Five things we learned at Silverstone

Silverstone may be as old as Formula One, but that doesn't mean the famous circuit has told all of its tales even 72 years after that first British Grand Prix.

Here are five things we at Williams learned from our home weekend.

We always knew that our No23 was an animal lover – enough of us at the Grove factory follow the Albon Pets Instagram account to give us our fur fix.

What we didn't know, however, is that Alex loves his family's zoo of animals so much that he wanted to take them for a trip around the Silverstone circuit.

It's true that we couldn't adjust Albono's seat to accommodate eight cats, one dog, and a horse in the FW44, and we won't divulge whether or not he asked us to.

However, our resourceful driver found his own way to share the cockpit with Tino, Horsey, Tinky & co by running this British Grand Prix weekend with an eye-catching helmet design that featured all ten members.

If you're still not clued up, we have you covered with our all-important guide to Albon Pets.

To say that the Williams Driver Academy did well at Silverstone would be like saying that British Grand Prix was reasonably action-packed.

Our Academy smashed it at our home race with the pole positions, two wins, and one second-place finish – we couldn't be prouder.

Jamie and Zak standing on the podium in front of the British fans will be career highlights for both, and it's not a bad Fourth of July weekend present for Logan's American fans either.

Although we never got the Canadian or Thai national anthems in F1 this time, Jamie's sixth consecutive W Series win (including two at the end of last season) meant she ensured God Save the Queen rang out over Silverstone's speakers to stir the crowd's patriotism.

Thankfully, we already know how safe modern motorsport is thanks to the perpetual pursuit by the FIA to keep drivers safe.

However, Sunday was a sharp reminder to see why every bit of research, development, and investment in safety is vital after some terrifying accidents in F1 and F2.

Zhou Guanyu's heart-in-mouth first-lap crash over the tyre barriers after skidding upside down was a horrific freak accident. Thankfully, the Alfa Romeo driver was uninjured and back in the paddock soon after.

With Alex slowing down to avoid the crash, he was inadvertently caught up in the melee and was transferred to Coventry Hospital for precautionary checks before being discharged injury-free.

And our Academy driver Roy Nissany could walk away from an incident thanks to the incredible strength of the halo to deflect a fast-travelling 700kg object after an airborne competitor's car flew towards his cockpit.

That there were no injuries from the crashes on Sunday and throughout the weekend is a testament to the life-saving work done by the FIA.

Perhaps inspired by our trio of Academy pole positions on Friday, Nicky turned in a terrific display of car control and speed in Saturday's qualifying to reach his first Q3.

The gloomy British weather with its stop-start drizzle made getting a quick lap in challenging, especially when trying to keep Pirelli's Intermediate compound at the optimal temperature in the cold weather.

Yet our No6 found his groove in Q1 and Q2 to qualify from both, with his time in the second part of qualifying keeping him safe from elimination by some four-tenths.

With F1 heading deep into its European season, where rainy weekends aren't unusual, here’s hoping we’ll see some more positive Williams results in the coming months.

The weekend in Silverstone represented a very British summer with sunshine appearing as often as rainclouds.

No matter the weather, though, the fans were out in force every day at this year's British Grand Prix, no matter what the skies above were doing.

A weekend attendance exceeding 400,000 spectators across all three days broke the British GP record after the circuit sold out all its tickets in record time due to unprecedented demand.

No fewer than 142,000 ticket holders flooded the grandstands and general admission areas to watch the 2022 British Grand Prix that delivered all the action that any F1 fan could dream of.

After a Friday and Saturday when the heavens opened, the rain stayed at bay on Sunday, much to the delight of fans packing up their campsites after the race.