Why were seven drivers awarded one seventh of a point in the 1954 British Grand Prix? How many drivers have recorded first lap retirements at the circuit? And how much distance has been covered in racing laps at the track? Here’s Silverstone in Numbers!
0.143
The 1954 British Grand Prix saw seven drivers set identical fastest lap times during the race. The one point on offer was divided between all seven drivers, meaning each earned 0.143 of a point for their effort.
4
Four races at Silverstone have been red-flagged. The 1973 British Grand Prix was the first race here to be red-flagged, due to a pile up at the end of the first lap which eliminated nine cars from the race and ultimately ended Andrea de Adamich’s F1 career. The 1975 race was red-flagged due to a heavy hail storm, while the 1999 event was red-flagged after Jacques Villeneuve and Alex Zanardi stalled on the grid. Michael Schumacher broke his leg in a crash just after the red flag had been shown. Most recently, the 2014 British Grand Prix was halted following Kimi Raikkonen’s accident on the first lap.
7
Lewis Hamilton has won at home seven times. A win this year would see him equal the record for most wins at a single circuit. Jim Clark previously previously held the record for most British Grand Prix victories, having won his fifth home race in 1967.
9
Andrea de Cesaris recorded more DNFs at Silverstone than any other driver. He failed to finish nine times from his eleven visits to the track. He was still running at the end of the race on two occasions – he finished eighth in 1983 and was 16 laps down on the leader in 1993, meaning he was not even classified in the final result.
12
Toranosuke Takagi recorded his twelfth and final Formula One finish at Silverstone in 1999, when he finished last in 16th place. Racing for Arrows, the Japanese driver failed to reach the end of any of the remaining eight races in that season.
13
Thirteen drivers have recorded a DNS at Silverstone. The list includes four drivers who failed to start a British Grand Prix in the last ten year: Vitaly Petrov in 2012, Felipe Nasr in 2015, Jolyon Palmer in 2017 and Nico Hulkenberg in 2020.
14
Ferrari have the most wins of any team at Silverstone. Sebastian Vettel secured a 14th victory for the Scuderia at the circuit in 2018 – their first here since Fernando Alonso won in 2011.
43
There have been 43 first lap retirements in F1 races held at Silverstone. Jackie Oliver is the only driver who has retired on the opening lap here twice. He crashed out on Lap 1 in both 1971 and 1973. Carlos Sainz is the latest driver to join the list, having been taken out by his team mate Daniil Kvyat on the opening lap of the 2017 British Grand Prix.
80
The largest points lead held in the championship after a Grand Prix at Silverstone is eighty points. It was recorded by Sebastian Vettel in 2011 – with six wins in the first nine races, Vettel led the championship by 80 points from teammate Mark Webber. By the end of the season, he’d built an advantage of 122 points at the top of the driver’s classification.
101
The most number of laps completed during a single Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit is 101. That was the distance covered by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1956 British Grand Prix. The race is the longest on record at the circuit, lasting a total of two hours, 59 minutes and 47 seconds. The 1951, 1953 and 1954 events at Silverstone all featured ninety laps.
5515%
The village of Silverstone experiences a 5515% population growth over British Grand Prix weekend. The village is home to just over 2,000 people usually, but they’re typically joined by 120,000 F1 fans when F1 visits the nearby circuit!
62,737
The total sum of laps completed by every driver of the Silverstone circuit since the British Grand Prix was first held here in 1950 is 62,737. That gives a total distance travelled of 318,266km – the same distance as travelling the circumference of Earth eight times, and only 66,000km short of the trip distance from Earth to the moon.