Popular Success for the Silverstone Grand Prix
Despite the crisis facing most F1 circuits, the British weekend was a success for Silverstone, whose new version seems to have won over the spectators.
At a time when some Formula 1 Grand Prix events are struggling to gather spectators to break even, such as the case of Turkey which we talked about in April, the crisis does not seem to affect the oldest track.
Indeed, this weekend, throughout the different sessions and during the race, the circuit located across the Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire counties gathered more than 315,000 spectators, with a peak during the race itself, attracting 122,000 spectators. Saturday saw an attendance of 105,000 visitors compared to the 88,000 seats filled on the very quiet Friday.
A true success for this legendary circuit, whose starting point was actually a decommissioned Royal Air Force airbase that hosted the first race of the Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, and which featured a new look for this 2011 edition, with a new pit lane and a new paddock (the Silverstone Wing), located between the Club and Abbey corners, for the modest sum of 28 million pounds (about 32 million euros).
It didn’t take much more for Richard Phillips, the circuit’s general manager, to be overjoyed: A record crowd, a great race, a fantastic atmosphere, and praise for the Silvestone Wing all contributed to one of the best British Grand Prix in recent memory.
The initial reactions from the fans were exceptional. The drivers and teams have been full of praise for the new stands and the new paddock. These three days have been fantastic, and I must pay tribute to the fans. We had more spectators at Silverstone for Friday’s practice than at most other tracks. At the end of the race, we opened the gates and let the fans enter the circuit to make the most of the podium celebration.
Criticism was nevertheless directed at this arrangement: the pit exits were not visible from the main grandstand, nor were the boxes of the leading teams, whose location at the end of the pit lane prevented spectators from seeing the pit stops during the race. Phillips, in his defense, highlights the significant amount of work required to construct this new paddock while acknowledging some minor logistical issues.
Some observers, like Gaetan Vigneron, commentator on the Belgian TV channel RTBF, nonetheless regret the impersonal and cold aspect of this new version of the circuit, whose facilities resemble what is found in exotic countries. The public, however, still turned up.
