Silverstone confirms four days of track action at British GP

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Organisers of the 2017 British Grand Prix at Silverstone have unveiled an extra-long four-day programme of events.

Normally a Grand Prix is held over a three-day period. But this year the circuit has added an extra day of track action, with gates opening at 2pm on Thursday, July 13.

Fans coming to Silverstone on the day will get to see Formula 2 and GP3 Series practice. They will also have access to the F1 Fan Zone which is open throughout the weekend. The Sky F1 Show will be broadcast live from International Pits Straight.

Scottish rock band Travis will hold a concert in the evening. Silverstone is following the example of the Circuit of the Americas, where a performance from Taylor Swift went down a storm with fans in 2016. This year COTA has lined up Justin Timberlake to entertain the crowd.

Moving the support race practice sessions to Thursday helps ease what had become a crowded race weekend schedule. As well as F1 practice, Friday will see qualifying for Formula 2 and GP3. There will also be Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup practice and the Renault 40th Anniversary Parade.

Saturday will include Supercup qualifying and the first races of the weekend for Formula 2 and GP3, as well as Formula 1 final practice and qualifying. There will also be a Williams 40th anniversary parade in the evening and performances from The Hoosiers, Reef and The Severs.

Sunday July 14 will see Supercup, Formula 2 and GP3 races and an air display from the Red Arrows. The British Grand Prix gets underway at 1pm.

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Opening the circuit an extra day will more importantly help Silverstone make more money from staging this year's Grand Prix. Day tickets are priced from £40 for adults, much less than any of the weekend's other sessions.

Fans who have already bought weekend tickets will also get Thursday track access, but not to the Travis concert in the evening.

Silverstone is struggling with the financial burden of holding the Formula 1 race. Despite being a sell-out thanks to Lewis Hamilton's popularity, they have been unable to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of hosting the Grand Prix. The British government has declined to support the event financially, unlike the case in other countries around the world.

Silverstone was initially paying £12 million at the start of its current contract with Formula 1. However an annual escalator fee will see that more than double by 2026 when the contract is set to expire.

Race promoters say that is unsustainable, and warn they will have to exercise a break clause to terminate the contract early in 2019. With no other credible venues to hold the race in the UK, that would mean the British Grand Prix dropping off the F1 calendar in 2020.

The race has been on the schedule every year since Formula 1 began in 1950. The very first F1 Grand Prix was held at Silverstone.

The sport's new commercial manager Sean Bratches has ruled out renegotiating Silverstone's current contract. However, he did say he wanted to work with the circuit's management to ensure the British GP continues.

"Silverstone plays an obvious role in the history of this sport," he said earlier this month. "Our objective is to create an environment which makes a strong business case for everyone.

"It's early in the game, we're working closely with them and we're hoping for a long partnership with our friends at Silverstone."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.