Ronnie Peterson's Lotus 76 JPS from 1974

The last Grand Prix I photographed was the US GP at Indianapolis in 2003. So when I visited Silverstone last weekend, I was a bit rusty to say the least. One thing I had forgotten though, was the need to wear ear plugs. My ears haven’t rung so much since standing too close to the P.A. system at a Who concert in the early eighties.

As always, the support races bring out historic cars which included the beautiful Ronnie Peterson Lotus 76 JPS (above).

Below are three generations of Marborough, Marlborough-Mclaren, Mclaren-Mercedes cars from 1973, 1982 and 2012 respectively. I’m not sure it’s strictly correct to group these three cars together, but it does show the evolution of styles from the early 1970’s.

MARLBORO-BRM P160 - 1973

Niki Lauda's McLaren MP4-1B from 1982, driven by Bobby Verdon-Roe

Jenson Button in 2012 Mclaren Mercedes

Safety car at beginning of the main straight

The current World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, in his Red Bull

Sergio Pérez taking the scenic route in a Sauber

Pérez took a minor excursion here, and apart from a slightly dented ego, probably escaped with nothing more than a ‘what the bloody hell were you doing’ warning from the team principal.