It’s British Grand Prix time again this weekend, so strap in and take a high-speed trip down memory lane with RaceDepartment’s top-five Silverstone moments…
5) 1994 – DAMON HILL WINS
Pantomime baddie Michael Schumacher seemed to be romping away with the title in 1994 until Damon Hill turned his season around at his home race, snatching pole by 3000th of a second before taking a jubilant win. Schumacher, meanwhile, was severely reprimanded for overtaking Hill on the formation lap and then ignoring the black flag. He had his second place taken away and was banned for two races. Their rivalry grew even more fierce as a result.
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4) 1973 – THE BIGGEST CRASH
South African Jody Scheckter spun out of fourth place coming out of the final corner on the first lap, and reeked havoc behind him as multiple cars collided. Nine drivers were forced to retire, with Andrea de Adamich suffering injuries that would end his career. Scheckter was branded a menace. However, he calmed his driving down and later won the world title for Ferrari.
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3) 2003 – THE MAD PRIEST
Serial sports invader Neil Horan, a defrocked Irish priest, ran onto the track in an attempt to draw attention to his Messianic prophecies. Narrowly missed by Mark Webber’s speeding Jaguar, he was eventually rugby-tackled by a marshal and dragged away.
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2) 1950 – FORMULA ONE IS BORN
Silverstone hosted the first ever world championship grand prix on 13 May 1950, in the presence of the Royal family. The race drew 200,000 spectators. There were three changes of the lead but in the end pole sitter Giuseppe Farina triumphed. On the third step of the all-Alfa Romeo podium was Reg Parnell from Derby, one of nine British drivers in the race.
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1) 1987 – MANSELL BEATS PIQUET
Williams team-mates Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet loathed each other to the point of violence but, after Piquet insulted the Englishman’s wife, our Nige saved his killer blow for the track. Mansell was 28 seconds behind the Brazilian with 30 laps remaining but set a series of devastatingly fast laps to close on Piquet’s tail. He sold him a dummy going into the flat-out Stowe corner and dived down Piquet’s inside to take the lead with six laps to spare. He later returned to the spot to kiss the ground.
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