Twelve months have already passed since Lewis Hamilton reigned supreme on yet another Silverstone Sunday.
His famous 2024 triumph, one of the great moments in the circuit's and the race's history, was his first grand prix win for two and a half years. It was also his ninth British Grand Prix win, the most by any driver at any race.
"This is my last race here with this team, I wanted to win this so much for them" 🌟
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 7, 2024
Lewis Hamilton on winning the British Grand Prix in his last year driving for Mercedes 💬 pic.twitter.com/UJQWRia8D1
If any circuit emboldens the Hamilton frenzy, it is Silverstone. He has started his home race from pole position on seven occasions, has scored 15 podiums at this track and has not been outside of the top three since 2013.
And even on that occasion, Hamilton was likely to convert pole position into race victory, until he was one of six victims who fell foul of tyre failures. Such was the danger, tyre suppliers Pirelli were forced to modify their construction for the remainder of the campaign.
The last 18 years have seen this race defined by Hamilton. Naturally, being his home race, he is an idolised figure between these walls, but he has indelibly moulded this era of British Grand Prix underneath his consistent mastery and emotion.
It was only a few years back that Silverstone was at risk of dropping out of the schedule, and Hamilton himself declared that he would 'fight' for its place.
After his record-equalling seventh world drivers' championship, in 2020, the circuit immortalised his name on its start/finish straight, meaning that since 2021, Hamilton has contested each start (and has won two races) on a ribbon of tarmac bearing his icon.
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McLaren's recent home disappointment
Lando Norris has a very strong record at this race. Since his debut, in 2019, he has never been outqualified by a teammate.
He has a best starting and finishing position, at Silverstone, of second, which was achieved during the 2023 race where he led the first half dozen laps, before relenting to the Verstappen pressure.
But the McLaren driver was visibly gutted after last year's race, having seen a victory slip from his fingers. Leading before his final stop and switch to the dry tyres, he was undercut by Hamilton and was later passed by Verstappen, after a strategic misstep by McLaren.
Verstappen's fickle Silverstone chapter
Max Verstappen has had mixed fortunes around Silverstone. In the searing heat of the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix last year, the Dutchman's mastery of highly-stressed Pirelli rubber eclipsed the all-conquering Mercedes and their fabled W11 car.
He also won the 2023 British Grand Prix, passing and beating Lando Norris to the win after losing it at the start.
But his two other great Silverstone drives have come in changeable conditions. A ludicrously gutsy overtake on the outside of Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, at chapel corner and in the rain, played a seismic part in him splitting the two leading Mercedes in the 2016 race.
His and Red Bull's decisiveness on strategy also stood out in 2024, when a clear car disadvantage was mitigated by smart reading of the changing weather. That day, Verstappen beat Norris to P2 and stunningly fought for the race victory.
However, Verstappen has had extremely low moments at this track. A rookie error in 2015 saw him drop the rear of the car and left him stuck in the gravel at Farm corner.
He also had a pair of likely victories slip through his grasp, in 2021 and 2022. Of course, he had the infamous crash with Lewis Hamilton at Copse, after half a lap of outrageously intense wheel-to-wheel action, which sent him into the barriers at 51G.
The incident, that Hamilton was penalised for, required Verstappen to take a brief trip to hospital and sparked the further controversy that was to come later in that epic championship tussle.
He also looked set to win the year after, but his lead fell apart when he struck bodywork left by the junior Alpha Tauri (now Racing Bulls) car, after its driver-pairing collided.
Verstappen and Hamilton's Silverstone 2021 battle is already the stuff of legend and controversy
Elsewhere...
Despite winning their first ever world championship grand prix in 1951, at this very track, Ferrari have won just two of the last 14 Silverstone races.
Sebastian Vettel became the only driver not named Lewis Hamilton to win the British Grand Prix (between 2014 and 2021), after he swamped the Brit at the start of the 2018 race, and dispensed of Valtteri Bottas with a late-braking move to the inside of the left-handed Brooklands turn.
Carlos Sainz, though, is Maranello's most recent Silverstone victor. He saw off teammate Charles Leclerc at the safety car restart, in 2022, to claim his first Formula 1 win after he scored his first pole just 24 hours beforehand.
Williams were another team to have won their first ever Formula 1 grand prix at Silverstone, but have also not won here for 28 years and have not scored a podium for 11 years.
The last driver to stand on the rostrum in Williams clothing was Valtteri Bottas, when he scythed through the midfield to place himself runner-up to Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren have not won at home since the day that (you have probably guessed by now) Hamilton demolished the opposition, in sodden conditions, in 2008.
After 60 laps the Brit's nearest challenger, Nick Heidfeld, was over a minute behind. No driver has won a race by a larger margin since.
In fact, three of McLaren's last five successes at Silverstone have been achieved with British drivers.
Scotsman David Coulthard won this race back-to-back in 1999 and 2000. The former is a race remembered for Michael Schumacher crashing at Stowe corner, which broke his legs and ruled himself out of contention for that season's championship.
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