Where is Silverstone? Location, distances, track map and history

There's no railway station at the circuit. The circuit's travel page names Wolverton, about 16 km (10 miles) away, as the closest, with direct trains to London Euston, Birmingham New Street and Northampton. The circuit also says Banbury, Milton Keynes and Northampton stations are all within 20 km (13 miles). Our straight-line measurement puts Banbury town centre at about 22 km, so expect a longer taxi from there than from Milton Keynes.

Go to Wolverton, the closest station the circuit names, unless your train doesn't stop there. Taxis wait at all these stations, but the circuit says to book your return taxi in advance.

Stagecoach runs buses to the circuit for its key events, but the circuit's page doesn't say where they start, so check Stagecoach's timetable before you travel. The same page warns that roadworks on the A43 between Towcester and Silverstone add time to the drive. For the British Grand Prix weekend, the travel page links to a separate F1 arrival page with the event's own travel options.

Silverstone sits across a county border

Northamptonshire's Historic Environment Record files the circuit under Silverstone parish in West Northamptonshire. Buckinghamshire's record for the old airfield says it is "partly in Buckinghamshire and partly in Northamptonshire", in the Buckinghamshire parishes of Lillingstone Dayrell and Luffield Abbey. The border runs through the old airfield. We took 52.0718° N, 1.0143° W as the circuit's centre point from its outline on OpenStreetMap. OpenStreetMap doesn't list a centre point, so you won't find that number on the map page.

Turn 16, Vale, may be a nod to the border. One of Formula1.com's two explanations is that this part of the track lies in the old Aylesbury Vale district of Buckinghamshire. The other is a small change in height there.

Distances to nearby towns

We measured these distances in a straight line from OpenStreetMap coordinates, from the circuit's centre point to the mapped centre of each town. They're approximate, and road distances are longer. The village figure comes from the Buckinghamshire record. Team bases are as listed on Formula1.com's team pages.

By road, the circuit puts itself 90 minutes from central London on the M40 and A43, and 60 minutes from Birmingham on the M1 and A43.

Nearest airports

These are the circuit's own figures from its travel page. It doesn't say whether they're road or straight-line distances.

Luton is the one to pick. It's 40 km closer than Heathrow, and the circuit lists no big airport nearer. If you're already booked into Heathrow, budget for the longer drive.

Silverstone track map and corner names

According to Formula1.com, a lap is 5.891 km, the British Grand Prix runs 52 of them and the fastest race lap is 1:27.097, set by Max Verstappen in 2020. In 2026 the race weekend was 3 to 5 July, with a sprint.

The grid is on the Hamilton Straight, named after Lewis Hamilton, which runs from Club to Abbey. From there it's 239 m to Turn 1. Names and origins below come from Formula1.com's corner guide.

Layout changes from airfield to Wing

The track began on an airfield and moved twice: first to the perimeter road, then to new infield sections and a new pit straight. The airfield facts come from the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire heritage records. Unless another link is given, the racing dates come from Motor Sport's history of the layout.

• 1943: RAF Silverstone opened on 20 March as a bomber training station, with three concrete runways in a triangle.
• 1947: The airfield was "first used for a proper motor race", according to Formula1.com. The Buckinghamshire record says "by 1947 some informal racing was taking place".
• 1948: In June the Royal Automobile Club announced that it had leased the disused airfield, says Motor Sport's 1948 to 1952 history. Races at first used the runways, and the Northamptonshire record says the track was marked out with hay bales. The circuit's history page calls the race on 2 October 1948, won by Luigi Villoresi in a Maserati, the first British Grand Prix. Motor Sport names it the RAC International Grand Prix instead, and the Buckinghamshire record puts the first British Grand Prix in May 1949.
• 1949: The hairpins were dropped for the May Grand Prix, and racing moved to the airfield's perimeter road, says the 2003 Motor Sport article. Northamptonshire's record dates the switch to the 1949 International Trophy instead, and both county records say the runways stopped being used in 1950.
• 1950: Silverstone held the first round of the new World Championship on 13 May, according to Formula1.com.
• 1952: The start line moved from Farm Straight to the straight between Woodcote and Copse, and the Northamptonshire record agrees. The basic layout then stayed largely the same for nearly 40 years.
• 1975 and 1987: A chicane slowed Woodcote in 1975. Bridge Corner was rerouted in 1987. Silverstone has held every British Grand Prix since 1987.
• 1991: A major rebuild added a stadium section between Abbey and Woodcote and replaced the old Becketts corner with sweeping curves.
• 2010: The Arena layout left the old Grand Prix layout at Abbey and headed through an S-bend into a new infield section, then rejoined the old track at Brooklands. That cut out Bridge and Priory and added 760 m to the lap.
• 2011: The Silverstone Wing opened in May. It's a 390 m pit building with 41 garages.

Woodcote used to end the lap, says Formula1.com's corner guide. It's now Turn 8. Parts of the old perimeter road still form the track, but the Buckinghamshire record says the original concrete "appears to have been demolished and replaced", going by aerial photos up to 2019.