Dark clouds hovering over Silverstone

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Just like motorsports fans the world over, we're hoping that rumours that Silverstone might not be hosting the British Grand Prix for much longer turn out to be entirely without substance.

The circuit has been a key part of the history of Formula One ever since it hosted the very first FIA world championship race in 1950, which was dominated by Alfa Romeo. Over the years, the British Grand Prix alternated between Silverstone, Aintree and Brand Hatch, but ever since 1987 the event has been held at Silverstone for an unbroken three decade run.

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Damon Hill has been associated the the circuit more than most - first as a racing driver and Formula One world champion, and later as chairman of the British Racing Drivers Club which owns and operates Silverstone, a position he held from 2006 until 2011.

Here's a much younger Hill photographed on the grid at Silverstone before the 1993 Grand Prix, which was during Hill's first full season in Formula One. With reigning champion Nigel Mansell having decamped to the US to race in IndyCar, Hill was the new home favourite for the huge home crowd. He successfully qualified for the race in second place behind his Williams team mate Alain Prost, but unfortunately an engine failure deprived him of a podium that year.

Hill did emerge victorious the following season, but that turned out to be the only time he won his home event.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.