‘F1 festival’ secures Silverstone’s Grand Prix future — at a price

In the days when Bernie Ecclestone ruled Formula One, Silverstone’s place on the calendar was far from secure.

F1’s former supremo would periodically threaten to move the British Grand Prix from the 3.6 mile Northamptonshire track, which hosted the first F1 race in 1950 and remains one of the fastest on the calendar.

Even after Liberty Media’s $8bn acquisition of F1 in 2017, the relationship remained rocky. Silverstone, which is owned by the non-profit British Racing Drivers’ Club, at one point threatened to walk away as a host due to “inadequate profitability”.

But, in spite of this turbulent history, Silverstone has now cemented its F1 status having agreed a deal earlier this year that will see it host the event until 2034. This long-term contract follows the transformation of what used to be a traditional motor race into a four-day festival with live music acts and 60,000 campers on site at the former RAF airfield.

The cumulative attendance over race weekend totalled 400,000 in 2022, climbing to a record-breaking 480,000 last year as fans flocked back to live events in the wake of the pandemic.

However, ticket prices have been rising and, this year, Silverstone’s festival comes in a congested summer of music and sport, featuring Glastonbury, Euro 2024, Wimbledon and the Olympics.

Still, the scale of the event is such that the crowd on race day far exceeds the 90,000 who cram into Wembley Stadium to watch English football teams play the country’s favourite sport. “We’re not selling 90 minutes of action . . . you can genuinely be [enjoying the event] between 6am and 1am the following morning”, says Silverstone boss Stuart Pringle. “You seldom get a duff race at Silverstone . . . often it’s right up there in the races of the year.”

This turnaround is no mean feat given that Liberty Media has expanded to glamorous locations such as Miami and Las Vegas. New races in Saudi Arabia and Qatar generate significant promoter fees for F1, piling further pressure on classic tracks such as Silverstone, Monaco, and Monza to keep up.

Silverstone, though, seems to have benefited from the sport’s booming popularity under US ownership. Netflix’s Drive to Survive F1 series introduced the sport to new demographics, including more women and girls. Pringle credits the show with “overcoming one of motorsport’s inherent challenges”: revealing the personalities hidden by helmets.

And Liberty’s efforts to diversify the wider F1 audience have also helped attract a new demographic to Silverstone. In parallel, Pringle has diversified the track’s business to lessen reliance on the Grand Prix, which typically accounts for more than half of revenues, which totalled £73mn in 2022. He is targeting revenue from merchandising, conferences and events. For instance, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched his Conservative party election manifesto at the track, in June.

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High fixed costs are a significant burden on the business, but profits have increased since the pandemic, according to the most recent accounts.

Concerns have been expressed from within the sport, however, over the cost of attending this year’s race. Seven-time world champion Sir Lewis Hamilton urged Silverstone to ensure that families could still afford to be there.

“The only thing I would ever say is that we have to watch ticket prices,” Hamilton said in the build-up. “I think they’re continuing to rise and [with] the cost of living nowadays, I think it’s too high.”

When tickets went on sale, general admission on the Sunday was priced at £199, or £249 for the main three days of the event. Three days in the grandstand was £359.

Pringle stresses that Silverstone offers a range of price points. “Ultimately, the tickets are not cheap [but] they’re great value. It is not something that every single member of British society can afford to come to but a lot of people can — and a lot of people are choosing to do so.”

Silverstone expects total attendance to hit 465,000 over all four days, a decrease on 2023. On social media, fans have complained about the rising costs.

Pringle’s aim is to put on an event that keeps fans happy even if the race does not end with the result they want. Home favourite Lando Norris could be the crowd’s best hope of a perfect day. Spice will be added by the controversy at last weekend’s Austrian GP, where Norris did not finish after aggressive defence by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

But, if Verstappen dominates, Pringle has other headline acts in store. The event will feature rock band Kings of Leon, rapper Stormzy, drum and bass group Rudimental and singer Self Esteem. Top music acts are “absolutely a way to reduce the risk of a Max domination”, Pringle says, despite the cost of booking high-profile performers in addition to paying fees to F1 for the event.

And, even if Verstappen does seal victory for the second year running, this time the home crowd can head to an after-party run by Mahiki — a club better known for hosting celebrities in Mayfair. 

“It’s eye-watering and sleep-disturbing but, actually, the risk for me sits around just relying on a motor race and just hoping that the Brits will come through and that you don’t get successive wet [rainy] years,” Pringle says. “It’s slightly counterintuitive because it costs you more and the volumes of people that you’ve got to get in are significant.”

Longtime attendees have noticed the change. Silverstone used to be synonymous with muddy fields, traffic and bad parking, recalls one, who declined to be named. “You wouldn’t want to pay 600 quid or take your family there if that’s what you were going to have,” she says.

The refreshments have expanded, too, and now include “everything from oysters and champagne to a burger to a traditional fish and chips, Mexican, Chinese, curry, Asian — you name it,” says Stephen Freeman, chief executive of Freemans Event Partners.

With younger crowds, Freeman says lager is making way for “experience drinks and Instagram-type drinks”, such as prosecco, champagne, cocktails and gin and tonics. But, he notes, burgers are “still the most popular product by far”.

Pringle is particularly conscious of the need for Silverstone to welcome that new generation of F1 fans. Female fans made up 41 per cent of attendees at last year’s Grand Prix, he says.

“If you’d told me even as recently as five years ago, let alone 10 years ago, that the audience would be nearly 50:50 male-female split at the British Grand Prix or at a motor race in Great Britain, I’d have thought you were on mind-bending drugs,” Pringle says.

“White middle class, middle England-dwelling men like me used to be the mainstay of motorsport events but that isn’t the case now,” he adds. “If it was the case I wouldn’t be spending the money we are on Stormzy . . . because he ain’t that demographic’s cup of tea.

“Our event is a very, very realistic cross-section of British society, it absolutely represents modern Britain. I’m incredibly proud of the fact we’ve achieved that, and you know there’s more to do.”