If you were worried about a British Grand Prix at Silverstone, you can sleep easier this evening knowing that the circuit and Formula 1’s owners have agreed to a contract extension for the next five years.
The race will now continue at Silverstone though 2024 and F1 boss Chase Carey said:
“We are really pleased to confirm that the British Grand Prix will stay on the FIA Formula 1 World Championship calendar for at least the next five years, with the event remaining at its longstanding home, Silverstone circuit,” said Carey.
“We have always said that, if it is to have a long-term future, our sport must preserve its historic venues and Silverstone and Great Britain represent the cradle of this sport, its starting point back in 1950. Today, Formula 1 is a global sport, held on five continents, watched by an audience of over 500 million fans around the world and our aim is to grow this number by bringing the sport we love to new countries, while also maintaining its roots: Silverstone and the British Grand Prix are an integral part of that vision.”
In a follow-up article over at Autosport, John Grant – chairman of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, said he understood the desire to have a race in London but that is something they discussed with F1.
“We recognise Formula 1’s desire to have destination city races, and frankly if that brings a new audience to Formula 1 I think that’s in general a good thing,” he said.
“We don’t oppose that intent, we support that intent.
“Of course, we are concerned about the commercial threat to us having a competitor event just on our doorstep, and so we’ve had very frank and open discussions with our friends in Formula 1 about that.
“They understand those concerns and I think it’s fair to say we’ve come up with a modus operandi, a set of arrangements, that protect our interests to our satisfaction should that London event ever actually become a reality.”
No financial details were disclosed but I assume It is less expensive than the contract they terminated via an exit clause.
Glad to see the F1 managed to avoid cutting off their nose to spite their own face this time. Hardball negotiating with the world’s most iconic tracks is just ridiculous. Hopefully it doesn’t lead to disaster sooner or later. The sport would be far poorer if they go too far in the brinkmanship one of these years and find themselves losing a great track like Silverstone, Spa, Suzuka, or Monza.