- Circuit previously expected 1/3 of fans to return
- Last season’s race recorded weekend attendance over 400k
- Every attended British GP has topped F1 fan satisfaction survey since 2018
Silverstone is seeing 89 per cent of British Grand Prix attendees buy tickets again for the Formula One race the following year, organisers have revealed.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle said the circuit previously worked on the assumption that one-third of fans who attended the previous year’s race would return 12 months later.
However, seeing the fan retention rate for the British Grand Prix soar to 89 per cent has reiterated Pringle's belief in the strength of the race. He is also buoyed by the fact that the event has ranked highest for fan satisfaction in a survey held annually since Liberty Media’s Formula One takeover, with the exception of 2020, when the race was forced to run behind closed doors due to the Covid pandemic.
“The circuit has held a great Grand Prix for years and years,” Pringle said. “Perhaps we lacked a bit of self-confidence a few years ago.
“We didn't appreciate quite how good we were, how loyal our fanbase was, how ingrained it was in our sporting culture in this country. But we have objectively recognised it.
“Helped by Liberty's surveying of the fans, it's given us a great deal of feel-good factor to be told that we're doing a great job and see it coming through in our re-booking numbers. Fundamentally, we've got a fantastic core product.”
Between 2014 and 2021, the British Grand Prix recorded weekend attendances between 340,000 and 356,000. Last season, this total hit 401,000.
With Red Bull’s dominance on track, there could be worries around a lack of fan interest for this year’s race, but Pringle is not concerned.
“The only part of the content of the weekend that we control is the things that go on the main stage,” he added. “Everything else, everything on the track, comes as is from Formula One.
“If the championship is a snooze fest because one team is dominating and has done for a number of years, then that's a risk… but we were sold out before the season started.
“[Red Bull’s 100 per cent win record this season] has had no impact. The impact will be in 2024.
“We want the season to come alive. But if the British Grand Prix is a stonker in its own right, then that should give us some security.”
Silverstone had to navigate some controversy earlier in the year after introducing a variable pricing strategy, where the ticket cost was subject to a ‘refresh every 90 seconds’, with demand dictating how much prices increased at each refresh.