2017 British Grand Prix

The 2017 British Grand Prix (formally known as the 2017 Formula 1 Rolex British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 16 July 2017 at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom. This race was the seventy-second running of the British Grand Prix, the sixty-eighth time that the race has been run as a World Championship event, and the fifty-first time that the World Championship event has been held at the Silverstone Circuit.

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel entered the round with a twenty-point lead over Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship. Mercedes led Ferrari by thirty-three points in the Constructors' Championship.

The race was dominated and won by Lewis Hamilton, who achieved a grand slam: starting from pole position, leading every lap of the race, setting fastest lap, and winning with a 14-second lead over Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.

With his fifth British Grand Prix win, Hamilton equalled the records of Alain Prost and Jim Clark, who won the race five times each. His championship rival Sebastian Vettel suffered a tyre failure with two laps to go and finished seventh. As a result, Vettel's lead over Hamilton in the Drivers' standings was cut down to one point. Kimi Räikkönen, Vettel's teammate, suffered the same problem while in second position and lost his place to Bottas, and managed to finish third.

On 11 July 2017, the BRDC, the owners of Silverstone, activated a break clause in their contract meaning unless a new contract is signed, 2019 will be the final year the British Grand Prix takes place at Silverstone.

As the race was on the week of the British premiere of Cars 3, there was a special pit garage for Lightning McQueen and Jackson Storm. McQueen's voice actor, Owen Wilson, was in attendance, alongside director Brian Fee and producer Kevin Reher. They visited the garages of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Fernando Alonso, who voice the English, German, and Spanish voices of the built-in voice command assistant Hamilton. Wilson also experienced the Silverstone circuit with a ride in the F1 Experiences two-seater car.

The first free practice session saw the public début of the "shield" cockpit protection device, a reinforced perspex crash structure mounted to the monocoque. The shield is designed to provide additional driver protection by deflecting debris away from a driver's head without compromising the ability of marshalls to access the cockpit in the event of an accident. The initial testing was carried out by Ferrari to assess the shield's design ahead of a planned introduction in 2018. Sebastian Vettel responded negatively to the design, cutting short his testing of the device and subsequently reporting that the concave shape of the shield distorted his vision and made him feel dizzy.

Mercedes's Valtteri Bottas went fastest in first practice, setting a time of 1:29.106. He was followed by his teammate Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in second and third. In second practice, Bottas was fastest followed by Hamilton and Räikkönen. Saturday's third and final practice was topped by Hamilton, with Vettel second and Bottas third. Hamilton set the quickest time of all three practices with a 1:28.063, closely followed by Vettel who set a 1:28.095.