SEPTEMBER | FEATURE
Making motoring history
Access talks to GL events and Silverstone
about this year’s blockbuster event
I
n an almost suspiciously impressive
summer for the Brits, The 2019
British Grand Prix (formally known
as the Formula 1 Rolex British Grand
Prix 2019), held on 14 July 2019 at the
Silverstone Circuit was won by Lewis
Hamilton for a record sixth time.
Silverstone Circuits’ Formula 1 Rolex British Grand
Prix 2019 statistics:
• X 340,000 visitors attending across the three days
• X 500 (not including hospitality partners)
hospitality staff working across the three days
• x 22 MK College Hospitality Students assisting
the Silverstone team in the British Racing Drivers
Club hospitality marquee
• x 7,000 bread rolls eaten in hospitality suites
• x 14,000 covers in Silverstone’s hospitality suites
across three days
• x 28,000 cups of coffee served
• x 6,500 bottle of wines drunk across the three
days
• x 11,700 miles driven by F1 drivers across three
days
• x 12 temporary structures constructed for British
Grand Prix
• x 10,000 square metres of carpet laid in hospitality
suites
Silverstone circuit signed a new
five-year deal with Liberty Media days
before the event, which will see the
event hosted there until 2024.
Recent interest from Liberty Media
over holding a race in London had
raised doubt over the likelihood of
Silverstone signing a new deal.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan had
previously stated a London race “should
be possible to organise”, but Silverstone
confirmed the contract win in a press
conference with F1 CEO Chase Carey
on 10 July.
GL events UK has supplied
hospitality suites and supporting event
infrastructure to the British Grand Prix
at Silverstone since 1950.
In recent years, this has involved
more than 20 temporary structures,
spanning more than 17,000sqm.
Key venues created included the
three main hospitality areas, Club
Six and the Drivers’ lounge built for
Silverstone itself.
GL additionally install The British
Racing Drivers Club facilities, creating
two distinct areas of their members,
as well as a wide range of general
admission, catering and bar areas,
administrative and staff welfare
facilities.
Alex Lacey, operations director,
Silverstone Circuits Limited says: “As
you’d expect with such a long-standing
partnership, significant challenges
are extremely rare. Every year, we
enjoy the opportunity to support
the development of premium visitor
experience and, for 2019, our solution
included upgraded venues, re-designed
configurations, and enhanced general
public facilities in a collaboration that
was well received by all involved.”
”Every year we build on the
quality of experience and hospitality
at Silverstone so we can continue
to surpass the expectations of our
spectators.
“To do this, we need strong buy-in
from our partners, and we ask them
to push the levels of quality and
innovation delivered. GL events are no
exception and we’ve enjoyed a long and
fruitful partnership.
“It’s great that we’ve secured an
agreement to keep F1 coming back to
Silverstone until 2024.
“A large part of this is our ability
to create an outstanding experience
for spectators, sponsors, and teams.
It’s something we do exceptionally
well here and we’re looking forward
to pushing things forward again next
year and beyond.”
17