British Grand Prix to take place behind closed doors
The owners of the Silverstone racetrack have confirmed the British Grand Prix would take place behind closed doors if it can be run.
The event is scheduled to be held on July 19th. When originally planned, it was due to be the 12th round of the 2020 F1 World Championship, though so far, the opening 10 rounds have been either postponed or cancelled.
The announcement that Silverstone would not welcome fans for the event was rumoured for a few weeks, but was officially confirmed by the circuit’s boss Stuart Pringle in an open letter released yesterday (27/04).
Pringle’s statement read, “We are unable to stage this year’s British Grand Prix in front of the fans at Silverstone.
“We have left this difficult decision for as long as possible, but it is abundantly clear given the current conditions in the country and the Government requirements in place now and for the foreseeable future, that a Grand Prix under normal conditions is just not going to be possible.
“We have consistently said that should we find ourselves in this position we will support Formula 1 as they seek to find alternative ways to enable F1 racing to take place this year.
“Following this weekend’s news from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, we are now working with them on the viability of an event behind closed doors.”
Silverstone had originally said it was hoping to attract a record crowd to the 2020 event after ticket sales in February had been reported to be ahead of their equivalents for the 2019 race.
Some rumours have suggested a second race could take place at Silverstone one week after the originally scheduled British Grand Prix on July 19th, although this has not officially been confirmed.
It was announced yesterday that Formula 1 intends to have its delayed start on July 5th in Austria, with a race at the Red Bull Ring to take place behind closed doors. The French Grand Prix the week before is the latest race to have been removed from the schedule, with the event at Paul Ricard cancelled outright.