Want to know the fastest Silverstone lap times and lap records for F1, MotoGP, GT3, BSB, BTCC racers and road legal cars on both the GP and National Circuit? Then you’ve come to the right place. Read on for full lap time details at Silverstone.
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Silverstone circuits
There are 4 different circuit layouts at Silverstone but only two of those are frequently used for racing events. These are the GP circuit – used by the F1, MotoGP, Silverstone Festival, British GT – and the National circuit – used by the BTCC, British Superbike and most club events.
To start with we’ll look at the Grand Prix ‘Arena’ circuit layout which saw the additional Farm, Village and Loop corners added to the infield section of the circuit and has been used since 2010.
What is the fastest F1 lap time at Silverstone?
The fastest F1 lap time at Silverstone is 1:24.303 set by Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the 2020 British Grand Prix. His Mercedes W11 dominated all season and the pace it set in qualifying that year at Silverstone was incredible. Video of the lap here.
The official lap record for an F1 car at Silverstone is 1:27.097 set by Max Verstappen in 2020 driving his Red Bull RB16. Official lap records have to be set during a race, not qualifying, hence this time was set by max during the 2020 race.
What is the average F1 speed at Silverstone?
The average F1 speed at Silverstone for Lewis Hamilton’s pole lap in 2023 is 156mph / 251kph. That is the average speed it took Lewis to complete the 3.66 miles / 5.891 km circuit in 1:24.303 seconds.
Max’s average speed for his lap record 2020 race lap time is 151mph / 243kph.
What is the F1 top speed at Silverstone?
The top speed for an F1 car at Silverstone is 221mph / 356kph, set by Carlos Sainz during the British Grand Prix in 2021.
Sainz was at the back of a long train of cars. Like most of those in front of him he activated DRS as he entered the long Hangar Straight. By slipstreaming the car ahead, just as he jinked out to overtake on the way in to Stowe the telemetry showed he hit 356kph. This is the fastest recorded F1 car speed at Silverstone.
How long does it take to get to 52 laps at Silverstone?
To get to 52 laps at Silverstone in an F1 car takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes.
52 laps is the number of laps the British Grand Prix runs for at Silverstone. This results in a total race distance of 190 miles / 306 km.
The exact time taken to complete the race varies a lot and depends on a number of factors including weather, tyre degradation, pit stops, safety car interventions and average lap speeds.
The winner’s total race times at the Silverstone British Grand prix over the last four years are as follows:
- 2022 – 2:17:50 – Carloz Sainz.
- 2021 – 1:58:23 – Lewis Hamilton
- 2020 – 1:28:01 – Lewis Hamilton
- 2019 – 1:21:08 – Lewis Hamilton
The 2022 race took almost an hour longer than the 2019 race, largely due to the long stoppage at the start of 2022 due to the massive Zhou Guanyu crash.
What is the fastest MotoGP lap at Silverstone?
The fastest ever MotoGP lap at Silverstone is a 1:57.767 set by Johann Zarco in qualifying for the 2022 MotoGP British Grand Prix. Video here.
The fastest ever race lap and the current lap record for the MotoGP at Silverstone is a 1:59.346, set by Alex Rins during the 2022 race.
What is the average MotoGP speed at Silverstone?
The average lap speed for Johann Zarco’s qualifying lap time at Silverstone in 2022 was 112mph / 180kph.
Alex Rins’ lap record at Silverstone results in an average lap speed of 110mph / 177kph.
The lack of downforce and only two skinny tyres on the MotoGP bikes is what makes them so much slower over a whole lap of Silverstone than the F1 cars.
What is the MotoGP top speed at Silvestone?
The top speed recorded for a MotoGP bike at Silverstone is 212mph / 341kph. This was set by Enea Bastianini during the 2022 MotoGP race at Silverstone.
There were no speed records set at the MotoGP at Silverstone in 2018 as the race was cancelled due to too much standing water on the badly resurfaced track.
Silverstone GT3 lap times
The British GT championship races at Silverstone on the Grand Prix circuit.
The fastest ever GT3 qualifying lap at Silverstone is a 1:56.765, set in a Lamborghini Huracan Evo GT3 driven by Sandy Mitchell in 2022.
The overall lap record for a GT3 car at Silverstone set during a race is a 1:58.304, set in a McLaren 720S GT3 driven by Marvin Kirchhoefer in 2022.
FIA WEC Silverstone lap record
The FIA World Endurance Championship hasn’t raced at Silverstone for a few years. But the last time they did, the blisteringly fast LMP1 cars set some impressive Silverstone lap times.
The fastest qualifying lap at Silverstone in the WEC was a 1:35.992, set in the Toyota Gazoo Racing LMP1 car driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez in 2019.
The same car set the fastest race lap during the same weekend, giving them the overall lap record with a Silverstone lap time of 1:37.289.
The highest speed recorded by the same car during the race was 218.4mph.
Road car lap records at Silverstone
It’s not just the race cars that can go fast around the circuit. I have dug out what I believe are the fastest video’d road car laps of the of the Grand Prix circuit set during a Silverstone track day.
Overall
The overall road car lap record at Silverstone is a 2:06.83 set in a 911 GT2 RS with the Manthey Racing chassis kit and JCR Developments exhaust system, driven by professional GT driver Jonny Cocker. Video below.
This is 1.5 seconds faster than the 2:08.34 lap time set by Jorg Bergmeister in the 992 GT3 RS, and 2.5 seconds quicker than the 2:09.28 second lap that Chris Harris previously set in a McLaren Senna around Silverstone.
FWD
The fastest FWD road car lap of Silverstone is 2:28.91 set in a Renaultsport Megane RS250 Cup. This is driven by Chris Dymond, professional racing driver and driver coach. Video below.
Honda made a lot of noise when they used Matt Neal to set the FWD road car record around Silverstone in their FK8 Civic Type R in 2018, with a 2:31.32 lap. But the Megane above has since gone quicker. If there’s video footage of a faster FWD road car lap around Silverstone that I’ve missed, drop a link in the comments below.
BTCC Silverstone lap records - National
The fastest ever Silverstone lap time for the BTCC is 57.349 seconds, set during qualifying by Dan Cammish driving the Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R in 2020.
The current BTCC lap record at Silverstone is 57.582 seconds set by Jake Hill in the third and final race of the weekend in 2022.
The BTCC doesn’t run on the same circuit configuration that was used for the incredible title decider in the 1992 BTCC.
British Superbike lap records at Silverstone - National
The fastest ever lap of Silverstone in the BSB is 52.796 seconds set during qualifying by Glenn Irwin in 2022.
The current BSB lap record at Silverstone is a 53.102 second lap, set by Bradley Ray during the 2022 race.
Time Attack Silverstone lap records - National
Time Attack is an opportunity for home-built track and race cars to see how fast they can go around a given circuit against the clock. They are all trying to set the single fastest lap time.
The Time Attack series hasn’t competed at Silverstone for a number of years. Last time they were there was in 2014, and the fastest overall lap was set by Gareth Lloyd in his SVA imports Mitsubishi Evo 6. He set a fastest lap of 54.116 seconds in his huge power and aero-kitted Evo, a good few seconds faster than the current BTCC lap record. Video here.
