Once the weekend began in earnest Motorsport UK awarded the Sir Malcolm Campbell Trophy to McLaren Formula 1 Team, sister squad to Bicester Motion’s NEOM McLaren Electric Racing. Speed record hero Campbell was immortalised by the trophy in 1950, and since 2010 Motorsport UK has awarded it to those who have made an impact on British motorsport.
Championship hopeful Lando Norris was also awarded the Mike Hawthorn Trophy for being the highest-placed British or Commonwealth driver in the previous season. He made it a hat-trick of wins for the team by securing his maiden British Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.
Sauber Motorsport celebrated its arrival in the UK by making its own piece of history, taking its first podium since Kamui Kobayashi’s third place at the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix.
Nico Hülkenberg ended his own, longer, wait for a podium and finally shed his unenvious title of most Grand Prix starts with a podium. In his 239th Grand Prix, the 2015 Le Mans winner claimed third after a career spent at the sharp end of the field. The German had been close before, with four fourth-place finishes to his name and a pole position at Brazil in 2010.
Meanwhile the huge crowds attending the event meant the airfield was pressed into action as part of the county-wide web of park and ride schemes that took fans to and from the event. Some made proper use of the airfield and beat the traffic by flying in.
