The scintillating Silverstone motorsport circuit has been the fortress of Lewis Hamilton for decades now, with the seven-time world champion pulling off a record eight race victories at the British Grand Prix. Subsequently, during the peak of Hamilton’s dominant era – the 2010s and the early 2020s – Silverstone witnessed a massive inflow of audiences into the stands, which led to full houses almost every season.
This was a clear sign of never-ending popularity for Formula 1 in the United Kingdom, as the British GP looked all set to secure its place on the calendar almost permanently amid Liberty Media’s growing interest in the US market. However, the latest statement from the British Grand Prix organizers could dent Silverstone’s hopes of retaining its place on the calendar beyond 2034.
Silverstone boss Stuart Pringle has blamed Max Verstappen’s recent dominance for the struggle to sell out tickets for this year’s British Grand Prix 👀 pic.twitter.com/PpFwHTKd7E
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) June 20, 2024
For the first time in many years, Silverstone might witness empty seats in the stands over the British Grand Prix weekend, set to take place next month. According to the managing director of Silverstone Stuart Pringle, Max Verstappen and Red Bull are the reasons behind the reduced interest in watching the British GP live from the stands this year.
Here’s what Pringle said according to Autosport:
“I do recognise that we had several years of a British driver dominating, and we didn’t mind that as a British promoter. It’s certainly been a lot harder with Red Bull dominating.“
Is Lewis Hamilton the reason behind Silverstone’s success story?
Certainly! Being the home hero of the British GP, Hamilton has more often than not lived up to his fans’ expectations and may have helped the promoters gain a surplus amount of fan audiences over the past decade. However, since 2022, things have drastically turned in Red Bull’s favor, subsequently forcing Hamilton out of the title fight. Hence, like Pringle reckoned, is Verstappen really to blame for the sudden change in dynamics around Silverstone?
Silverstone loves @LewisHamilton. And Lewis Hamilton loves Silverstone. ❤️ pic.twitter.com/mxN8qSVXx4
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) July 9, 2023
Not according to the local fans of the United Kingdom. One user on X reckoned that Silverstone has been charging way too much for the tickets in recent years, making them pretty much unaffordable. What’s more, the prices have only further increased for this year’s British GP, obstructing hundreds of thousands of fans from investing in them.
But, what’s really the truth behind the sudden drop in ticket demands for the British GP? Well, for now, all we can say is that there’s more to this story than just Verstappen’s dominance.
Sara Chavan