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Formula 1 says it is having “very productive discussions” with the UK government over British Grand Prix fan attendance, after a report the Silverstone race has been approved to take place with a capacity crowd.
F1 has worked to reintroduce spectators at grands prix since late last year but the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has prevented it from fully opening up grandstands again.
The vaccination programme in the UK has encouraged the country to trial more and more sporting events with spectators, including England and Scotland hosting matches as part of football’s Euro 2020 tournament.
That is being done as part of the ‘Events Research Programme’ that has been holding so-called pilots since April that have not only been limited to sports.
According to British newspaper The Telegraph, F1’s British GP – which is scheduled to run the day before the UK’s remaining lockdown restrictions are lifted on July 19 – has been approved to join the list of pilot events in the near future with greater capacities.
It claims Silverstone, which is a huge open-air site that can host 70,000 people in grandstands and tens of thousands more around the circuit, will be permitted to operate at full capacity.
Other events like The Open and Open Championship golf tournaments and Wimbledon singles’ tennis finals are also part of the next phase of trials.
F1 said in a statement issued in response to the story: “We are having very productive discussions with the government on being part of the research programme and hope to be able to communicate the final position to ticket holders very soon.”
Silverstone recently said it was optimistic that a delay in the government lifting the remaining lockdown measures, from June 21, would not prevent fans attending the race.
Last year, circuit boss Stuart Pringle said he was not interested in the idea of hosting the race at a significantly reduced capacity, placing its break-even point somewhere between 60% and 90% full.
Silverstone hosted two behind-closed-doors races in 2020 to help get the F1 season up and running after a three-month suspension because of the onset of the pandemic.
This year’s British GP is due to host the debut of the sprint race format F1 is trialling.
It is a new format in which qualifying takes place on Friday and sets the order for a 100km race on Saturday that then determines the grid for Sunday’s grand prix.
