On heading down, look into parking at Hinton Airfield, and stopping at the pub (I am sure they are still doing rooms since it's changed hands) at Hinton in the Hedges called the Crewe Arms. They do a bus from the Airfield to Silverstone, you cannot drive around the area as the police cordon it all off.

My mum lives in Hinton, so pretty familiar with the routine.

Just a wee addendum. Buy ear protectors!

There's new engines this year so it might be slightly different but nothing can prepare you for the sound of 20 F1 cars screaming by you. It's not even a nice engine noise, it's a horrible, ear ripping screech that will see you running for the stalls buying ear plugs at £10 a shot. Do yourself a favour and buy some off ebay ahead of time for 50p, or better still, buy something along rlthese linesrl as you'll then be able to wear ear phones at the same time so that you can listen to the radio.

I was about to say that you can rent something called Kangaroo TV but it looks like rlthey've quit F1rl so I don't know what the situation will be next year. I'm sure something will take it's place but I usually just take a cheap radio and either tune into radio 5 or radio silverstone.

If your budget will stretch to it I can thoroughly recommend the Becketts corner stand. Not only are you right in front of one of the most famous corners in motor sport but you get to see a lot of the 'new' infield track. Failing that, Luffield is also very good. If it's wet, you'll see a lot of overtaking there.

Finally, the advice above about traffic is spot on. Get there early or you'll queue for hours. We usually stay over at one of the camping sites but if I were leaving on Sunday and it was sunny, I'd stay on for the concert after the race and let the worst of the traffic clear off. You'll have to put up with Tony Jardine but that's ever so slightly less painful than the queues back to the motorways.

You can buy little radios at the shop. Think I was £6. If you are not camping then you could use your phone for one of the radio apps. Also they give out earplugs, just the foamy ones but they are good enough to keep it loud without deafening you.

There are quite a few screens around. We could see one from all three places we sat. The screen locations are on the circuit map so you can check that when you are booking.

Have to say though it might be a heck of a long weekend if you don't actually like it! Do you like racing and just find F1 boring? If so you might enjoy the GP2 and Porsche as they have more action, but if you don't like racing at all then I hope your FIL appreciates the effort!

Thanks again!
No I was being a tad mischevious, I find the cars and the technology amazing and I like watching the start (for any crashes!), the finish and when you get some battles between 2 drivers! It's sadly the bits in between that bore me! But then that's watching on TV at home without the atmosphere and the other things going on at the track so I'm sure there'll be enough to keep me interested. And the father-in-law loves it, it's mostly for him but I couldn't pass up the chance to go myself too since it's something I've never done and would probably unlikely to do without someone who's really into it.

I was fascinated as a kid by the Senna/Prost/Mansell battles, and wish F1 was a little more like it was back then!