Silverstone renames pit straight in honour of F1 champion Hamilton

Silverstone will rename the International Pit Straight as the Hamilton Straight to honour Lewis Hamilton’s achievements in Formula 1.

Hamilton, a seven-time British Grand Prix winner at Silverstone, won his seventh world title this year having dominated the 2020 season to equal Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven world championships.

In recognition of Hamilton’s success, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) has announced that it will rename the start/finish straight after the 35-year-old Briton. It will mark the first time that the Northamptonshire circuit has named a corner after a driver.

Hamilton was informed of the news by BRDC president and ex-F1 driver David Coulthard on Saturday at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"I was delighted, in my capacity as President of the BRDC, to share this news with Lewis today," said Coulthard.

"It is the first time in Silverstone's history that a part of the circuit has been named after any individual.

"Lewis has become a huge part of this history, and the directors of the Club and I felt there was no better way to mark this than to re-name the iconic pits straight in recognition of his record-breaking achievements.”

Hamilton has enjoyed great success at his home circuit, claiming a pole position at his first British Grand Prix during his rookie F1 season in 2007, before going on to win the 2008 race by over a minute with a wet-weather masterclass that is considered one of the greatest drives in history.

Hamilton had to wait until 2014 until his next victory at Silverstone’s new configuration, his first British Grand Prix win for Mercedes.

It was the first of six British Grand Prix wins across the next seven years, with Hamilton’s domination only broken by Sebastian Vettel’s victory for Ferrari in 2018 when Hamilton recovered from a first lap spin to finish second.

Hamilton’s most recent win at Silverstone came earlier this year when he dramatically crossed the line with only three fully-inflated wheels after suffering a last-lap puncture.