Unlike previous sell-outs, tickets for the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone are still available to purchase with just two weeks to go.
The recent dominance of Red Bull in Formula 1 has been held accountable for Silverstone’s inability to sell out tickets for the British Grand Prix.
With F1 enjoying a post-Covid boom, the Northamptonshire circuit has seen record crowds in recent years. While last year’s race weekend saw a record-breaking 480,000 attendees, tickets for 2022 sold out quickly.
This year, however, there are still tickets available two weeks prior to the start of the race weekend. Additionally, it’s predicted that attendance may drop by 10,000–15,000 from the British Grand Prix of the previous year.
This is partially due to the fact that in an effort to enhance the fan experience, the organizers purposefully released a slightly smaller number of tickets. But Silverstone hasn’t sold out, just like other Formula One venues this year.
Managing director Stuart Pringle, in an interview with Motorsport.com, attributed the decline in demand for Silverstone race tickets to Red Bull’s dominance of the sport over the past few years and the consequent absence of British race winners during that period.
“Historically, we’ve always had to promote until the very end, but there was unquestionably a noticeable bounce after Covid,” he stated. That wasn’t exclusive to Formula 1 or motorsport. It was evident in other sporting and entertainment events, in fact.
However, it does lessen the tension if there is a good chance that the same winner will emerge and sport is no longer in jeopardy. The same team dominated most of last year, and they started this season in the same way.
“Things might be shifting right now, and I acknowledge that for a few years a British driver dominated the championship—something that we as British promoters didn’t mind too much! But with Red Bull in the lead, it’s undoubtedly been much more difficult.”
Pringle acknowledges that some fans may have been turned off by the recent large increase in British Grand Prix ticket prices. However, he maintains that the increases were required to make sure F1’s yearly return to Silverstone continues to be a profitable venture.
“As a promoter, you have to have the right ticket pricing strategy,” he continued. If you lower the price, you could expedite these processes. However, we have significant expenses to cover, even after deducting the promoter fee, so we need to focus on executing a well-thought-out plan and making sure it sticks.
