The thing that was really interesting in Lewis Hamilton's victory in Silverstone today was not just the obstacles of a wet and windy race and cars spinning out all over the place and his bad grid position of fourth. He spoke afterwards of his overwhelming recent visit with Nelson Mandela, which he described as: "The most overwhelming experience and it took a lot out of me just to understand what was going on." Or the surprising doubts that he expressed about racing in a wet race to his brother, Nicholas. "Just before the race I spoke to my brother and I said I just hope I can keep it on the track, and he said you’re the master on the wet, don’t worry about that," said Hamilton. It gave him confidence, and he drove one of the great wet races of recent memory, grabbing the lead on Lap 5 and holding onto it while all other cars spun out around him. Maurice Hamilton put it well on BBC radio just after the race when he said, "I think you can sum it up by looking at the lap chart, the cars are jumping all over the place. The only thing that doesn’t change is the leader. He took the lead in Lap 5 and held it. Everything handled absolutely perfectly."

Someone I know in Concorde, North Carolina just informed me that they had seen last week a whole lot of people wearing Renault F1 uniforms staying at a local hotel near the Windshear Wind Tunnel. This would seem to suggest that the Renault F1 team is using the wind tunnel to develop its Formula One car.

Wow! Is all I can say. If there is one thing that Formula 1 teams pride themselves on, it's not only their wind tunnels, but their made in Europe cars. (So that actually makes two things they pride themselves on, doesn't it?) The Concorde facility is probably about 10 times bigger than those of the teams in Europe, however, and it has a full-scale rolling road for the car development. Considering how important the aerodynamic development of an F1 car is - and the fact that Renault had problems last year with its tunnel calibration - I suppose it would be worth the money to send the chassis over from Enstone, England, to Concorde. Still, it's quite something to see an F1 team use a facility also used by Nascar and IndyCar for their car development. A sign of things to come?

Just as the first practice session of the day came to an end at Silverstone a few minutes ago, the International Automobile Federation sent out and email and the local media center staff handed out a statement, saying that the contract to maintain the British Grand Prix had been signed. But the race will move from Silverstone, where it first took place in 1950 and continues to this day, to Donington Park:

Following discussions with Formula One Management, the FIA can confirm that the British Grand Prix will be retained on the Formula One World Championship calendar. From 2010 the new home of the British Grand Prix will be Donington Park.

Max Mosley, FIA President said, “After many years of patient but fruitless negotiation with the BRDC, we are delighted that Bernie has nevertheless been able to ensure that the British Grand Prix will keep its place on the Formula One World Championship calendar.

“We understand that the development programme planned for Donington will achieve the very high standards we and FOM expect from a modern F1 circuit. Finally, British Formula One fans will get the Grand Prix venue they deserve.”

Bernie Ecclestone, FOM President said, “Finally the uncertainty is over. A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand Prix is now secure.

“We wanted a world class venue for Formula One in Britain, something that the teams and British F1 fans could be proud of. The major development plans for Donington will give us exactly that. A venue that will put British motor sport back on the map.”

“I am sorry that we could not have helped Silverstone to raise the money to carry out the circuit improvements and run Formula One. I believe that the government should have supported them which would have cost probably less than .002% of the government’s commitment for the Olympic Games.”

Sorry to say so, but I will be looking forward to the change. Silverstone is a hell of a place to go - it hasn't been developed for years - and Donington has promised to invest and improve what is already an interesting track. Sure, Silverstone is an interesting track too, but this time, I think the change will be positive.

Here at Silverstone, where the British Grand Prix takes place on Sunday, David Coulthard today announced his retirement from Formula One racing. The oldest driver on the grid - hey, he's only 37 - said that it was time to stop racing and consider his future. He will continues as a consultant for Red Bull, however, and help them in testing and things. A little like what Michael Schumacher is doing at Ferrari.

Just a couple of hours after Coulthard announced his retirement, Red Bull had a small press conference at the team Energy Station to announce that Mark Webber has signed another contract to continue racing at the team next year. Actually, we already figured that out, since Coulthard said in his press conference that he would hang around next year to help Mark Webber and whoever the other driver was....

As far back as the middle of last year," said Webber, "it was very clear to me that I enjoyed working with the team, playing my part in its development and helping it move forward. So far this year, our reliability has improved and that's allowed us to exploit our performance."