MOTORSPORT
F1’s coming home
A full crowd will return to the British Grand Prix this weekend to cheer on the three lions Hamilton, Norris and Russell. Damien Smith finds out how it will work
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Behind Lewis Hamilton’s seven British GP wins, Jim Clark and Alain Prost are tied on five, followed by Nigel Mansell on four, then Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher on three.
“ I can’t tell you how relieved I am,” says Stuart Pringle, the boss of Silverstone who has worked so hard to ensure that a full-capacity crowd of 140,000 willbe backinthe grandstands and on the banks this weekend to cheer on Sir Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, George Russell and therestatthe British Grand Prix.
“Getting the crowds back was not the work of a moment and was finely balanced throughout,” says Pringle from his office overlooking the National Straight. “Silverstone without the fans is just soul-destroying.” The experience last year, when Silverstone hosted two behind-closeddoors grands prix on consecutive weekends, due to the pandemic, taught him that. “It was great for our profile, but if you go to all the effort of running a grand prixand nobody can come in and watch, it’s a pointless exercise,” says Pringle. “In fact, it became knownhereasthe ‘penis’: pointless exercise not involving spectators…”
It’s going to be quite an occasion after a year that none of us will ever forget. Live crowds returning to watch sport in recent weeks, be it snooker, football, tennis, cricket or motorsport, has been heartening – but there has been nothing near the scale of whatwewillsee at the British GP.