Formula for success
What : Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix Where : Silverstone When : 14-18 July Photo : Jakob Ebrey
With 140,000 people on site per day , and 356,000 individuals visiting Silverstone over the three-anda-half days , the British Grand Prix was a landmark event in many ways .
Not only did the grand prix have by far the largest audience of any event involved in the Government ’ s Events Research Programme ( ERP ), it saw the largest gathering of people in England since the first Covid-19 lockdown .
Taking place on the eve of the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in England on 19 July , the event drew a crowd of 120,000 to see Lewis Hamilton win after a crash with rival Max Verstappen . Meanwhile , a mammoth team of 20,000 events staff and Formula 1 officials made sure there were no major incidents off the track .
Silverstone Circuits MD Stuart Pringle says that , without ERP involvement , the event would have been impossible to stage . “ Under stage three of the Government ’ s reopening roadmap , the maximum capacity for a stadium of our size was 10,000 people ,” he says . “ That ’ s the best we could have run to and that would have been financially ruinous for us . We pay Formula 1 to bring the show to town and we sell tickets to cover that bill – 10,000 tickets would not have got close to covering the cost .”
He says that the behaviour of the audience was exemplary throughout but among the biggest challenges of organising an event of that scale during a pandemic was communication .
“ The audience was brilliant , incredibly compliant and desperate to do the right thing , but when you are dealing with a third of a million different people over three-and-a-half days it ’ s very challenging – you can write clear instructions but there ’ s always someone who ’ s got an additional question or it doesn ’ t quite work for them or they just want clarification . That makes it extremely difficult because , with the best will in the world , we simply don ’ t have enough people in our organisation to answer everybody on an individual basis ,” he adds .
Other challenges involved the introduction of e-tickets for the first time and managing the additional entry requirement of attendees needing to show proof of having had two vaccinations or a negative Covid-19 test result .
In order to meet the many additional challenges , the Wi-Fi infrastructure was enhanced and new suppliers were engaged , including event safety specialist Halo Solutions .
For Pringle , the most satisfying thing was delivering a safe and successful event for Silverstone ’ s loyal customers . “ It was a combination of relief and deep joy having people back ,” he says . “ We didn ’ t have a single paying spectator at a motorsport event in 2020 , so it had been a very , very long time .”
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