Nigel Mansell seemed to own the place, Damon Hill has been going there since he was a baby and Britain’s latest champion Lewis Hamilton says it simply feels like home.
Silverstone, the windswept former World War Two airfield that hosted Formula One’s first championship grand prix in 1950, is loved by drivers but this weekend must reluctantly say farewell to the sport.
The British Grand Prix is due to move north to Donington Park next year, although many paddock sceptics continue to question whether that track will be ready in time and whether Silverstone has really reached the end of the road.
Formula One’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who once damned Silverstone as ”a country fair masquerading as a world event”, has made clear that whatever happens with Donington, there is no going back.
”If the work at Donington is not finished in time, we would be happy to skip a year,” he said last month. ”I don’t want to lose the British Grand Prix, that’s the last thing we want to do, but we aren’t going to Silverstone for sure.”
The circuit is owned by the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), a not-for-profit organisation that Ecclestone has pilloried in recent years as lavish new circuits emerge elsewhere in the world.
Silverstone is one of the historic races, on a par with Monza in Italy, but modern Formula One has little room for sentiment with its expansion to lucrative new markets in the Middle East and Asia.
Montreal and the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours disappeared this year, with the Canadian race much missed by competitors. Silverstone’s loss will also be painful.
”It hurts me more than [losing] Canada to see that Silverstone could not be on the calendar next year,” said Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, who hopes to beat Brawn team mate and championship leader Jenson Button to the chequered flag this weekend.
”Canada for me is horrible not to be there, but Silverstone hurts me more — not just for the feeling, but Silverstone is fast and safe and that’s all we want,” said Barrichello, a winner with Ferrari in 2003.
Hamilton triumphed last year for McLaren but Button, chasing an astonishing seventh win in eight races, will be the crowd favourite this time.
”It would be great to win there, and great for us all. We’re going to put on a good show. It’s a fun circuit, all the drivers love it, hopefully it will be a great atmosphere, and we can give it a good send-off,” said Button.
”It’s the layout of the circuit. It’s one of the greats of the past, and not that much has changed to the fun parts of it. It is like Suzuka, like Spa, it’s fast and flowing, and I love that,” he added.
”From turn one to Club is very fast, and there aren’t circuits like that any more these days. This is a very special circuit, and every driver who races here in a Formula One car loves it.
”You really push the car to its limits, and you feel how amazing an F1 car is, the speed, the change of the direction, the braking. It’s just a perfect place to show a Formula One car’s performance.”
Italian Giuseppe Farina won the first Formula One championship grand prix for Alfa Romeo in 1950 and a year later Argentina’s Jose Froilan Gonzalez, the ‘Pampas Bull’, gave Enzo Ferrari’s team their first victory.
Silverstone, used for the training of bomber pilots during the war, had held its first grand prix in 1948 with 100 000 spectators present and traffic queues — a familiar sight in future years — stretching back for miles.
There was no safety fencing, just a rope to keep the crowd at a distance and hay bales marking the track using the perimeter roads.
The circuit has provided some great memories over the years, including Keke Rosberg’s 1985 qualifying lap averaging 259 km/h that made him the fastest man in Formula One for the next 17 years.
Mansell had the crowd roaring with his high-speed feint to overtake Brazilian team mate Nelson Piquet in 1987 and triggered a track invasion when he won in 1992, his title year.
A kilted Irish priest had to be wrestled to the ground in 2003 when he ran on to the Hangar Straight waving religious placards during the race; Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher broke his leg in a crash in 1999.
Williams took their first grand prix win there with Switzerland’s Clay Regazzoni in 1979.
The circuit facilities have always been fairly basic, but no worse than some other venerable European tracks and way better than Brazil’s Interlagos — another drivers’ favourite despite its dilapidated feel.
Road access has improved immeasurably and fans certainly had few complaints last year when Hamilton served up another classic, winning by 68 seconds in a performance compared to those of the all-time greats.
”The two greatest things about racing at Silverstone are the fans and the track itself,” said the 24-year-old, who has resigned himself to scrapping for points in an uncompetitive car this weekend.
”I love Silverstone. It’s an amazing place to drive. Copse, Becketts and Bridge are all absolutely fantastic, flat-out corners that really show you the power and grip of a Formula One car,” he added.
”It’s a perfect place for the race, so let’s hope it’s not the last time we race at this track.” — Reuters