Internet hosting the British Grand Prix this weekend, Silverstone could be very common with the individuals who matter most in System 1: the drivers.
Constructed round a former Royal Air Power base, the 6km course options many quick turns, offering the thrills sought by these behind the wheel.
“It has the most effective format,” Lewis Hamilton, the English Mercedes driver and eight-time British Grand Prix winner, mentioned of his house race. “It is one that every one drivers sit up for as a result of we’ve got nice races there and you’ve got loopy high-speed corners.”
Silverstone is steeped in System One historical past. When the game started in 1950, the circuit hosted the primary Grand Prix, which was gained by Nino Farina, who went on to win the primary drivers’ title. Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart and Michael Schumacher all gained the British Grands Prix there, though Sir Stirling Moss by no means did.
And whereas the British Grand Prix has been held at different circuits through the years, Silverstone has held all of them since 1987. motorsport.
It is “the one I am most trying ahead to,” mentioned Lando Norris, an English McLaren driver.
However Silverstone’s deal to host the British Grand Prix expires in 2024, and the circuit must make new preparations with the game to proceed internet hosting the race. System 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has mentioned that, with many new nations and cities all in favour of internet hosting races, even circuits with a protracted historical past weren’t assured locations.
The 2 sides are negotiating, however neither desires to say what the talks stand for.
“We cannot know till we get there,” mentioned Stuart Pringle, Silverstone’s managing director.
Silverstone’s place on the System 1 calendar has been in jeopardy earlier than. In 2008, Bernie Ecclestone, head of System 1 on the time, mentioned the race would go away Silverstone. In 2017, the British Racing Drivers’ Membership, the proprietor of the observe, activated the so-called break clause within the internet hosting settlement, stopping the membership from holding the race.
Silverstone felt it ought to threaten to stroll out as a result of the cash was bleeding: £4.8 million in 2016, about $6.5 million at the time, up from £2.8 million in 2015. It was reeling from its earlier contract phrases that required it to pay System 1 more cash annually, in addition to the price of renovating the observe and constructing buildings to modernize Silverstone.
After two years of talks, a brand new deal was struck with System 1 and its new proprietor, Liberty Media, who had changed Ecclestone. The job had used this time to reshape its funds.
Based mostly on its most up-to-date monetary return, Silverstone has made £6.9m in revenue in 2021. Based on Pringle, it’s constantly displaying “black numbers fairly than purple numbers”, sufficient to assist the circuit add an extra 9,000 seats to its grandstands for this 12 months’s race. That is a part of the drivers’ membership’s dedication to reinvesting the circuit’s income.
“The members, the 820 or so drivers or former drivers,” he mentioned, do not take any cash. “They do not get a dividend, they do not get a private monetary profit. They get two passes a 12 months and a few biscuits with espresso within the clubhouse.”
The turnaround in Silverstone’s fortunes stems from the circuit’s efforts to “make a residing for the remaining 51 weeks of the 12 months,” Pringle mentioned.
This consists of holding MotoGP bike races and different racing championships, in addition to attracting guests to a brand new museum and resort. Silverstone can also be promoting 60 railroad-side residences, impressed, Pringle mentioned, by “examples of one thing related in America.”
The observe had additionally been aided by Hamilton’s run to seven world titles, the rising reputation of System 1 generated by the Netflix present “Drive to Survive” and folks’s eagerness to attend dwell occasions once more after years of Covid-19. disturbances.
A report 400,000 folks attended the 2022 British Grand Prix, however Pringle hopes “an extra 50,000 or so” will come this 12 months.
In 2013, the drivers’ membership bought land it owned across the observe, resulting in the event of the Silverstone Park enterprise space adjoining to the observe. The park is house to many motor racing firms, together with the Aston Martin crew. The highway automotive division makes use of Silverstone to check its merchandise. Pringle mentioned the park was in bloom.
System 1 CEO Domenicali introduced many circuits final 12 months, saying “a number of the present grands prix will not be on the calendar.” He mentioned he needed present races to offer extra fan leisure.
Silverstone is working to realize Domenicali’s aim by putting in extra music venues and holding extra fan occasions. Pringle mentioned it was a “imaginative and prescient of sports activities and leisure” that elevated its attraction.
Being a non-public circuit, Silverstone doesn’t obtain authorities funding to pay internet hosting prices to System 1, as many different races do. Silverstone is by itself.
“It is all we have ever recognized,” Pringle mentioned. “And if we’re not working the observe and never racing efficiently, we’re not consuming.”
