Not every F1 driver is lucky enough to have a home grand prix, as many world champions spent an entire career without racing in their native country.
That is especially true for Finnish trio Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen and Keke Rosberg, as the Scandinavian country has never hosted an F1 race.
So, those from the United Kingdom should count themselves lucky as the British Grand Prix has been a staple of the F1 calendar since it hosted the championship’s inaugural race in 1950.
The grand prix has since been won by 12 British drivers, so who are they and who has claimed victory the most frequently?
Lewis Hamilton — eight British GP wins
Hamilton’s 2019 Silverstone win, his sixth, established him as the most successful driver in British GP history
Photo by: Mark Sutton
Years active in F1: 2007 — present
Wins at the British GP: 8 (2008, 2014-17, 2019-21)
Lewis Hamilton is the king of the British GP, as his eight victories are the most of any driver in history. From the moment he entered F1 in 2007, the seven-time world champion has been fighting at the front as Hamilton claimed pole for his debut British GP — only to lose victory during the pit window due to a slow McLaren stop.
But Hamilton rebounded perfectly by dominating the 2008 British GP en route to his maiden world championship that year. He delivered a masterclass in the wet to win by 68.577s.
Hamilton had to wait until the turbo-hybrid era began in 2014 for not only his next world championship, but also his next British GP victory. In his second year at Mercedes, Hamilton had another large win margin of 30.135s, but was helped by team-mate Nico Rosberg losing his lead to a gearbox problem.
That started Hamilton’s run of four consecutive British GP victories — the second driver to achieve such a feat — which resulted in him tying Jim Clark and Alain Prost for the most wins at the event. He had to wait a little while to outright claim the record though.
In 2018, Hamilton lost the lead to Sebastian Vettel at the start, before a tag from Raikkonen caused him to spin at Turn 3 on the opening lap. But Hamilton returned to winning ways in 2019 at Silverstone with a record-breaking sixth British GP victory.
This started another winning run that culminated in Hamilton’s eighth and most recent British GP win in 2021, a race remembered for his famous clash with Max Verstappen at Copse on lap one.
Jim Clark — five British GP wins
Clark won the British GP five teams, all aboard Lotus machinery
Photo by: David Phipps
Years active in F1: 1960-68
Wins at the British GP: 5 (1962-65, 1967)
Before Hamilton, Clark was the first driver to win four consecutive British GPs. One difference was that not all of Clark’s victories came at Silverstone, as during his time in F1 the British GP alternated its host each year.
The old Aintree circuit was the venue for Clark’s first British GP win in 1962, where the Scotsman never lost position from pole to win by 49.2s and start his record-breaking run.Highlighting his dominance, Clark achieved all of his victories in that period from pole.
His second British GP win came at Silverstone, before claiming a third around Brands Hatch. The British GP returned to Silverstone for Clark’s fourth victory in 1965, but this time his winning run appeared in doubt as the Lotus 33 driver started losing oil pressure in the closing stages.
This caused Clark to kill the engine through the fast corners in an attempt to nurse his car to the end, a ploy that delivered him victory by just 3.2s.
The pace of Jack Brabham’s self-built Brabham BT19 car in 1966 proved too much, ending Clark’s winning streak, but he returned to the top step in 1967 by converting pole at Silverstone. Denny Hulme languished 12.8s behind in what proved not only his final British GP victory, but also his final home race before Clark was tragically killed in a crash at Hockenheim in April 1968.
Nigel Mansell — four British GP wins
Mansell’s famous victory over team-mate Piquet came with a dramatic late pass into Stowe
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Years active in F1: 1980-92, 1994-95
Wins at the British GP: 4 (1986-87, 1991-92)
Nigel Mansell once endured a lot of hard luck at his home event, as he retired from three of his first five British GPs while also failing to qualify in 1981. But that run was ended in the best of circumstances, as Mansell won the final British GP to be held at Brands Hatch in 1986 after overtaking Williams team-mate Nelson Piquet approximately a third of the way through an event the Brummie described as the race of his life.
Silverstone then became the British GP’s permanent host in 1987 — the year Mansell won his second home race in what proved to be a classic. Mansell again started from second behind Piquet and was on his team-mate’s tail before making a pitstop with 30 laps remaining, while the Brazilian attempted to nurse his tyres until the end.
Despite the delay, Mansell’s strategy proved to be the correct one. He reduced his 30s deficit to Piquet by breaking the lap record eight times, to the delight of the home crowd, then sealed the job by overtaking Piquet with three laps to go and won by 1.9s.
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Two second-place finishes and a retirement at the British GP followed, before Mansell won his third home race in 1991 by holding off Ayrton Senna’s early attack to win from pole. The 1991 British GP is also famous for Mansell giving Senna a lift back to the pitlane, after the Brazilian’s McLaren ran out of fuel on the final lap.
And the iconic British GP moments for Mansell did not end there, as he claimed a fourth victory in 1992 en route to finally securing the world championship. During a dominant start to 1992, Mansell’s Silverstone triumph was his seventh win from the opening nine grands prix. Fans subsequently invaded the track and swarmed their hero during his victory lap.
David Coulthard — two British GP wins
Coulthard made it back-to-back British GP wins for McLaren in 2000
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Years active in F1: 1994-08
Wins at the British GP: 2 (1999-2000)
David Coulthard joined F1 in the most tragic of circumstances, replacing Senna at Williams following the triple world champion’s death in 1994. Coulthard impressed over the following 18 months, which included his maiden grand prix victory in Estoril and third at the 1995 British GP, leading to the Scotsman moving to McLaren for 1996.
Although Coulthard largely played second fiddle to double world champion Hakkinen at McLaren, meaning he failed to clinch a title of his own, he still forged an impressive career that included two victories in front of his home crowd. The first came in 1999, as Coulthard was handed the lead when Hakkinen’s loosely-fitted rear-left tyre came flying off at the exit of Luffield, forcing him to retire with 25 laps remaining.
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Coulthard went back-to-back at the British GP in 2000, showing strong pace in the early stages to climb from fourth to first, before holding on for victory despite a late gearbox problem. The Scotsman failed to finish higher than fifth in his subsequent British GPs, before retiring at the end of 2008.
Jackie Stewart — two British GP wins
Stewart was utterly dominant in his Tyrrell-Ford 003 in 1971 to notch his second Silverstone success
Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images
Years active in F1: 1965-73
Wins at the British GP: 2 (1969, 1971)
F1 icon Jackie Stewart won the world championship three times, in 1969, 1971 and 1973, while spending much of his career campaigning for better safety regulations. It was during his first title-winning season that Stewart won his maiden British GP and the story behind it is quite remarkable.
The Matra driver started second at Silverstone, behind pole winner Jochen Rindt, and the duel between both drivers stole the show as they constantly swapped positions. This was until the closing stages when Rindt pulled alongside Stewart and the Scotsman signalled to his rival that his Lotus’s rear wing endplates were loose. When the Austrian decided to pit, it handed victory to Stewart, one lap ahead of runner-up Jacky Ickx’s Brabham.
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Stewart followed that up with another victory in 1971, also at Silverstone, but this one came much easier. He claimed the lead on lap four, before disappearing into the distance. Stewart only entered one more British GP (he retired the following year), in which the Tyrrell driver finished a disappointing 10th after spinning from second.
Stirling Moss — two British GP wins
Moss became the first British winner of his home grand prix at Aintree in 1955 aboard the Mercedes W196
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Years active in F1: 1951-61
Wins at the British GP: 2 (1955, 1957)
Another British great to have won his home race twice, the first of Stirling Moss’s two victories was also his maiden grand prix triumph. It came at Aintree in 1955, Moss winning from pole by just 0.2s from Mercedes team-mate Juan Manuel Fangio, as he also became the first Briton to win his home event.
Moss’ next British GP victory came in 1957, also at Aintree, where he shared the race winning car with team-mate Tony Brooks. That’s because the Vanwall squad agreed that if Moss’ #18 car hit trouble, then he would switch to the #20 started by Brooks as he was still recovering from a crash at the previous month’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
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When Moss’s engine caved in, he duly replaced Brooks. A brilliant charge from ninth, helped by reliability problems for others, saw a British car win the British GP for the first time. It remains the last time a grand prix was won by two drivers, which previously happened at the 1951 French GP (Fangio and Luigi Fagioli) and 1956 Argentine GP (Fangio and Luigi Musso).
Johnny Herbert — one British GP win
Herbert took full advantage of Hill clashing with Schumacher to record his maiden F1 win
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Years active in F1: 1989-2000
Wins at the British GP: 1 (1995)
Johnny Herbert claimed his first of three career race wins at the 1995 British GP, as he took a shock trip to the top step after starting fifth. His Benetton had climbed up to third by lap 23 before inheriting the lead 24 tours later, when Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher both spun off at Priory after the Williams driver made an ill-timed lunge down the inside.
Herbert held on for the remaining 16 laps to beat runner-up Jean Alesi by 16.4s, which also happened to be the final time that Herbert recorded a points finish at the British GP.
Damon Hill — one British GP win
Hill scored the British GP win his father missed out on in 1994
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Years active in F1: 1992-99
Wins at the British GP: 1 (1994)
Before Hill’s despair at the 1995 British GP, he had enjoyed jubilation the year before when he won his home race at the third time of asking. Not for the last time, it involved a controversy with Schumacher.
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The German driver, who started second, overtook Hill twice on the formation lap. This resulted in a five-second penalty for the championship leader and later a black flag, as he failed to serve it by lap 21.
Schumacher continued to race though, as Benetton claimed it had not seen the black flag, and served a stop-go penalty on lap 27. This allowed Hill to consolidate his lead and eventually win the British GP while Schumacher, who crossed the line second, was eventually disqualified post-race over the black flag drama.
John Watson — one British GP win
Watson picked up the pieces when others fell by the wayside in 1981
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Years active in F1: 1973-83, 1985
Wins at the British GP: 1 (1981)
John Watson had two visits to the British GP podium — 1976 and 1978 — before he finally stood on the top step in 1981 for his second grand prix victory. It came while driving for McLaren and some may consider it lucky as Watson, who started fifth, moved into third on lap 13 when Didier Pironi’s engine failed.
Four tours later, Prost also suffered an engine failure and retired from first, then the same problem struck his Renault team-mate and new race leader Rene Arnoux on lap 64. This left Watson in front, with the Ulsterman keeping his lead for the remaining five laps to claim his first victory since Austria 1976.
James Hunt — one British GP win
Hunt was disqualified after winning his home GP at Brands Hatch in 1976, but the world champion made amends at Silverstone in 1977
Photo by: David Phipps
Years active in F1: 1973-79
Wins at the British GP: 1 (1977)
James Hunt’s first British GP victory initially came in 1976, his championship-winning year, when the McLaren driver was involved in a first-corner crash at Brands Hatch that caused a red flag on lap one. Hunt, who started second, drove his damaged car back to the pits but took a shortcut by using the escape road on Cooper Straight, resulting in disqualification as he was not on the circuit when the red flag was waved.
This decision was then reversed and Hunt won the restarted race, prompting Ferrari, Tyrrell and the Fittipaldi team to protest his inclusion. Two months later, Hunt was disqualified from the race and Ferrari’s Niki Lauda became the winner of the 1976 British GP.
Hunt’s misery at his home race did not last for long as he bounced back by winning the 1977 edition held at Silverstone. Hunt started from pole yet dropped to fourth at the start with a clutch problem, but the pace of his McLaren proved too great as he fought his way back to first and finally won the British GP by 18.3s from Lauda.
Peter Collins — one British GP win
Tragedy followed shortly after Collins triumphed at Silverstone in 1958
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Years active in F1: 1952-58
Wins at the British GP: 1 (1958)
Peter Collins became the third British driver to win his home race when he claimed victory in 1958 at Silverstone. The Ferrari driver started sixth, but benefitted from an electric start where he gained the lead on lap one and that set the precedent for the rest of the outing, as compatriots Moss — whose Vanwall later expired — and Mike Hawthorn could not match his pace.
Collins eventually led world champion-elect Hawthorn across the line by 24.2s in a Ferrari 1-2, the third and final victory of his all-too-brief career. The 26-year-old was tragically killed the following race in a crash at the Nurburgring.
Tony Brooks — one British GP win
Brooks (left) shared his Vanwall with Moss at Aintree in 1957
Photo by: LAT Photographic
Years active in F1: 1956-61
Wins at the British GP: 1 (1957)
The only British GP win of Brooks’ career came in 1957 when he shared his car with Moss, as injuries from his Le Mans crash at Tertre Rouge took their toll. That was the first of six grand prix wins for the 1959 world championship runner-up, but he never really came close to victory at the British GP again. The next best finish for the late Englishman was fifth in 1960 — his penultimate season in F1.
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