstone signed a 17 year contract to host the British Grand Prix from 2010 onwards.