Silverstone's plans to 'nail it' at British GP as F1 contract talks loom

Dowdy, frayed at the edges old Silverstone had the ghosts of its past and a certain earthy charisma – but it was hard to love. And after years of trash talk led by F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, the British GP was considered by some within the cloistered, entitled F1 world as the equivalent of a musty old relative you felt compelled to visit once a year, but couldn’t wait to escape from. It was perceived as an embarrassment.

But that was long ago. Visit Silverstone today and you sense the place has won back its self-esteem. The site is a thriving hub of industry and each time you visit there’s something new to see, from the obvious – the plush hotel opposite The Wing – to the detail – a new EV charging station behind the old pits. There is reason to be proud of Silverstone today.

Sure, it’s not perfect and will forever remain a work in progress, particularly when it comes to getting out of the place on a Sunday night after the grand prix. But the old ‘home of British motor sport’ sobriquet is no longer something to be scoffed at.

“I would argue very strongly that we are leading the way for traditional circuits in showing what F1 is nowadays,” says circuit chief Stuart Pringle, a key figure in Silverstone’s turnaround. Somehow it’s considered not cricket to talk oneself up. But after years of toil to drag the place into the 21st Century, Pringle – at first glance a traditional, military-class Englishman of the old order – has had his fill of modest self-effacement.

He’s also on message with the Liberty Media way of running F1, and you sense not just because he has to be. “The challenges of 10-15 years ago when hosting the British GP was really marginal are behind us, in large part because of the quality of the product F1 is producing these days,” says Pringle. “It’s what people want to see and they’ve done a really fantastic job of getting a whole new audience engaged. Our balancing act is to run an established event with a core fanbase, not alienating old fans – and not boring the new fans. We have to pick a line through the middle which I think we’re doing pretty successfully.”

A total of around 480,000 people are expected to pass through Silverstone’s gates in the next few days – a percentage of those admittedly returning for more than a single day. The race-day crowd is expected to hit 160,000, up from 142,000 last year and about double the amount who cram into Wembley or Twickenham for a major football or rugby game.

The level of demand for tickets overwhelmed Silverstone’s website when they went on sale last September, leaving many in lengthy online queues. Those who could buy tickets snapped them up, sending the circuit’s tiered pricing system ratcheting up far faster than had been anticipated. Many were left disappointed and critical of the process. Pringle has admitted that lessons need to be learned and Silverstone responded by expanding its capacity and releasing more tickets for the 2023 race.

There are 11,000 more grandstand seats at Silverstone this year and expanded general admission spectator viewing areas, including a new “double-sided burn”, as Pringle describes it on the inside of Brooklands that will also serve the concert arena that has also doubled in capacity. “We could call it Hamilton Hill,” smiles Pringle. “Or Russell’s Rise. Or Lando’s Lump.”

There will also be more loos for women. Pringle reports that female demand for tickets rose from 23% in 2021 to 38% in 2022, a welcome sign of how F1 is appealing to a wider cross-section. “We had more female lavatories last year, but it was still not enough,” he says.

“I don’t think there is anybody from the established circuit brigade and certainly not from the cornerstone races who have embraced this way of operating with quite the same verve as we have,” Pringle asserts. “And it’s serving us well. Life is never easy being an F1 promoter, but it’s easier when you are in tune with the owner. It’s good at the moment, really exciting.”

So how does it compare to the Ecclestone era? Pringle dismisses the question and in his answer doesn’t even refer to Bernie by name. “Do you know what? Six years in for Liberty, comparisons with the past are probably history now,” he says. “This is the new world, I can’t really remember the old world and I’m not sure I want to. It’s not a point of reference that’s relevant.

“About as far back as I want to go is Covid. Our world has been very different post-Covid. At the time it unquestionably felt like the worst thing that had ever happened to Silverstone. Bizarrely I now reflect on it as the best thing that ever happened to Silverstone. It made our fanbase realise they didn’t like missing out on these live experiences, it made them enthusiastic to come, it allowed them time to binge on Drive to Survive and get fired up. With an 18-month selling window for the 2021 race, because there was no attendance for either race we ran in 2020, it meant it became a sell-out event. Then the sales cycle takes on a momentum of its own. That’s a better point of reference.”

For Pringle and his team, of course, this is no time to sit back and consider the British GP as safe. New races around the world are raising the bar, although comparing the rash of in-vogue street circuits with traditional tracks isn’t really fair. But Pringle recognises that lessons can always be learned and embraces that notion.

“I really enjoy the challenge of promoting a race in the manner to which F1 under its now quite established ownership structure want it delivered,” he says. “They push us, it’s good for us, we are constantly aware of the bar being raised. We went to Miami last year to see what that looked like and I’ll be in Las Vegas in November. I’m fascinated to see that. I’ve got to be there. It could be a great motor race, it might not be, but one thing we know is it will be monumentally spectacular.”

And the big question: what about a new deal for Silverstone? The race this weekend is the penultimate British GP of the current agreement. Last weekend F1 announced it had renewed its deal with the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian GP – another old-school staple – to remain on the calendar until 2030. So any good news for the UK?

“I can’t give you any exclusive on that,” says Pringle with a smile. “We are still talking about it. My priority, without wishing to sound like a politician, is making sure we nail it this year. One really positive thing: Liberty asked F1 to do a survey of fans after every race. In the four years they have done them Silverstone has come top of fan satisfaction in the championship, and they ask the same key questions for all the races. I’m fully focused on delivering the best possible race, keeping our score up there with the fans.”

No complacency then – but there’s also a positivity that simply couldn’t exist in the old days. “I don’t think it serves anybody well for brinkmanship to take it right to the very edge,” he says of the new deal. “But I can tell you with complete confidence that there is a real meeting of minds with F1, that this is [considered] a good race.”

Despite all the developments, Silverstone is still Silverstone. You can still enjoy a sense of history as you take your place in a grandstand or on the banking this weekend, if you are going. But for Pringle, as much as he’s proud of the past and values Silverstone’s status in its 75th anniversary, he can’t afford to live in the past.

“The product we are putting out is as good as it’s ever been,” he states. “Of course I wish I’d been around to see Jim Clark win all those British GPs. Of course I wish I’d seen Jackie Stewart, who retired when I was 18 months old. But that was then, this is now. You have got to play the ball in front of you. And it’s very clear what we are dealing with.

Like everyone at the circuit, he’s hoping for “another Silverstone sizzler” this weekend. But one thing he can’t control is Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s domination. Instead, he and his hard-working team will be fully focused on delivering a world-class event, both for F1 and for the public. Let’s just hope protesters don’t bowl him a googly.