British Grand Prix Live

The Formula One Championship just keeps getting better and better, with each round bringing us ever closer to the Championship. We have seen Michael Shumacher return to the sport this year, and have seen near tragedy on the track as well as high octane excitement. Now, we move on to the British Grand Prix, held July 9^th through the 11^th at Silverstone. This is a high excitement event that is run on a great track, known around the world for terrific motorsport action. Get your membership now and you can watch Formula 1 live from your computer.

Three drivers have won more than one race in the Championship so far. Each of them have two races. The most recent is Sebastian Vettel, who took the last race. Lewis Hamilton also took two in a row when the series passed through Canada and then Turkey, as recently as two races ago, and then there was Jenson Button who took the second and the fourth race, the Australian Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix. Mark Webber took two in a row as well, with the Spanish Grand Prix and Monaco Grand Prix. Other winners so far this season include just Fernando Alonso.

The British Grand Prix will test these driver's mettle, and you can watch it live right here. The driver's standings right now have Lewis Hamilton in first place with 127 points while Jenson Button takes second. Sebastian Vettel is in the third spot followed by Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso. In the manufacturers, McLaren Mercedes is first place with 248 points followed by RBR Renaul and Ferrari. You can watch the next Formula One Championship race with your membership in high quality video. Click on the banners to get started.

Posted: 19st July 2009

The British Grand Prix as well as the Italian Grand Prix are the two oldest championships in formula 1 and this weekend you can catch the British Grand Prix from Silverstone, June 19^th through the 21^st. The first British Grand Prix was in 1923, after being established by driver Henry Segrave, and the first race was won by Louis Wagner and Robert Senecha, entering a Delage 155B. Silverstone has been home to this prestigious race since 1987. The track is more than 308 Km and the circuit total is 5.141 km. This year will mark the 64^th year for the British Grand Prix, as these drivers complete the 60 laps of the race

The race is officially called the 2009 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix, after that banking group Santander that has been sponsoring the event since 2007. The race has cycled through several sponsors throughout the years, with the first official sponsor being the Royal Automobile Club who started Sponsoring in 1950. Cigarette Manufacturer John Player and Sons sponsored the event from 1972 to 1978 and before that it was another cigarette corporation, the Marlboro Company that took over the John Player in 1979. In more recent years sponsors have included Shell Gasoline, Foster's and Hitachi. RAC sponsored again from 1997 to 1999 and the event was without a sponsor until Satander took over in 2007.

Silverstone used to be one of the fastest tracks on the F1 event calendar, with difficult and demanding corners and throughout its history, Silverstone has been home to some incredible racing by the likes of Damon Hill, David Coulthard and Lewis Hamilton. With major changes in 1991 Silverstone can no longer be listed in the fastest, and in fact, has faced some difficult times in recent years, even causing the British Grand Prix to be left off the calendar in 2004, being put back on at the last minute after negotiations. It was decided in July of 2008 that Donington Park in fact would be hosting the race starting in 2010, for at least ten years.

The driver with the most wins for the British Grand Prix is retired race driver Jim Clark, who has taken home the trophy no less than 5 times, tied with Alain Prost who picked up his fifth title in 2003. Michael Shumacher has won the race three times, in 1998, 2002 and 2004. He shares that victory with other three times winners Jack Brabhan and Niki Luada while drivers with two wins include Alberto Ascari, Jose Frolian Gonzales, Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi and Jacques Villeneuve. In the past ten years winners include Rubens Barrichello, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Jaun Pablo Montoya and last year's winner and defending champion Lewis Hamilton.

Last year's was a classic formula 1 race, being held at Silverstone July 6^th, with rain pouring down, and the drivers climbing behind the wheel with what must have been excitement and anticipation creating butterflies. Lewis Hamilton performed some of the best moves of his career, with the weather making it difficult to even keep the cars on the track, Hamilton shone above the rest. When the race started Heikki Kovalainen of McLaren Mercedes had pole position, after the qualification. No one expected Kovalainen on pole after seeing Felipe Massa's performance in practice on Friday. He finished with a time of 1:19.575, a time that no one else could touch, but had a crash during the practice that kept him from qualifying until the end of the session.

It was the Saturday afternoon that the drivers qualified, with a three part session that eliminated quite a few drivers and left Heikki Kovalainen in first pole with a time of 1.21.049. Mark Webber was second in the starting line up, only a few seconds behind Kovalainen, the second best qualifying time for Red Bull ever. Kimi Raikkonen with Team Ferrari was third on pole and Lewis Hamilton was sitting in fourth place when the race started, having to take a safer approach to the lap after a mistake put him out of the first qualifying round completely. BMW's Nick Heidfeld was the fifth car in the starting lineup as the race started.

Sunday brought the actual race, with water on the track after the rain had poured all day, and more rain was on the way during the race according to the forecast. Kovalainen was leading when the race began, with Raikonnen trying to pass Mark Webber and take second place, while Hamilton cam around both of those drivers and tried to take the lead away from Kovalainen. During that first attempt, Hamilton bumped Kovalainen, but the Fin was able to keep his car steady. Then, as the race continued, Kimi Raikonnen again tried to pass Webber, and this time succeeded, with Webber losing control of his car just moments later, spinning 180 degrees.

When the race ended, it was Lewis Hamilton who crossed the finish first, a full 68 seconds ahead of second place Nick Heidfeld, a race margin that hadn't been seen in a F1 Grand Prix since '95. Rubens Barichello had passed Alonso and Kovalainen and ended up in third place. Kimi Raikkonen had worked hard to maintain his place, and finished one behind his pole position, taking fourth place. He also set a lap record in the first part of the race, doing the same thing in five previous consecutive races. Kovalainen who had started first finished in fifth place and Fernando Alonso took sixth place. The seventh position was held by Italian driver Jarno Trulli, and Williams-Toyota driver Kazuki Nakajima finished in eighth place. 

With new regulations in place for 2009, it will be one exciting Grand Prix this year, as the drivers race on the last time at Silverstone, moving to Donington next year. If you want to watch this race, then click on the banners on this page to get your membership. You'll have full access to our huge network of streams and feeds that will bring you live video coverage from the game, and you can even record the race if you can't be there live for some reason, or if there are two happening at the same time that you want to watch. Plus, there are other races the weekend of the British Grand Prix that you can check out, including the up-and-coming driver showcase, the GP2 support cataegory as well as the Porsche SuperCup. Don't miss the British Grand Prix June 19^th through the 21^st, from Silverstone.