Number 6: 1981 British Grand Prix
Story:With both Renault drivers René Arnoux and Alain Prost starting on the front row things should be all sailing for the Renault, instead throughout the race it was chaos. Andrea de Cesaris, Alan Jones, Gilles Villeneuve crashed early on with all three drivers retiring. Brabham driver Nelson Piquet crashed on lap 11 while leading with a exploding rear tyre. Ferrari driver Didier Pironi retired with a broken turbo on lap 14. Both Renault drivers retired with distributor problems. Which means, McLaren driver John Watson leads the race and wins his first race for five years, and McLaren's first since James Hunt's victory at the 1977 Japanese Grand Prix. The race also marked the first victory for a carbon fibre composite monocoque F1 car, the McLaren MP4/1.
Number 5: 1994 British Grand Prix
Story: With Damon Hill piping Michael Schumacher to pole on Saturday. Things were a little chaotic on Sunday. On the formation lap, Schumacher overtook Hill, before he was let back through in time for the start.
With Schumacher overtaking Hill at the start and leading from Hill, on lap 14, Michael Schumacher was handed a five second stop-go penalty for overtaking Hill on the formation lap. He failed to serve the penalty by lap 21, and as a result was shown the black flag twice, requiring him to stop immediately at the pits. Schumacher did not acknowledge the black flag, and later claimed that he had not seen it. Benetton team told the race officials that there had been a misunderstanding over the 5 second stop-go penalty, and after discussing the issue with the team the officials withdrew the black flag and Schumacher finally served the stop-go penalty at the end of lap 27. By end of the race Damon Hill won the British Grand Prix from Schumacher.
But, the stewards fined Benetton team $25,000 and gave the team and their driver Michael Schumacher a severe reprimand for ignoring Schumacher's five second stop-go penalty and the subsequent black flag. On July 26, the FIA World Motorsport Council increased the penalty to a $500,000 fine for the team and a two race ban for Schumacher. Also, Schumacher was disqualified from his second place at the British Grand Prix and drama throughout the rest of 1994.
Number 4: 1998 British Grand Prix
Story: With Mika Häkkinen starting on pole on Saturday, Sunday was wet for race day. With the track drying up, by lap 16 the rain restarted again, by lap 42 Häkkinen built up a lead of 49 seconds over second place driver Michael Schumacher, by the next lap he went off the track, did a complete 360 degrees turn before continuing. The incident damaged Häkkinen's front wing of his car and cost him 10 seconds of his lead but following numerous other spins caused by the worsening conditions the safety car was deployed which slowed the cars down, and removed Häkkinen's advantage over Schumacher altogether.
At the restart Schumacher lapped sixth place Alexander Wurz before crossing the start/finish line to move him behind Häkkinen on track. Häkkinen then made a mistake on lap 51 and lost the lead to Schumacher.
Two laps from the finish, Schumacher was issued with a 10 second stop-and-go penalty, as the penalty was given for passing Wurz under the safety car, as the safety car regulations continue to apply until the start/finish line is crossed. The penalty should have been issued within 25 minutes but Ferrari were informed 6 minutes after the limit had expired. However on the final lap of the race, Schumacher came in to serve the penalty and in doing so crossed the finish line before reaching his pit box and before Mika Häkkinen crossed the finish line on the race track. However, because the stewards had incorrectly issued the penalty Schumacher escaped punishment as the stewards later rescinded the penalty to give Micheal Schumacher his first British Grand Prix win with added chaos.
Number 3: 1991 British Grand Prix
Story: With the track had been vastly remodelled for 1991, now included new challenging corners. The race itself was dominating race from Nigel Mansell, got the pole on Saturday, lead throughout the race; which includes a fastest lap, Nigel Mansell concluded with a famous race win. While, Ayrton Senna ran out of fuel on the last lap, he would be classified fourth. But, Nigel Mansell gives Ayrton Senna a lift in his Williams back to the paddock at Silverstone to give one of the most memorable moments at Silverstone and in Formula 1 overall.
Number 2: 2003 British Grand Prix
Story: With Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello on pole for the race, this would be an easy win for the Ferrari driver. Not so when on the 11th lap, a track invasion by the defrocked priest Neil Horan, 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 Kimi Räikkönen took the lead on lap 30 when Da Matta pitted.
But, Barrichello then set the fastest lap after being cleared of traffic, taking the lead after Räikkönen pitted for the second time. Barrichello continued to cut the advantage, but Räikkönen regained the lead with a reduced margin following the Brazilian's second stop. After closing in, Barrichello passed Räikkönen after pressuring him into a mistake. To give Rubens Barrichello his first Grand Prix win of the season.
Number 1: 1987 British Grand Prix
Story: With both Williams drivers Nelson Piquet Nigel Mansell starting on the front row. The race itself became a close fight between the two Williams drivers, as neither Senna nor Prost were a match for them. Piquet led most of the race. By lap 12 Mansell was struggling with a vibration caused by a missing wheel weight, which had become detached and fallen from the car. By lap 36 he was around 5 seconds behind his team-mate and struggling. Both Williams drivers were scheduled to complete the race without a tyre change, but due to the worsening vibration and given a comfortable gap back to Senna in third place, Mansell and the team elected to make a stop in order to change tyres and solve the problem.
Mansell rejoined the race some 29 seconds behind Piquet, with 28 laps remaining. On fresh rubber Mansell began an epic charge which saw the lap record broken 11 times to the delight of the over 100,000 strong British crowd. By lap 62 the two cars were nose to tail and on lap 63 Mansell performed his now famous 'Silverstone Two Step' move, selling Piquet a dummy on the Hangar Straight and then diving down the inside into Stowe Corner. Mansell ran out of fuel on the slowing down lap and was engulfed by the crowd. Unknown to the outside world at the time his fuel gauge had been in the red two laps before the finish, as he crossed the line it was still showing him to be two litres short.
Many more Grand Prixs' at Silverstone to the years to come.
End of blog for now, new post soon. Bye.
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