Is this the end of the British GP ?

The_Abyss · 10 Jul 2017 at 21:07

I imagine that there'll be less incentive to keep engineering bases in the U.K. post-Brexit. Easier to move skilled European staff around on the continent, and race teams too, with freedom of movement.

Nexus · 10 Jul 2017 at 21:18

The_Abyss said:
I imagine that there'll be less incentive to keep engineering bases in the U.K. post-Brexit. Easier to move skilled European staff around on the continent, and race teams too, with freedom of movement.

I wouldn't imagine the teams would up sticks unless there are compelling reasons to do so. Further to that, while Brexit does place a lot of uncertainty on movement, I would imagine the kind of people these kind of companies would look for are likely to be highly skilled people who would presumably pass any likely criteria or points system, should it be implemented.

The_Abyss · 10 Jul 2017 at 22:04

I didn't say they'd up sticks, I said there'd be less incentive to stay.

Blackvault · 11 Jul 2017 at 15:49

It looks like the BDRC have triggered the exit clause.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/british-grand-prix-silverstone-929424/

The_Abyss · 11 Jul 2017 at 15:51

Break clause triggered.

The mooted London grand prix won't be a British Grand Prix replacement - it still needs funding and I'm not sure that even a capital awash with cash will step forward with sufficient sponsorship. Let's not forget, this is a city that decided it couldn't afford to / justify starting the Tour de France last year.

Liberty have to tread a fine line, but I think it is no better than 50/50 on a race being at Silverstone in 2020.

413x · 11 Jul 2017 at 18:29

Meh, not too bothered. As long as it goes to a better track.. But it won't.

Slam62 · 11 Jul 2017 at 18:40

I've been to Silverstone several times over several decades, it costs a fortune and the facilities are terrible. At least in the old days it didn't cost a fortune.
The wing is a big stuff you to the paying public.

Marvin · 11 Jul 2017 at 20:30

Without Silverstone I don't think there can be a British GP as it stands. No other track can host F1 (Brands and Donington are closest, being FIA Grade 2 tracks, but Brands can't be made safe enough and Donington won't want to given their burnt fingers last time), unless they do a city race in London, but, bearing in mind London wouldn't pay to host the Tour de France, I seriously doubt they'll stump up the money for F1.

drunkenmaster · 11 Jul 2017 at 20:30

The_Abyss said:
Break clause triggered.

The mooted London grand prix won't be a British Grand Prix replacement - it still needs funding and I'm not sure that even a capital awash with cash will step forward with sufficient sponsorship. Let's not forget, this is a city that decided it couldn't afford to / justify starting the Tour de France last year.

Liberty have to tread a fine line, but I think it is no better than 50/50 on a race being at Silverstone in 2020.

lol, I'd call it 80/20 chance. Seriously the most likely thing to happen is this is the renegotiating tactic, they think Liberty Media might not be as tough as Bernie and so think they will get a better deal. My guess is they'll do it with pretty much the same fee but negotiate say a 2% per year rise instead of 5% or something along those lines.

Though frankly if Silverstone can't put on a show to cover the cost I see no reason they should have it. There are plenty of good tracks though plenty of crap ones. Personally I'd have exactly zero issue if F1 had a relatively different line up every year. If Silverstone only had the race every two years more people would turn up on those years and they could afford to make it a bigger event due to more income for the given race.

MooMoo444 · 11 Jul 2017 at 20:58

5% accumulator feels kinda greedy. Ramps up way too quickly. I'd understand inflationary rises but that's far above it.

drunkenmaster · 11 Jul 2017 at 22:19

MooMoo444 said:
5% accumulator feels kinda greedy. Ramps up way too quickly. I'd understand inflationary rises but that's far above it.

part of the reason for the rise is how massively less Silverstone actually paid than other races. Some races were at £40mil + while Silverstone started this deal at around 11mil or something and it's not like the contract was forever. The point of the deal was likely, if we're going to cut you slack on the price now, we'll do that only with a 5% yearly increase. This means we have a reason to keep coming back and you have time to develop the race commercially year to year to increase your profit to cover that cost... except Silverstone seemingly hasn't done that.

MissChief · 12 Jul 2017 at 00:15

Silverstone is usually the best attended race every year. 300k people attended over the race weekend last year for example.

The_Abyss · 12 Jul 2017 at 00:17

drunkenmaster said:
part of the reason for the rise is how massively less Silverstone actually paid than other races. Some races were at £40mil + while Silverstone started this deal at around 11mil or something and it's not like the contract was forever. The point of the deal was likely, if we're going to cut you slack on the price now, we'll do that only with a 5% yearly increase. This means we have a reason to keep coming back and you have time to develop the race commercially year to year to increase your profit to cover that cost... except Silverstone seemingly hasn't done that.

Exactly. They might have started lower, but Silverstone is now finding the upper limits of what a constantly over-priced Britain is able to pay, particularly in light of the current economic circumstances. And they've done virtually nothing to improve the fans experience during the race weekend nor bring the facilities up to standard. The stands are poor and the logistics terrible. I paid the same price for Singapore race weekend tickets as I would for Silverstone last year, and walked away from the track to concerts from Bastille and Queen (and Kylie, but she was meh). Silverstone is either poorly managed or just in a position where it cannot compete. Like much of the F1 show, much of what they have to trade on is 'heritage', none of which adds anything to going to a race weekend today or tomorrow.

The_Abyss · 12 Jul 2017 at 00:18

MissChief said:
Silverstone is usually the best attended race every year. 300k people attended over the race weekend last year for example.

Ticket sales for 2017 are below their expectations

MissChief · 12 Jul 2017 at 00:21

The_Abyss said:
Ticket sales for 2017 are below their expectations

Yet it'll still likely be the best attended race of the season. I just hope the race itself lives up to expectations. I'll be there all weekend!

The_Abyss · 12 Jul 2017 at 00:26

It will be, but that doesn't make it profitable. That said, I agree, I hope it is a great race.

vanpeebles · 12 Jul 2017 at 10:56

If I remember right, not too long ago, did they not have the F1 plus the touring cars and bikes all on all the same event? They must have been raking in the coins with shovels.

poosemon · 12 Jul 2017 at 11:03

i would vastly prefer a Silverstone race to a city centre london race. Hope they can sort out a deal. A British GP definitely has its place on the calendar and cant see any other British circuit being able to host without significant investment (no idea where that would come from either), after attending BTCC across the country don't feel that any of the circuits could handle the event.

I attended a few years back for the weekend with a general admission ticket and had a great time. Don't really see what people have a problem with getting a seat on raceday? We managed to get a decent seat at on Copse when we rocked up mid morning (after enjoying the campsite festivities on Saturday evening). Had the weekend to view the rest of the circuit and Friday to sample the grandstands.

In the end its a venue with an attendance of 130k plus, its always going to feel crowded and busy. Facilities wise, i didnt feel Silverstone was worse the Spa, if anything perhaps a bit better?

I personally found getting a place at Silverstone a bit easier then at Spa when I attended, and was nice to be on hard standing flat surface compared to a steep bank.

Compared to when we had general admission at Monaco, Silverstone was a walk in the park!

Admittedly did enjoy the Spa weekend more and thought we had a better view at spa due to topography and being able to see other parts of the circuit from the same spot, as opposed to the flat circuit at Silverstone. But don't agree with most of the bad press it seems to get. Just think the management need to sort themselves out and get some consistency without this permanent contract renogiations etc.

413x · 12 Jul 2017 at 12:07

Imagine how much hassle a British city gp would cause. And we don't need more of those.

I dunno about you guys but I'd I was to go to a gp and I live in UK I'd go to spa!

Quartz · 12 Jul 2017 at 12:31

There are circuits in the UK that could be developed that are situated in far better places than Silverstone. Ingliston, for example, is right next to Edinburgh airport, so transport would not be an issue, and could be expanded and developed to F1 standards. Just needs a few hundred million...