Video: British Grand Prix history 1950-76

F1 Fanatic guest writer Journeyer begins a three-part series looking back at highlights from the British Grand Prix.

We now go to Silverstone for the 60th British Grand Prix. As it’s the 60th, there have been special celebrations planned to mark the occasion.

We’ll have our own little celebration by going through the British Grand Prix’s history. I’ve picked 20 of the best, split into three batches, and I hope you enjoy them.

1950: Any historical discussion of the British Grand Prix has to include this one. Why so? Well, it was the first ever Formula 1 World Championship race. It was even graced by the presence of King George VI. Giuseppe Farina won the first race, and went on to win the first ever championship.

1957: This British Grand Prix was held at Aintree, a venue which hosted the race 5 times. This was the second Grand Prix run at the track. This is the only British Grand Prix to have two winners, both of them British, as shared cars were still allowed at the time. Stirling Moss’ original BRM ran into trouble, so the team asked him to swap cars with team mate Tony Brooks. Moss fought back from ninth to win, splitting the points with Brooks. They became the first British drivers to win in a British car.

1964: The king of the British Grand Prix has to be Jim Clark. Arguably the most talented British driver ever to step foot in Formula 1, he won his home Grand Prix five times. This was the third of those five wins, at the first race held at Brands Hatch.

1973: Held at Silverstone, this is one of the more popular F1 races that are occasionally broadcast on ESPN Classic. This is most memorable for that horrific first lap collision which wiped out a huge chunk of the field. Jody Scheckter earned his early reputation as a wild driver for causing that. Peter Revson managed to steer clear of the carnage and snatch the victory – which was the McLaren team’s first British Grand Prix win.

1975: This race was also held at Silverstone, and was actually a pretty normal race for the most part. But on lap 53, the heavens opened and a hail storm rained on the track. It played havoc with the drivers and cars, many simply sliding off the track. Emerson Fittipaldi kept his McLaren on the track when his rivals didn’t, and was thus unchallenged for the win.

1976: The race returned to Brands Hatch that year, as it and Silverstone alternated running the British Grand Prix. James Hunt won the race on the track, but was disqualified in a controversy over the manner in which he’d re-joined the race after the first start was red-flagged. The win was handed to Niki Lauda. The video here is of a “press conference”. I’m using that term very loosely, though. Watch the video and see why.

Join us tomorrow for the next part in this series. If you’d like to write a guest article for F1 Fanatic you can find more information about submitting a post here.