F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Silverstone boss fears for British GP amid wave of protests

X (Twitter)X (Twitter)
FacebookFacebook
WhatsappWhatsapp

The boss of Silverstone is concerned that this summer's British GP could once again be targeted by political protestors, as waves of direct action sweep high-profile events in the UK and around the world.

Six environmental activists succeeded in breaching track security at the start of last year's race and even made it onto the Wellington Straight, although by then the race had already been red flagged due to an unrelated accident.

Three of those involved were subsequently handed suspended prison sentences, while the others received community orders and orders to complete unpaid work as punishments.

Guanyu Zhou (CHN) Alfa Romeo F1 Team C42; George Russell (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1 W13; and Alexander Albon (THA) Williams Racing FW44 crashed at the start of the race.
03.07.2022. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 10, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Race Day.
- www.xpbimages.com, EMail: requests@xpbimages.com © Copyright: Batchelor / XPB Images

More recently, there was a security breach at the Australian GP. Protestors managed to delay the start of last week's Grand National, while a demonstrator disrupted the World Snooker Championship by throwing orange powder on the table.

With more protests hitting Saturday's Scottish Grand National, there have been fears that further action could be directed against today's London Marathon and May's coronation procession for King Charles III.

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle said that such high-profile sporting and open air events such as the upcoming Open golf championship and the British GP are also firmly in the protestors' sights over the summer.

"Obviously there are lessons to be learned," he told Motorsport.com, reflecting in last year's disturbance. "We've done a massive internal review post-last year. We're working closely with the police again."

"Both our fencing and crowd stewards are significantly different to Australia. We have been way more advanced," he insisted, adding that he and his team were determined to "make sure people's fun is not spoilt again".

"We know that people have tried to cable tie themselves to goals in football games," he continued, referring to another action taken by protestors in March at a Premier League match between Everton and Newcastle United.

"Sports venues as a whole are relatively speaking softish targets with quite a high reward for the risk that the individuals are taking on. It's just something we have to deal with as sports promoters.

"They're only doing it because there's a hundred million people watching around the world," he said. "It's people knowing there's lots of eyeballs on sports. Where else can you do it?"

Silverstone has had to deal with more benign track invasions in the past, including 1987 when crowds surged onto the track to celebrate Nigel Mansell's win despite cars still travelling back to pit lane at speed.

"Frankly, since '87 and people hopping over the fence to embrace Nige, we've been pretty on that," Pringle stated.

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Leclerc rues Ferrari’s qualifying fade: ‘We lost the pace’

Ferrari’s promising start to the 2025 Australian Grand Prix weekend crumbled in qualifying, leaving Charles…

43 mins ago

Verstappen ‘quite surprised’ to reach top three in qualifying

Max Verstappen says he defied his own expectations in Saturday’s Australian Grand Prix qualifying after…

2 hours ago

Bearman admits ‘clumsiness from my side’ as Aussie agony grows

Oliver Bearman’s Australian Grand Prix weekend has unraveled into a nightmare, with a string of…

3 hours ago

McLaren drivers lock out front row in Australian GP qualifying

Lando Norris spearheaded a McLaren domination in qualifying for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix, clinching…

4 hours ago

2024 Australian Grand Prix - Qualifying results

Full results from qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, round 1 of…

4 hours ago

New era, new gear: Hamilton’s Ferrari wheel has fans buzzing

Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari debut might just be the most talked-about thing in Formula 1 since…

5 hours ago