Silverstone hopes for British GP crowd
Silverstone is hoping that spectators can attend the British Grand Prix in July following the latest UK government announcements.
The government last week unveiled its roadmap for easing the current lockdown measures, including plans for spectators to attend live sporting events by the summer. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parliament that “the turnstiles of our sports stadia will once again rotate” as he outlined the blueprint.
Under the proposals, large outdoor seated venues will be permitted to allow up to 10,000 people or 25% of their total seat capacity – whichever is lower – from 17 May. This could be increased as early as 21 June, leading to suggestions that many of the
UK’S major summer sports events, including the British Grand Prix, could enjoy capacity crowds amid the ongoing vaccination campaign and falling COVID-19 case numbers.
“I’m cautiously optimistic, there is a long way to go,” Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle said in an interview with BBC 5 Live. “But the requirements have been clearly set out. There are variables that are within nobody’s control, if another variant of concern were to arrive, or if there was a problem with the vaccination rollout. But equally, things have been going well, and I think that people want to get behind an opportunity that gives some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Pringle was hopeful that the spread of the grandstands across the Silverstone site would aid the push to get a crowd back at the British Grand Prix, which was run behind closed doors last year. He was also open to the idea of using vaccine passports to ensure those attending had been protected against COVID-19, saying the possibility had already been discussed with the government.
“I think for fans, if it involves a little bit of effort, or possibly even a bit of cost, the chance to go and see your team, to see your favourite sport, that’s something that we’d all consider this summer,” he said.
F1 was forced to run the majority of its races behind closed doors last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but is hopeful of getting a crowd at the majority of events in 2021.
“At this stage, I’m still optimistic that the bulk of the season will see spectators,” said F1 global director of race promotion Chloe Targett-adams in a Blackbook web seminar. “It’s obviously very territory-specific, location-specific. You look at the UK, we’re in such a positive place, the government has done a great job with the vaccine rollout. It enables planning around the British GP with our Silverstone promoter and feedback from UK government at this stage [for] that to go ahead on the basis that there will be fans attending.
“We’re hopeful that by the end of the year, at least in the majority of locations, we should be having fairly – I hesitate to use the word large, because we’re still in a pandemic, and there are variants you don’t know – meaningful crowds, and operation of our hospitality.”