Editing Silverstone Circuit (section)

===1990s===
[[File:Mansell and Senna at Silverstone.jpg|thumb|right|[[Nigel Mansell]] gives [[Ayrton Senna]] a lift back to the pits on the side-pod of his Williams FW14]]
The weekend of 19/20 May 1990 was a busy one at Silverstone, for on the Saturday, a round of the FIA F3000 Championship was run on the Grand Prix circuit, and on the Sunday the contenders in the World Sports-Prototype Championship had their turn. In the F3000 race, Scotland's [[Allan McNish]] led [[Érik Comas]] home from [[Marco Apicella]]. The first two were [[Lola T90/50]] mounted, while the third-placed car was a [[Reynard 90D]]. The sports cars again ran over 300 miles, contesting the Shell BRDC Empire Trophy. The first three places went to British cars, with Jaguar first and second from a Spice-Cosworth in the hands of [[Fermín Vélez]] and [[Bruno Giacomelli]]. The winning Jaguar XJR11 of Martin Brundle and [[Michel Ferté]] was the only to run the full distance of 101 laps, lapping even the second-placed XJR11 of [[Jan Lammers]] and [[Andy Wallace (racing driver)|Andy Wallace]].<ref name=Swinger/>

And so to July, and the British Grand Prix. Once again, it was over {{convert|190|mi|km|abbr=out}} and was won at {{cvt|145.253|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}. Alain Prost was now driving for Ferrari and his victory was rounded by [[Thierry Boutsen]] in the Williams in second, and Ayrton Senna's McLaren in third.<ref name=Swinger/>

After the Grand Prix, it had already been decided to extensively redesign Silverstone's layout. Nearly every part of Silverstone (except Copse, Abbey and all of the straights, save the Farm Straight) was redesigned. The ultra-high speed Club and Stowe corners were made slower and a chicane was placed before Club. Maggotts, Becketts and Chapel were re-designed as very fast snaky esses that proved to be even more challenging than the original series of corners – the considerable amount of lateral acceleration change from side to side became the highlighted challenge of the new circuit. A new twisty infield section called Luffield was created in place of the Farm straight and the Bridge chicane. Despite these alterations, the Grand Prix and World Sportscar circuses both very much approved of the new layout: Silverstone was still fast, which is what it has always been known for.

When the Group C cars returned in 1991, they raced for the World Sports Car Championship, but the race distance was reduced to {{convert|269|mi|km|abbr=out}} (83 laps of the GP circuit) and it was a straight battle between Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz, with victory going to the Jaguar XJR14 of [[Teo Fabi]] and Derek Warwick at a speed of {{cvt|122.048|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}. In second place, four laps behind, came the Mercedes C291 of [[Michael Schumacher]] and [[Karl Wendlinger]], followed by the singleton driver XJR14 of Brundle.<ref name=Swinger/>

July came, and with it came, of course, the Grand Prix. The almost unbelievably popular victory was Nigel Mansell's 18th Grand Prix win, making him the most successful British driver ever. Only two other drivers completed the full race distance: [[Gerhard Berger]] for McLaren and Prost for Ferrari.<ref name=Swinger/>

1992 was once more a very busy International season for Silverstone with a round of the International F3000 Championship, the World Sports Car Championship, and of course, the Grand Prix. The first two were run on the same day, 10 May. Although the practice was spoilt by hailstorm, the races were run in bright weather. The F3000 victor was [[Jordi Gené]] who completed the 37 laps at a speed of {{cvt|121.145|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} in a Reynard-Mugen 92D, from a similar Judd-engined example in the hands of [[Rubens Barrichello]]. Lola-Cosworth were third and fourth, driven by [[Olivier Panis]] and [[Emanuele Naspetti]].<ref name=Swinger/>

1992 was also notable for the title decider for the [[1992 British Touring Car Championship|British Touring Car Championship]] which involved an incident between [[Tim Harvey]] and [[John Cleland (racing driver)|John Cleland]], during which Cleland gave a [[The finger|middle finger]] to Harvey's BMW teammate [[Steve Soper]], prompting [[Murray Walker]] to exclaim "'I'm going for first,' says John Cleland!" A few corners later, Soper and Cleland both crashed out, gifting the title to Harvey. This is widely viewed as one of the most iconic moments in BTCC history.<ref>{{Citation |title=BTCC Silverstone 1992 Round 15 | date=15 March 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzxLgAwfeIQ |access-date=2023-07-12 |language=en}}</ref>

The sports car race was a sad affair, with but a handful of cars coming to the grid. There were 11 starters and just five finishers. The race was won by the Peugeot 905 of Warwick and [[Yannick Dalmas]] at {{cvt|122.661|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, two laps ahead of the [[Maurizio Sandro Sala]]/[[Johnny Herbert]] Mazda MXR-01 which was four laps ahead of the Lola-Judd T92/10 driven by [[Jésus Pareja]] and [[Stefan Johansson]]. At the end of the season, the World Sports Car Championship was no more.<ref name=Swinger/>

The Grand Prix was a happier affair with Williams-Renaults of Mansell and Riccardo Patrese taking top honours from the Benettons of Brundle and Schumacher. Mansell dominated practice and the race, winning at {{cvt|133.772|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Swinger/>

Six days after competing at Donington Park, the F3000 guys were at Silverstone for the second round of the 1993 International F3000 Championship. [[Gil de Ferran]] won at {{cvt|119.462|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} from [[David Coulthard]] and [[Michael Bartels]] – all were driving Cosworth powered Reynard 93Ds.<ref name=Swinger/>

Despite back-to-back Grand Prix victories for Williams, Mansell would not be back in 1993 to try for a famous hat-trick as he was racing in the States. However, things looked good his replacement, [[Damon Hill]] after he set fastest time in practice, but Prost (now at Williams) pipped him to pole by just 0.128secs and he went on to win the race after Hill's engine exploded 18 laps from home. Second and third were the Benettons of Schumacher and Patrese.<ref name=Swinger/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.silverstone.co.uk/about/history/1990s/ |title=The History of British Motorsport and Motor Racing at Silverstone – The 1990s |website=Silverstone.co.uk |date=5 September 2009 |access-date=24 May 2013}}</ref>

A year later, the Grand Prix was a race of controversy which rumbled on for most of the season: Hill was barely ahead of Schumacher on the grid and on the formation lap the young German sprinted ahead of him, which was not allowed under the rules (cars were required to maintain station during the formation lap). The race authorities informed Benetton that their man had been penalised 5 seconds for his transgression but they did not realise that it was a stop/go penalty and did not call Schumacher in, so he was black-flagged. Schumacher ignored the black flag for six laps, and for failing to respond to the black flag Schumacher was disqualified, having finished second on the road. Hill won the race from Jean Alesi in the Ferrari and Mika Häkkinen in the McLaren.<ref name=Swinger/>

The 1994 F3000 race was an all [[Reynard 94D]] affair. The 38-lap race was won by [[Franck Lagorce]] winning at {{cvt|119.512|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, from Coulthard and de Ferran. The race distance for the following season had increased by two. Victorious on this occasion was [[Riccardo Rosset]] driving Super Nova's Reynard-Cosworth AC 95D. His teammate [[Vincenzo Sospiri]] finished second, while [[Allan McNish]] was third in a Zytek-Judd KV-engined 95D.<ref name=Swinger/>

[[File:Johnny Herbert 1995 Britain.jpg|thumb|right| [[Johnny Herbert]] winning the 1995 British Grand Prix, driving the Benetton-Renault B195]]
 
Hill and Schumacher were not having a happy 1995 and managed to take each other off after the final pit stops, leaving Coulthard in the lead which he lost when he had to take a 10 sec 'stop/go' penalty for speeding in the pit lane. All of this left Herbert to take his maiden Grand Prix win – he was euphoric and was held shoulder high on the podium by the second and third-placed men, Coulthard and Alesi.<ref name=Swinger/>

On 12 May 1996, the Northamptonshire circuit hosted a round of the International BPR series which was very a British affair. First was the [[McLaren F1 GTR]] of Andy Wallace and [[Olivier Grouillard]] followed by the Jan Lammers/[[Perry McCarthy]] Lotus Esprit and another McLaren in the hands of [[James Weaver (racing driver)|James Weaver]] and [[Ray Bellm]].<ref name=Swinger/>

At the Grand Prix on 14 July, Damon Hill qualified first. He spun out of contention when a front wheel nut became loose, and his teammate [[Jacques Villeneuve]] went on to win at a fraction over {{cvt|124|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}, from Berger's Benetton and the McLaren of Häkkinen.<ref name=Swinger/>

The 1997 Grand Prix was again won by Villeneuve at the wheel of a Williams-Renault at a speed of {{cvt|128.443|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} from the Benettons of Alesi and [[Alexander Wurz]].<ref name=Swinger/>

From the start of 1998, the FIA decreed that all Formula One grids must be straight: in order to comply with this, the RAC moved the start line forward at Silverstone but not, significantly, the finish line. This led to some confusion at the end of the Grand Prix, which was scheduled for 60 laps, but was effectively 59.95 laps. With the timing being taken from the finish line and not the start line, the winning car was in the pits at the end of the race and the Ferrari pit was situated between the two lines. The chequered flag is supposed to be waved at the winning car and then showed to the other competitors, but it was waved at the second man who thought that he had won.<ref name=Swinger/>

Victory went to Schumacher at the wheel of a Ferrari in appalling conditions. In addition to pit lane confusion, he was penalised 10 seconds for passing another racer under a yellow flag. The stewards failed to inform the teams of their decision in the proper manner so Schumacher took his stop go penalty in the pits, after the race was over. McLaren appealed to the FIA, but the appeal was rejected and the results were confirmed, with Häkkinen second in the McLaren and [[Eddie Irvine]] third in the second Ferrari.<ref name=Swinger/>

Victory in the 1999 British Grand Prix went to Coulthard's McLaren-Mercedes with an average speed of {{cvt|124.256|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}.<ref name=Swinger/>