THE JOHN PLAYER BRITISH GRAND PRIX TROPHY, in silver with a hardstone base by George Breuer-Weil,

THE JOHN PLAYER BRITISH GRAND PRIX TROPHY, in silver with a hardstone base by George Breuer-Weil, London 1973, signed `G. Weil` to a gilt reserve, rectangular and constructed of overlapping rough cast squares with circles cut-out, the base with two plaques, engraved `John Player Grand Prix Trophy` and `1972 Emerson Fittipaldi / John Player Special // 1973 Peter Revson / Yardley McLaren // 1974 Jody Schecter / Tyrrell // 1975 Emerson Fittipaldi / Texaco McLaren // 1976 Niki Lauda / Ferrari // 1977 James Hunt / Marlboro McLaren // 1978 Carlos Reutemann / Ferrari`, 46.5cm (18.25in) high, loaded. The official programme for the 1972 British Grand Prix, the first to be sponsored by John Player, included a picture of this trophy to introduce it to race followers around the world. It was awarded alongside the already familiar Fred Craner Memorial Trophy, a twin-handled covered cup, which the Royal Automobile Club customarily presented to the highest placed British driver to finish in the British Grand Prix. As sponsors of this event John Player replaced the R.A.C. (1950-70) and R.A.C. Woolmark (1971) and were, in turn, succeeded by Marlboro (1979-85). The 1972 British Grand Prix was held at Brands Hatch on 15th July. Emerson Fittipaldi finished 4.1 seconds ahead of Jackie Stewart to claim this trophy. Fittingly, he was behind the wheel of a Lotus 72D `John Player Special`, resplendent in what would become a legendary colour scheme of black and gold. For 1973 the British Grand Prix moved to Silverstone. The race will be remembered for a first lap pile-up when Jody Scheckter spun out on the final corner into the centre of the track. In the ensuing carnage Andrea de Adamich was to receive injuries of such severity that he was forced to retire from the sport. Jackie Stewart had taken the lead up until that point, going from fourth to first in half a lap, but he was unable to repeat the performance from the restart and spun off on lap 6 trying to regain the lead. Peter Revson went on to take first place, pushing himself into fifth spot of the Drivers` Championship, with only 10 points. In 1974 there was a return to Brands Hatch, and Jody Scheckter emerged victorious, finishing 15.3 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Emerson Fittipaldi. Silverstone again hosted the British Grand Prix of 1975, destined to become one of the most incredible ever seen. Despite taking place on July 19th the race was marred from lap 53 by a tremendous hail storm. Jody Scheckter, James Hunt and John Donohue aquaplaned and crashed at the same corner, which then claimed Wilson Fittipaldi, Jochen Mass and John Watson. When the storm abated only six cars were left running, prompting the R.A.C. to declare that the race had offically finished on the lap when most cars were still in contention. This they deemed to be lap 55, as a result of which Emerson Fittipaldi was awarded his last ever Grand Prix title. These events tend to overshadow the fact that this race was the first Grand Prix to use a light system for the start instead of the traditional National Flag. The 1976 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch was, arguably, the most controversial ever held in the country. James Hunt was involved in a first corner crash, but instead of completing his lap back to the pits he took a short cut via an access road on the Cooper Straight. This prompted race officials to declare that, since Hunt was not on the circuit when the red flag was waved, he could not take part in the restart. When this judgement reached the partisan British crowd they began to continually chant James Hunt`s name. Fearing crowd trouble the officials recinded their verdict and sanctioned Hunt to continue. Niki Lauda led the race for 45 laps until he developed gearshift trouble which allowed Hunt to slip through and go on to win, ahead of Lauda in his ailing Ferrari. Two months later at a special hearing in France, after protests from the Italian team, Hunt was stripped of the win which was then credited to Lauda. Having initially claimed, without success, that Hunt had not completed the first lap, Ferrari then sided with two other constructors who, on the day of the race, had maintained that Hunt`s car had been pushed by mechanics, warranting his disqualification. The British Grand Prix of 1977 at Silverstone brought revenge for James Hunt who emphatically won the race without argument or debate, defeating second place Niki Lauda by a margin of 18.31 seconds. There were so many entries in this year that a pre-qualifier had to be held on the Wednesday before the race, where the Canadian Gilles Villeneuve made his debut. Also appearing for the first time was a turbo-charged car, the Renault RS01, driven by Jean-Pierre Jabouille. Ironically he was to retire from this race, and the following year`s, with turbo problems. In 1978 Carlos Reutemann took the chequered flag in the British Grands Prix, played out at Brands Hatch, to put him third in the Drivers` Championship, just above Niki Lauda, with a shared 31 points. George Breuer-Weil was born in Vienna in 1938. His family moved to England one year later. Weil studied at the Central School of Art & Craft, and at St. Martin`s School of Art in London. In 1956 he set up a studio for jewellery design and manufacture, while continuing his sculpture and painting. He made his first sculpture at the age of four. His sculptures include bronze portrait busts of Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and David Ben-Gurion, and have been exhibited in London, Geneva, Tokyo and San Francisco. His work is to be found in famous private collections worldwide as well as several museums, including the British Museum. At the end of the 1970s, Weil sold his successful jewellery business and decided to concentrate exclusively on his sculpture, especially netsuke. His most famous sculpture, the King David Award, was commissioned by the State of Israel in 1970 and is presented to leading show-business personalities.