Formula 1 crosses the English Channel to return to where it all began: in 1950, the Silverstone circuit hosted the first GP of the newly born World Championship.
In total, 80 GPs have been held in Great Britain: 60 at Silverstone, 14 at Brands Hatch, 5 at Aintree, and 1 at Donington Park. This weekend will also host the fourth Sprint of the season: the short race is the only victory missing from Kimi Antonelli's record.
GP data
According to the engineers of the Brembo group, who work closely with all the Formula 1 teams, the Silverstone Circuit, which is 5,891 meters long, falls into the category of circuits that are not very demanding for the braking system. On a scale from 1 to 5, it has earned a difficulty index of 1, also because the brakes are used only 3 times per lap for just over 6 and a half seconds in total. One braking instance is classified as Hard, while the other 2 are Medium, but for all of them, the load exerted on the brake pedal remains well below 90 kg.
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The toughest turn
According to the simulations conducted, Turn 16 of the Silverstone Circuit is the most challenging for the braking system, surpassing other braking points in all major parameters: the cars go from 268 km/h to 116 km/h in 2.45 seconds covering 125 meters. During this phase, drivers are required to apply a load of 86 kg on the brake pedal while experiencing 3.1 g of deceleration. The braking power reaches 1,081 kW.
Half a second
Compared to the 2025 British Grand Prix, due to the characteristics of the 2026 single-seaters, braking is less intense. At turn 3, a year ago, cars lost 165 km/h, compared to 131 km/h this year, and drivers experienced 4.5 g of deceleration versus today's 2.9 g. The load on the brake pedal at that point has almost halved, dropping from 152 kg to 78 kg, and braking power has plummeted from 2,260 kW to 869 kW.
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The rain variable
Despite being classified as a ‘low-demand circuit,’ the braking system at Silverstone Circuit is far from redundant: drivers use it, as in all other GPs, to optimize corner entry. In case of rain, a condition that has occurred in the last two editions, the different driving styles become more pronounced during braking. In such circumstances, the difference is made by those who identify the optimal modulation of braking power that can be applied to the asphalt.
King Carlos
In 76 editions of the British GP, only two drivers have triumphed starting beyond the third row: in 1975 Emerson Fittipaldi, who won despite starting 7th on the grid, and three years later, at Brands Hatch, Carlos Reutemann did even better, claiming victory after qualifying in eighth position. The Argentine was 2nd for 20 laps behind Niki Lauda, from whom he had inherited the Ferrari and Brembo brakes. The Austrian was overtaken on the 61st lap by Reutemann, who went on to win. With those 9 points, he tied with Niki for 3rd place in the standings.