Photo by Tom McKay, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo by Tom McKay, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Before Silverstone became the polished home of the British GP, it was something far more raw, totally different, far more unrefined, and far more thrilling.
The Silverstone of today may have sweeping grandstands, modern paddocks, and run-off zones that stretch for miles, but the original? It was built on wind and grit, with little more than hay bales and rope to separate man from machine.
Silverstone F1 Track Layouts: From First Grand Prix to Modern Era
But worldwide conflict came, this place was used. Later it was used for racing.
Motorsport was returning, and the UK needed a place to host races, the old Donington Park started to fade, and Brooklands had been left in ruins. Silverstone, with its wide-open layout and three runways forming a triangle, seemed like a perfect canvas.
What they did after 1948 was something special, a group of people who were enthusiasts transformed the place to a track, using little more barrels, string and corner markers, the track now we call the Original Track, was born back in the 1948.
👉 The British Circuit That Hosted F1 — Then Faded Away
Formula 1 Silverstone track changes
Silverstone layout 1948
Photo description: Diagram showing the original Silverstone circuit layout used for the 1948 RAC International Grand Prix, the first major race held at Silverstone, with straight and corner names as listed in the official RAC programme of the time.
That first layout was unlike anything before or since.
It wasn’t just twisty or fast, it was a full-on blast down runways, turning corners that were never meant for cars, and offering drivers zero forgiveness,too risky.
The course had a sort of triangle shape, using the three runways in a loop, then connecting them with tight curves made from access roads,the result was a track that was very fast, but also technical in a brutal way, it had no smooth rhythm and you had to fight for every inch, perfection.
Silverstone 1949-1974 layout
Photo description: Scaled track diagram of the Silverstone Circuit in its 1949–1951 configuration, created from aerial photographs and illustrating the layout used during the early years of motor racing at Silverstone.
In 1950, it hosted the very first race in the newly formed F1. The place became special, historic, not just for British motorsport, but for global racing.
However, it was Giuseppe Farina who was driving for Alfa Romeo back in the day, he took the victory in front of 150.000.
The track had evolved slightly from its 1948 version, now using the perimeter roads rather than runways. But it still retained the high-speed feel, with minimal barriers, wide-open corners, and flat-out straights, but most of it is changed.
Silverstone Layout 1975-1986
Scaled track diagram of the Circuit in its 1975–1986 configuration, based on aerial photographs and illustrating the classic high-speed layout used throughout much of Formula 1’s turbo and ground-effect era.
Silverstone layout 1987-1988
Silverstone Circuit layout as used during the 1987–1988 seasons, showing how the track was configured in those years, with visible changes around Bridge and the end of the second sector compared to earlier layouts.
Silverstone layout 1991-1993
Silverstone Circuit layout as used from 1991 to 1993, reflecting the major redesign that slowed the circuit and reshaped the lap, with clear changes through the middle sector and the section following Bridge compared to the high-speed layouts of the late 1980s.
Silverstone layout 1994-1996
Silverstone Circuit layout (1994) © Tom McKay, CC BY-SA 4.0 – Wikimedia Commons
Silverstone Circuit layout as used during the 1994 season, showing the revised configuration introduced for safety, with altered corner sequences and slower sections compared to the early 1990s layout, particularly through the middle part of the lap.
Silverstone layout 1997-1998
Silverstone Circuit layout as used in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, reflecting further refinements to the post-1994 design, with updated corner sequences and a more technical flow compared to earlier high-speed versions of the track.
Silverstone layout 1999-2010
Silverstone Circuit layout used from 1999 to 2010, showing the modernized configuration introduced at the end of the 1990s, with revised corner sequences and the faster flow that defined this era of Formula 1 racing.
Silverstone layout 2011-present
Silverstone Circuit layout introduced in 2011 and still in use today, featuring the major redesign that modernized the track with updated corner sequences and improved safety while maintaining the classic flow and character of the historic circuit.
Why the original was so special?
It wasn’t just about speed. It was about feeling.
There was a rawness to those early Silverstone events, drivers were on edge, fans were very close to the action, almost dangerously so. The entire place had a pulse to it, a kind of barely-contained chaos. Something that we don’t see nowadays.
Corners like Woodcote and Copse were taken at heart-in-mouth speeds, in cars that barely held together under stress. The wind whipped across the open circuit, and there was a constant sense that anything could happen.
The Circuit Evolves, the Spirit Remains
So what happened next? over the years it started to chance the face slowly, the original one was modified, they also added barriers for safety, so the old circuit began to fade in memory.
By the 90s, the track transformed completely to a modern GP facility, capable of hosting the best teams in the world, but if you ask the real fans they will tell you another story, something was lost in that transition.
The charm, the madness, the fear, all dialed down in the name of progress.
👉 London’s Forgotten F1 Circuit
A Legacy Set in Concrete and Fuel
Still, the legacy of the original Silverstone is untouchable.
This was the place where F1 truly began. It was something else, then became racing circuit, and then legends of racing showed the world what open wheel racing could be, it remains a circuit that is no longer in use, some part of it.
Today, the bones of that old circuit still lie beneath the tarmac, and if you squint hard enough, you can almost see the dust rising from the runways, hear the scream of the first Alfas, and feel the pulse of a sport just finding its feet.
