Silverstone fighting F1/FIA over week-long British Grand Prix festival

Sam Hall
Friday 13 January 2023 08:43 - Updated: 08:43

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle has revealed an ongoing battle to expand the British Grand Prix to a week-long F1 festival.

The introduction of the sprint weekend format in 2021 at certain events has resulted in a shake-up of F1's regular schedule.

On-track action, however, still remains limited to just Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a situation Pringle would like to change.

Speaking at Autosport International, Pringle said: "We're looking to extend the weekend.

"I'm working hard on Formula 1. I believe they need to change the format of the weekend.

"They say that it's the FIA and they've got to do the systems tests and so on.

"But do them a day earlier. Let's get some stuff on track on Thursday. There are a lot of people that want to come and see things and three days isn't really enough.

"So, let's make it this big part of a week-long festival.

"People do turn up at Silverstone on a Tuesday, put the tent up and that's it, they're in."

Silverstone often sees fans pack the grandstands on Thursday evening as Sky Sports hosts a broadcast live from the grid featuring all 20 drivers.

Highlighting the increasing popularity of the British event which is nearing a sell-out for this year, Pringle added: "There are a handful of tickets left but they are the more fully-priced ones.

"But it was incredibly popular. It's a very nice problem to have that they are now seeing so quickly.

"There seems to be a huge realisation amongst all of us since Covid that when we stopped going to things, we had time to think about how much we missed experiencing the things that we love to do.

"That, coupled with greater popularity than ever before with Formula 1, meant that tickets effectively sold out within a week."