Today will be the 74th running of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix.
Held at Silverstone, hundreds of thousands of fans will flock through the circuit’s gates to see if either Sir Lewis Hamilton, George Russell or Lando Norris will have a chance of stopping the Verstappen steamroller.
There is also a chance, albeit slim, that members of the Royal Family will be in attendance to watch the grid race away into the distance, as it wouldn’t be the first time Britain’s most famous family has dipped its toe into motor racing.
Both King Charles and the late Queen Elizabeth II attended Formula 1 events in the past, including the very first British Grand Prix.
Though it’s more likely that the sporting-mad Wales family will watch the event from the comfort of their own home, so the whole family, including young Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis can join in the fun.
Held on May 13th 1950, the first Formula 1 British Grand Prix was also the first Formula 1 race.
Like today’s event, the race was viewed by thousands of fans who flocked to a windswept corner of Northamptonshire to watch the finest drivers take part.
However, instead of being safely ensconced behind barriers and grandstands, the only protection spectators had were a few straw bales.
Queen Elizabeth II, then still a princess, attended with her father and sister, King George VI and Princess Margaret, to watch as history was made.
Fast-forward to the 1960s and it was King Charles’s turn to get a taste of the world’s fastest racing series.
Whilst the series was the same, the cars and the circuit had changed as the then-Prince of Wales travelled to Brands Hatch in Kent for that year’s race.
During the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, the British Grand Prix alternated between Brands Hatch and Silverstone, for a time Aintree was the venue, but that held its last grand prix in 1962.
King Charles and Queen Elizabeth II would continue to make visits to motorsport-related events throughout the 20th Century, with the King getting behind the wheel of a 1920s Bentley for a Princes Trust event.
The Formula 1 British Grand Prix remains one of the premier events on the Formula 1 calendar, it stands alongside the likes of Monza, Monaco and Spa as one of the few races from the original 1950 calendar.
Despite Formula 1’s longevity, the British Grand Prix didn’t begin in 1950, instead, it can be dated back to 1926.
The race itself was held at the Brooklands Motor Circuit, just outside London in Weybridge. The racetrack survives to this day and people can still walk along the start/finish straight where the legend of the British Grand Prix began.
