Hit the grid for the F1 British Grand Prix

Silverstone occupies a special place in the history of motor racing. It was the venue for the first ever official Formula One Grand Prix in 1950. And in 2025, it’s still one of the great circuits, and the one that British fans look for on the calendar at the start of every season. This weekend it hosts the British Grand Prix for the 60th time – and you can see the entire event live on Virgin TV.

After four years dominated by Max Verstappen, this F1 season has been much more open, with four different race winners from three different teams and a drivers’ championship that still has plenty of potential for drama. With the British GP marking the halfway point of the season, it’s a perfect time to take stock and review the campaign so far, as well as looking ahead to this weekend’s hotly anticipated race.

The Grand Prix race is on Sunday 6 July, but TV coverage begins on Friday 4 July with the practice sessions. Like the rest of the F1 season, it’s shown live on Sky Sports F1^®/HD (CH 515/505), but this race is also covered live on Channel 4 HD (CH 104) and streamed in Apps > Channel 4, making it available to all Virgin TV customers.

If you want to watch it in ultra HD, you’ll need Sky Sports – subscribers who watch on a Virgin TV V6 box (powered by TiVo^®), a Virgin TV 360 box or a Stream box can add Sky Sports UHD for £7 extra per month. And if you’re not at home for the race, you can follow all the live action wherever you are in the UK, as long as there’s WiFi, 3G or 4G, thanks to Virgin TV Go. Simply download the free app, which is free to all Virgin TV customers and is compatible with Android, iOS, Windows 10 and PC/Mac. Download the Virgin TV Go app.

Here’s when the Grand Prix action is coming to your screen.

Formula One British Grand Prix – Practice 1
Friday 4 July, 12pm, Sky Sports F1^®/HD (CH 515/505) + 12.25pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

Formula One British Grand Prix – Practice 2
Friday 4 July, 3.35pm, Sky Sports F1^®/HD (CH 515/505) + 3.55pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

Formula One British Grand Prix – Practice 3
Saturday 5 July, 11.15am, Sky Sports F1^®/HD (CH 515/505) + 11.25am, Channel 4 HD (CH 104)

Formula One British Grand Prix – Qualifying
Saturday 5 July, 2pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104) + 2.15pm, Sky Sports F1^®/HD (CH 515/505)

Formula One British Grand Prix – Race
Sunday 6 July, 1.30pm, Channel 4 HD (CH 104) + Sky Sports F1^®/HD (CH 515/505) 

Verstappen may have started the season as the four-in-a-row champion but he was not predicted to make it five. The departure of key figures from the Red Bull team and the cars’ struggles with balance, braking and tyre management in testing didn’t bode well. The Dutch driver’s skill has still brought two race victories, as well as enough podium finishes to keep him in the title conversation, but it’s a far cry from the dominant days of 2022 and 2023 (the year he won a record-breaking 19 of the 22 Grands Prix).

Instead it’s the McLaren pair who have forged ahead. Britain’s Lando Norris, who’s 25 but has been driving in F1 since he was 19, is on course for his best season yet after wins in Australia, Monaco and last weekend in Austria, as well as multiple second-place finishes. It’s Oscar Piastri, though, who has led the way in the Surrey-based team’s colours. The Aussie won from pole in China and Bahrain, controlling both races from start to finish, and then displayed his versatility to win in Saudi Arabia and Miami too, before another authoritative performance took him to victory in Spain.

Verstappen’s best hope of success in this campaign – especially after his first-lap crash in Austria – might be for Piastri and Norris to take points off each other. Mercedes’ British driver George Russell certainly benefited from the McLaren men’s rivalry when he won the Canadian Grand Prix following a collision between the two. He’s fourth in the standings, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, just about hanging on behind the championship leaders, will also hope to participate in the title race.

Piastri’s searing form and the excellence of his McLaren mean he’ll arrive at Silverstone as the favourite. However, his team-mate Norris – who’s been associated with McLaren since joining their Young Driver Programme in 2017 – will be desperate to score a British victory at the British Grand Prix, particularly after finishing second and third in the past two seasons.

Nigel Mansell once said he felt the support of a home crowd could help him increase his speed on the track: unscientific, sure, but what’s not in doubt is that Mansell did complete the fastest lap at six British GPs, winning the race four times. Norris will hope that he can harness that fervour to secure the victory.

Speaking of home advantage, there’s another driver who’ll expect to have an impact on the race: Lewis Hamilton. Now with Ferrari, Hamilton is well behind the championship leaders without a podium finish in 2025, but he was in a similar position last year when he qualified on the front row and then took the chequered flag in the Northamptonshire rain. It was a record ninth British GP victory for the eight-time world champ. There’s just something about Silverstone. He couldn’t do it again… could he?

Ahead of the race, here are a few key figures…