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Sell-out crowd gives Silverstone send-off

Mon 22 Jun, 09:25 PM


After most of the spectators in Turkey two weeks ago were disguised as empty seats, the atmosphere for what was potentially Silverstone's last ever British Grand Prix was electric.

Not even 20,000 showed up for the Istanbul race; 100,000 fewer than the sell-out Sunday crowd at the self-proclaimed 'home of British motor racing'.

Just as impressively, 105,000 flipped the turnstiles for qualifying, and even 85,000 were trackside for Friday's routine practice sessions.

On race-day, F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone told any reporter who would listen to him that, if Donington is not ready to take over next year, Silverstone is very much on standby.

Williams' Patrick Head said the 78-year-old's comments went some way to healing the ‘lack of respect’ displayed to the Northamptonshire venue in recent years.

Sebastian Vettel was also delighted to have joined the likes of Schumacher, Prost, Senna, Mansell and Lauda by winning the prestigious event.

"The atmosphere was great," the self proclaimed Anglophile said. “This is what I was dreaming of when I saw the first Grand Prix here in Silverstone in the era of Mansell and so on, so it is kind of unreal now to think I am here and I have made it.”

 

Comment 1 - 14 of 14

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  1. If no one showed up, Bernie would try to keep it on­ the schedule next year since that is the way they do­ things. A$$ BACKWARDS!!

    From Smokey T, on Tue 23 Jun 9:42PM

  2. Like many venies in Motorsport, Silverstone has­ History, however I stopped attending in 2006 after 29­ years on and off. The reason being the Corporate­ entertainment had taken prefrence to any normal paying­ guest, in 2006 I was invited by Shell, I shared my time­ with people who didnt know the front from the back of­ the car, all they wanted to do is drink. Any normal­ paying fan would have been delighted with the­ surroundings and access, I came to the conculson that­ Lemans is the only place paying fans, at under 60 euro­ for the week, you are able to be involved with racing­ at the top level, a bit like Silverstone 30 years ago.

    From IAN T, on Tue 23 Jun 10:20AM

  3. Israel. Have you anything positive to contribute?

    From Rick Moth, on Tue 23 Jun 9:03AM

  4. Silverstone has different teams based there.Its called­ industry.

    From Rick Moth, on Tue 23 Jun 7:33AM

  5. MC A you realy show how little the FOTA fan babies know­ about F1.
    ITS NOT BERNIE WHO WAS TAKING FERRARI TO­ COURT
    now please piss off and go learn something about­ F1 before you post again
    As at this time you just show­ yourself and all real F1 fans up

    From Demo, on Tue 23 Jun 3:30AM

  6. I'm with Sky: keep Silverstone; sack Ecclestone!!

    From sallympat, on Tue 23 Jun 3:01AM

  7. ## - NEWS~FLASH - ##

    BERNIE & MAX / ­ have had a big bust up !!!!

    MAX Refused to­ sleep in the (wet-spot) ??

    glory glory to­ silverstone - GGTS

    From MC A, on Tue 23 Jun 12:11AM

  8. COMMENT no 5# - Spot on !!!!

    The Rich ­ ARABS - will not - be messed about - unlike GB­ - canada etc etc

    IF " BERNIE" Thinks ­ he could " sue " SOME RICH PEOPLE -­ AND GET RICHER ­ "

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~­ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    THE QUESTION NOW IS ­ - IS BERNIE & MAX BIGGER THAN F1 ­ ???????

    i think bernie and his balls - max / ­ have realised something recently

    From MC A, on Tue 23 Jun 12:07AM

  9. Well done to all the fans who attended Silverstone you­ filled the place more than can be said for the Turkish­ Grand Prix they only managed to fill 10,000 seats.­ Bernie you have constantly called Silverstone down but­ in truth it will probably turn out to be one of the­ best attended races this year doubt you will get the­ same from your nice new venues that not many fans seem­ to attend as mgbrit says they are dreary and­ boring.Bernie maybe its time to listen what the fans­ the drivers and the teams want not how much is in it­ for you isnt being a billionaire enough.

    From stewart.howe1, on Tue 23 Jun 12:03AM

  10. Congratulations to the all the fans that were at­ Silverstone for the race weekend. You certainly made­ Max and Bernie look stupid. If it wasn't for the­ greed of Bernie there would be more races in Europe and­ North America. But the Far East and Middle East have­ filled his wallet so he has taken Formula 1 where­ virtually no one cares about it. Well done Bernie. ­ And you wonder why people don't like how you do­ business? That's okay...when either FOTA starts a­ new series or you and Max resign and the series stays­ with the FIA and FOM the racing will return to where­ the fans really are.

    From gegaard, on Mon 22 Jun 11:42PM

  11. I think we should cancel Ecclestone and keep­ Silverstone!

    From sky, on Mon 22 Jun 10:05PM

  12. mgbrit, I second your comments.

    From sky, on Mon 22 Jun 10:05PM

  13. " SILVERSTONE " was a Great ­ "advert" for - (F1)

    105 THOUSAND - more­ like 200 THOUSAND

    well - we only paid for 5 and got 8­ people in !!!!! ooopss

    anyone else sneak in ???­

    BERNIE - now knows that he must save the HOME­ of F1

    From MC A, on Mon 22 Jun 10:04PM

  14. The crowds love Silverstone.
    The drivers like driving­ Silverstone
    The teams like Silverstone.
    The TV viewers­ like Silverstone.

    Remind me again - why no respect for­ Silverstone from Ecclestone? Shouldn't we be­ canceling the bland and dreary races and encourage­ those that show the sport in its best light?

    From GeoffreyM, on Mon 22 Jun 9:54PM
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