Donington Park was the first permanent park circuit in England, ending the monopoly that Brooklands had held since 1907. The circuit was founded by Fred Craner, a former motorcycle racer who had competed in seven Isle of Man TT races and was by 1931 a garage owner and secretary of the Derby and District Motor Club. Craner approached John Gillies Shields, owner of the Donington Hall estate, to make use of the extensive roads on the land for racing.
The original track was 2.186 miles (3.518 km) in length and ran on unsealed estate roads. The first motorcycle race was held on Whit Monday, 25 May 1931. For 1933, Craner obtained permission to build a permanent sealed circuit at a cost of £12,000. The first car race followed on 25 March 1933, and the first Donington Park Trophy race was held that October, won by the Earl Howe in a Bugatti Type 51.
The pre-war period brought some of the sport's greatest names to the circuit. In 1935, the first 300-mile Donington Grand Prix was won by Richard Shuttleworth in an Alfa Romeo P3. The 1937 and 1938 Donington Grand Prix were won by Bernd Rosemeyer and Tazio Nuvolari respectively, both driving Auto Union Silver Arrows during the height of German dominance in European motor racing. The circuit closed in 1940 when it was requisitioned by the Ministry of Defence and converted into a military vehicle depot. It was derequisitioned in 1956 and approved for racing by local planning authorities in 1957.
In 1971, businessman and car collector Tom Wheatcroft purchased Donington Park and funded the rebuilding of the track. Wheatcroft moved his extensive car collection into a museum known as the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition, opened in 1973, which became the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world until its closure in 2018. The path to resuming racing was not straightforward: Leicestershire County Council initially refused planning consent, but Wheatcroft successfully appealed and had the circuit laid out by early 1976.
The first postwar motorcycle race meeting was held on 15 May 1977, and the circuit reopened for cars on 28 May 1977. In 1985, the Melbourne Loop was added to increase the lap distance to 2.498 miles (4.020 km), a requirement to meet the minimum length needed for Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The shorter pre-1985 layout remained in use as the National circuit for most non-Grand Prix events.
Donington Park's only Formula One world championship race to date was the 1993 European Grand Prix, held on 11 April 1993. The rain-affected race produced one of the most celebrated drives in motorsport history, as Ayrton Senna advanced from fifth to first position in the opening lap alone, ultimately winning by more than a minute from Damon Hill. The race was described by AtlasF1 as the Drive of the Decade. A memorial to Senna stands in the grounds of the circuit.
In July 2008, it was announced that Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd, which held a 150-year lease on the estate, had won the rights to host the British Grand Prix for 17 years from 2010. The proposed redevelopment, designed by circuit architect Hermann Tilke, would have included an entirely new pit complex along Starkey's Straight and a new infield loop increasing the circuit length to 2.944 miles. A distinctive element of the plan was that the circuit would have been accessible only by public transport, with shuttle buses running from the nearby East Midlands Parkway station.
The venture collapsed following the 2008 financial crisis. DVLL, led by Simon Gillett, proved unable to raise the £135 million required. In October 2009, Bernie Ecclestone confirmed the British Grand Prix would go to Silverstone, which was subsequently awarded a 17-year contract from 2010. DVLL entered administration in November 2009 with debts of approximately £4 million to contractors and a £14 million secured loan with Anglo Irish Bank. In December 2009, the lease reverted to the Wheatcroft family.
Under Kevin Wheatcroft, following the death of his father Tom in 2009, the circuit was restored to use with a revival meeting in autumn 2010. The Donington Historic Festival was established as an annual event from 2010, and the circuit became a regular host for the Superbike World Championship alongside its established place on the British Superbike Championship and British Touring Car Championship calendars. Since 2013, Donington has hosted the annual BTCC Season Launch.
In January 2017, MotorSport Vision, the organisation led by former Formula One driver Jonathan Palmer, acquired the circuit business and a 21-year lease on the estate until 2038. The purchase was cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority in August 2017. MSV undertook significant investment: the Garage 39 Restaurant, new grandstands at Hollywood corner, modern toilet facilities, and a new main entrance area completed in 2019 were among the changes. In April 2021, MSV purchased the freehold of the Donington Hall Estate, including the Grade II* listed Donington Hall itself, with plans to develop the hall into a 40-bedroom hotel. The Lansdowne workshops within the estate are offered to high-end motor engineering businesses.
In its postwar history, Donington has hosted MotoGP as the favoured home of the British round of that championship, the British Touring Car Championship, British Superbike Championship, World Superbike Championship, Superleague Formula, and various historic motorsport festivals. The circuit also hosted the British Motocross Grand Prix in August 2007 on a purpose-built motocross circuit constructed in the infield. The FIA Formula E Championship used Donington as the base for all its teams during the series' founding years, with Donington also hosting several Formula E pre-season test days before the series relocated its testing to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia for the 2017-18 season.