An al fresco breakfast in the bright sun, the technicians enjoy the weather that stayed with us all day. Guest visitor from last year was Paul Travis, as Dom White was away celebrating his birthday, so Happy Birthday Dom!

The Red Arrows opened the proceedings in fine style.

A view across a small part of the helicopter parking area shows the huge number of aircraft, as well as the size of the crowd by 11:30 in the morning.

Mika Hakkinen lead the race almost from the first, and won with ease.

Michael Schumacher fought a running battle with Juan Montoya for almost half the race….

….especially when they encountered traffic.

The midfield was just as exciting, with a number of close fought contests such as between Jaguar and BAR here.

As soon as the race was over, the Team got the aircraft reloaded and ready to depart.

But as can be seen here, there were a huge number of transport helicopters getting passengers out of the circuit….

….so many in fact, that parallel runway operation was the order of the day, with helicopters approaching side by side.

Eventually, there was a brief hole in the traffic, and the Team leapt into the air. Here Julie leaves Silverstone….

….and the Team formed up heading south into the gathering clouds of evening.