Silverstone

The track at a glance

Silverstone sits on the former RAF Silverstone bomber base on the Northamptonshire–Buckinghamshire border. The current Grand Prix layout is 5.891 km long with 18 turns, and a Grand Prix there runs to 52 laps. Remains of the wartime runways still lie inside the track.

It is one of the fastest circuits on the calendar. Most of the lap is made up of high-speed corners rather than hairpins, so a car's aerodynamic grip matters more here than almost anywhere else. The slower Arena section, added in 2010, breaks up the lap between Village and Brooklands.

Silverstone hosted the first round of the first World Championship in 1950 and has been the permanent home of the British Grand Prix since 1987. Its current deal runs until at least 2034.

A lap of Silverstone, corner by corner

The numbers below follow the 15 named corners in the remastered layout. The official 18-turn count splits Becketts and Club into their individual turns.

1. Abbey

   A very fast right-hander at the end of the start straight. It has been Turn 1 since the start line moved in 2011.

2. Farm

   A flat-out left kink that leads into the braking zone for Village.

3. Village

   A slow right-hander at the start of the Arena section and a good place to pass on the first lap.

4. The Loop

   A tight left-hand hairpin, the slowest corner on the lap.

5. Aintree

   A left-hander that sends the cars onto the Wellington Straight. A good exit here sets up a pass into Brooklands.

6. Brooklands

   A left-hander at the end of the Wellington Straight and one of the main overtaking spots.

7. Luffield

   A long, slow right-hander where drivers have to be patient on the throttle.

8. Woodcote

   A fast right onto the old pit straight, once the final corner of the lap.

9. Copse

   A very fast right-hander taken at well over 250 km/h, with little time to set the car up after the straight.

10. Maggotts

    A fast left that starts the most famous sequence of the lap.

11. Becketts

    A rapid right-left-right at very high speed (Turns 11 to 13). Getting the first change of direction right decides the rest.

12. Chapel

    A left-hander that opens onto the Hangar Straight. A clean exit here is worth a lot of time.

13. Stowe

    A fast right at the end of the roughly 770 m Hangar Straight, where cars reach well over 300 km/h. It is a key place to overtake.

14. Vale

    A heavy braking zone into a slow left-hander.

15. Club

    A long right-hander (Turns 17 and 18) that leads onto the start straight. A good exit sets up a run into Abbey.

How the layout has changed

Silverstone has been changed more than most circuits. It began on the airfield's perimeter road and runways and has been reshaped many times since.

• 1943RAF Silverstone opens as a wartime bomber training base. It closes in 1946.
• 1948The first British Grand Prix at Silverstone uses the perimeter road and runways.
• 1950Silverstone hosts the first race of the new World Championship.
• 1987Silverstone becomes the permanent home of the British Grand Prix.
• 1991A major redesign turns an ultra-fast circuit into a more technical one, including a faster, flowing Maggotts and Becketts complex.
• 2010The Arena section is added between Village and Brooklands.
• 2011A new pit and paddock complex opens, and the start line moves to the straight between Club and Abbey.
• 2024A new deal keeps the British Grand Prix at Silverstone until at least 2034.

Why it is so fast

Silverstone was laid out on flat airfield land, so it gets its challenge from speed and direction changes rather than height. Corners like Copse, Maggotts and Becketts are taken so fast that the car's downforce, not its brakes, decides the lap time.

That also explains the layout's weak spots. Fast corners make it hard to follow another car closely, so most passing happens at the slower corners at the end of the long straights: Brooklands, Stowe and Vale. For more, read our history of Silverstone or our guide to overtaking zones.

Ideas for your remaster

The Remaster button opens the traced layout in the designer with all 15 corners named. You can move any point and the lap time, speed trace and corner analysis update as you go. A few places to start:

Bring back the old start. Before 2011 the lap started between Woodcote and Copse. Rework the Arena section and compare the lap times.

Make Maggotts and Becketts faster still. Open up the direction changes and see how high you can push the minimum speed.

Design a better braking zone. Try a tighter Stowe or a different Vale and watch the speed trace.

Finish it properly. Add track width, run-off, and kerbs where they matter — read our guide to exit kerbs first — and a pit lane so it reads like a real venue.

When you're happy with it, share your version with its own link. The original stays here for the next person to remaster.

Frequently asked questions

Layout traced from the open circuit data in bacinger/f1-circuits (MIT licence). Circuit facts: Wikipedia. RaceTrackDesigner is not affiliated with the circuit, its owners or any racing series.