Editor 's note : Ed Foster is the associate editor of Motor Sport magazine . He is also an F1 pundit for CNN 's World Sport show and writes blogs for CNN.com International . ( Motor Sport ) -- Nigel Mansell called it people power , others just call it home advantage . Andy Murray at Wimbledon , Wayne Rooney at Old Trafford and -- this weekend -- Lewis Hamilton , Jenson Button and Paul di Resta at Silverstone : they have the crowd behind them , they can hear the cheers from the stands , see the caps , banners and flags bearing their names . Mansell was so popular with ( most of ) the British public that he even started his own movement , `` Mansell Mania , '' which peaked at Silverstone in 1987 . `` Our Nige '' -- never one to let an ailment or problem go unnoticed -- was suffering from a severe wheel vibration by lap 12 . 'Last dinosaur ' or F1 's brainiest man ? It only got worse and soon he was running five seconds behind teammate Nelson Piquet . The Williams team was n't planning to do any pit stops , but Mansell dived in to change the offending wheel . He emerged 29 seconds off the lead . The fans were distraught -- there would n't be a repeat performance of Mansell 's win the year before at Brands Hatch -- but he was suddenly flying . `` I think I broke the lap record 11 times in the last 15 laps , '' he said at the time . He was soon up on the back of Piquet and sold a dummy that Cristiano Ronaldo would have been proud of with only two laps to go . Tires take center stage in F1 . His second -- of four -- British Grand Prix wins was complete . The crowd went mad and surged onto the track , so Mansell had to come to a grinding halt on his slowing down lap to avoid running any of them over . Mansell always believed the fans gave him extra power , that extra quarter of a second a lap . It may seem ridiculous , but four of his 31 Formula One wins came on home turf in front of one of the most passionate crowds in the world . Okay , not much comes close to the tifosi at Monza , bedecked in Prancing Horses , but Silverstone is up there . Of course , not everyone shares the same view . British motorbike rider Cal Crutchlow looked a little bemused when posed the question of whether the fans gave him `` extra power '' ahead of his MotoGP race at Silverstone on June 17 this year . `` I do n't know ... What ? Like Uri Geller with his spoon ? If he really thinks about it , it bends ... '' he said smiling . Injured female F1 driver 's family touched by support . `` I 'll tell you what , hopefully all the fans can all sit in the stands on the weekend and think that I can have a podium or something like that and it might happen . `` But seriously you have to treat it like it 's any other race when you 're on the track . '' Two days after this he went out and broke his ankle in practice . Come race day he started at the back of the grid -- with said broken ankle -- and stormed through the field to finish an incredible sixth , overtaking Ducati 's former world champion Nicky Hayden on the last lap . So what of the modern F1 drivers ? It does n't make for great reading if you 're Button/Hamilton/di Resta and hoping for a win this weekend in front of the 100,000-strong crowd . Sebastian Vettel -- 0 German Grand Prix wins . Mark Webber -- 0 Australian Grand Prix wins . Button -- 0 British Grand Prix wins . Hamilton -- one British Grand Prix win . Fernando Alonso -- one Spanish Grand Prix win ( and one win in the European Grand Prix in Valencia this year , which took him to the top of the championship standings ) . The only man to have serious success on home soil is Michael Schumacher with four German Grand Prix wins , behind only compatriot Rudolf Caracciola -- who won it six times between 1926-39 . But seven-time world champion Schumacher has won a record 91 grands prix and it 's no surprise the 43-year-old managed four of those at Hockenheim , plus five victories when the European Grand Prix was held at the Nurburgring . However , he has finished ninth and eighth at the German GP since returning from retirement with Mercedes . This weekend most people 's money is on Vettel . Before his Red Bull gave way in the last race , he was streets ahead in Valencia . No way anyone was going to catch him . Alonso may have won fantastically in front of his home crowd , but he was cautious afterwards . `` Red Bull is fast '' echoed round the paddock . McLaren , though , has been throwing the kitchen sink , and many millions , at its 2012 challenger in order to close the gap . And with the unpredictability this season has produced there 's no need to write off either Button -- who has always been dogged by bad luck in his home grand prix -- or his fellow former world champion Hamilton . Also , there 's always that home advantage , but maybe that 's just a load of rubbish ? We 'll see for ourselves on Sunday .
British Grand Prix at Silverstone is home race for Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton . Former F1 world champion Nigel Mansell used to say home crowd gave him advantage . Comment: Defending champ Sebastian Vettel is favorite despite Fernando Alonso leading championship .