The first venue to host an F1 race in 1950, is seeing the Covid-19 pandemic as an opportunity to better it’s finances.
The historic Northampton racecourse has suggested in the past year that it may need to forfeit F1 racing due to the exorbitant fee charged by the sports commercial rights owners.
Come Covid-19, come an opportunity for Silverstone’s MD, Stuart Pringle. Given the current lockdown, Pringle appears to be offering a way to get Grand Prix racing back on track.
“We are willing to work with them in any way, shape or form that they think is in the best interest of the championship,” he told Sky Sports.
“The majority of the teams are within a stone’s throw of the circuit, so operationally, it would be pretty straightforward. We have the infrastructure and the team members can go to their own homes and sleep there. If that’s how we can help them, we’d be happy to do that,” Pringle offered.
He suggested the circuit could offer more than one race too, with the second race weekend seeing the cars run anit-clockwise around the track.
“It’s not a crazy thought. We’re not licensed to run the other way, but these are extraordinary times, and I guess that extraordinary decisions are being made. Nothing’s off the table, but equally, let’s see what the next four weeks look like,” Pringle suggested.
From a circuit about to bail form F1, it appears Covid-19 offers the opportunity for Silverstone to double up on their cash flow.
In reality, Canada and the British GP should probably cancel their 2020 events as of now. The momentum they need to sell tickets will be severely restricted by the current lockdown.
Further, will people really want to be spending several hundred pounds on going to a motor race, when we now face an unprecedented economic crash. A crash which may take a generation to repay current government Covid-19 spending.
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The F1 commercial rights holders are taking a pounding as race by race in 2021 falls by the Covid-19 wayside. This has seen Liberty Media’s share price hammered and so naturally they are now keen to reduce their single biggest annual expense. This is the money paid to….. READ MORE ON THIS STORY
