Silverstone will hold the last race in 2019 if Liberty Media fails to strike another deal with BRDC before that. While it will be unfortunate to see Silverstone go off the calendar, but it raises another exciting prospect of a race on the streets of London.
Is that a possibility? Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes so. “Silverstone is the home of British motorsport, it’s a great track,” he said.
“Access to the circuit now is extremely good, and the amount of British fans that are coming to see the British Grand Prix, I think we’ve got another sell-out crowd this weekend. I think it appears that the BRDC and Liberty are now working closer together and are talking more positively about engagement with the fans and what they can do to put on a better activation with Formula 1.
“I think there’s a desire within Liberty to see a street race in London, and in an ideal world we’d be fortunate enough to have both — to retain the British Grand Prix at Silverstone and to have a street race in London. But obviously competition on the calendar is extreme, it’s difficult to see two British Grands Prix.
“I think from a historical and personal point of view, Silverstone is the natural home of the British Grand Prix. I think it would be great to complement it with another race even if it wasn’t a permanent fixture on the calendar.
“To have a one-off race in London would be phenomenal. But Formula 1 is going through changing times and as I say lessons are being learned. There’s so much competition for places on the calendar now that Silverstone is now starting to move with the times.”
Replying to a question if a race in London will be a reality, Christian Horner replied in affirmative, he said, “I think with Liberty I think it is because, as we’ve seen with their discussions with Miami, they are potentially looking at different kinds of models and markets.
“Why not have a race in London one year, a race in Paris another year. You could come up with some great venues. Taking Formula 1 to the people as well, it’s proved to be extremely popular and some of the best races we’ve had on the calendar are street races. I think something like that if the economics worked on it for Liberty, would be fantastic.”
A street race in London is certainly an exciting prospect. Do you want to see British Grand Prix at Silverstone or on the streets of London?
Wow, the day before the British GP, the final race before the summer break, and crickets here.
The summer break starts after the Hungarian GP, not the British GP.
Still still
With three races in three weeks that might be expected
I don’t see why you want a F1 street race in London, it will be difficult to find a good round that is wide enough for the current cars, hard to organize, and costly. The city already has enough tourists and they do not need F1. Racing in a city can work, for Formula E it works quite well, but not for all classes.