By Michelin Sport
July 6 2005

Silverstone, home of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, is one of Formula One’s most famous venues. The former military airfield staged the very first world championship event on May 13 1950 (when Alfa Romeo driver Giuseppe Farina led home the 21-car field)
and this year’s grand prix will be its 39th – only Monza and Monaco have hosted more.

The circuit also has a special place in Michelin’s history, because it was here – on July 16 1977–that Bibendum competed in its first F1 race. Renault driver Jean-Pierre Jabouille retired that day, but Michelin’s pioneering radial rubber was subsequently adopted by all manufacturers and remains the technology of choice in contemporary F1.

This year’s race will be the 55th British GP – the event has also taken place at Brands Hatch (on 12 occasions) and Aintree (five) – and Michelin has won five times, with Carlos Reutemann (Ferrari, 1978), John Watson (McLaren-Ford, 1981), Niki Lauda (McLaren-Ford, 1982 and McLaren-TAG Turbo, 1984) and Alain Prost (Renault, 1983).

This weekend the company will be looking for its first British GP success since it ended its 17 season F1 sabbatical in 2001.