Silverstone is considered the home of Formula 1, but twice faced competition from audacious pitches for a London Grand Prix.
F1’s first ever race was held at the Northamptonshire circuit in May 1950, and it fought off competition from Aintree, Brands Hatch and Donnington Park to keep its status as motorsport’s most hallowed tarmac.
Silverstone is one of the world’s most iconic sporting venuesGetty But it’s had to fight off the challenge of an attempted London Grand PrixSantanderYet in 2012, it took on an entirely new challenge – a big money London race, backed by then F1 head Bernie Ecclestone.
“With the way things are, maybe we would front it and put the money up for it,” he said.
“If we got the OK and everything was fine, I think we could do that.
“Think what it would do for tourism. It would be fantastic, good for London, good for England – a lot better than the Olympics.”
The London mayor at the time, Boris Johnson, welcomed the idea, but not everyone was on board.
The Daily Mail called it a ‘fantasy stoked up by an under-fire Ecclestone’ who was facing an investigation over a £26m payment to a jailed banker.
Yet the plans continued to take shape around the capital’s most famous landmarks, including Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.
The second of those was laughed off, though, as after passing Nelson’s Column, the track would’ve then moved onto The Mall.
To do so, cars would’ve fit through the Grade 1 listed Admiralty Arch at around 180mph, a frankly ridiculous idea with gaps just five metres wide, barely bigger than two F1 cars.
Nevertheless, things kept progressing, and Populous, designers of many of the world’s great football stadiums, were drafted in to put together a practical plan.
The track would’ve passed through many of London’s top landmarksSantander Simulations showed drivers battling to make it through the archSantander There’s barely enough room for a royal and some horsesGettyThey claimed their final drawings were not only ‘ground-breaking’ but ‘environmentally sustainable’ and included space for grandstands, pits and lighting for a potential night race.
Things went further as McLaren sponsors Santander then put together a simulation of the track, capturing one of their cars passing along the Thames and past Big Ben.
McLaren’s two drivers at the time, world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, even talked through the event, with Button calling the Admiralty Arch ‘probably the scariest corner I’ve ever driven on’.
Hamilton added: “One of them has to bail out, I guess the guy with the biggest balls will come out first.”
Now-Ferrari driver Hamilton was so keen on the race that he even attended a press event where he was joined by the rather strange celebrity duo of Rio Ferdinand and Melanie Sykes who both took their turn driving the track on a simulator.
At the same time in 2012, another pitch came in for the London Grand Prix with Intelligent Transport Services bidding for the Olympic Stadium to host a race.
Hamilton was joined by some celebrity friends to pitch the trackGettyEcclestone said he’d been consulted on the plans, adding: “If they were to get permission to do it, then we would be more than happy to do something with them. But we have nothing to do with putting in a bid.”
The track planned to go inside and around the arena, but it never came to fruition, as West Ham eventually won the bidding and are still housed in the now-named London Stadium.
That was also the case for Ecclestone’s central London race, which fell off the radar until its surprise resurrection in 2023.
With Ecclestone leaving the sport in 2017, plans emerged for a new London attempt as new owners Liberty Media continued to favour street circuits, although mainly in the Middle East and United States.
This time the £250m plan was situated around London’s Docklands, lapping London City Airport with a 3.64mile track laid out.
The plans also included floating grandstands next to the airport which consultancy firm DAR and environment experts LDN Collective believed would allow as many as 95,000 spectators.
Max Farrell, CEO of LDN Collective, said. “Obviously, there’s a lot to work through in terms of the practicalities and the planning, but if the political will is there, we believe that this is a very credible and deliverable proposition.
“Once we have planning consent, with a fair wind we can build this within 24 months. So really, I think there’s a best-case scenario of having a London Grand Prix here in August 2026. If everyone gets behind it, that would be feasible.”
Computer generated images showed how the track would look even when it wasn’t being used the rest of the year with the tarmac converted to cycling and footpaths.
It also had the backing of Red Bull team principal and CEO Christian Horner, while a Times report claimed talks had been held with Liberty Media and the Greater London Authority which owns the land.
Yet when it came down to it a spokesperson for F1 ended the idea of a London race yet again.
“There are no plans for a Docklands Grand Prix,” they said. “We have a long-standing relationship with Silverstone.”
London recently held a season launch event at the O2, but a Grand Prix remains a distant dreamGettyEven in F1 the house always wins, especially if said house is the most legendary track going.
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