Category: Motorsports

Silverstone will sell tickets on the gate for this weekend’s British Grand Prix for the first time in nine years. The Formula 1 venue is normally sold out at this stage, but managing director Richard Phillips is still predicting a good attendance.

"It’s true that not all tickets have yet been sold, but Silverstone will nevertheless be playing host this weekend to the third biggest crowd in British Grand Prix history, with about 300,000 expected over the three days and pushing 130,000 on Sunday.

"Those numbers are testament to the British fans, whose enthusiasm and commitment was demonstrated all too clearly last year when, despite the warnings after heavy rain led to waterlogged car parks and horrendous traffic jams, 90,000 still turned up to watch qualifying."

Silverstone’s three-day attendance record is 315,000 – set in 2011. "Ticket sales were slower than usual during the initial sales period, but we have seen a significant upturn since F1 returned to Europe," said Phillips. Sales have increased in the run-up to Sunday’s race and Phillips is still expecting a large attendance. "While we don’t expect to reach the record attendance levels of 2011 and 2012, we are anticipating another big crowd here at Silverstone this weekend," added Phillips.

"A promising forecast for the weekend, has prompted us to put measures in place to sell tickets to fans deciding to turn up on the day. "This weekend’s attendance looks set to be one of our biggest in recent years." A spokeswoman added that they expect about 5% of tickets to be available on the gate on the Sunday.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

McLaren are reportedly preparing to make offers to Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton worth a combined total of £100m in order to retain their current driver line-up until at least 2017.

According to The Times, McLaren view the pair as a ‘dream team’ combination and are set to offer Button a five-year extension to his current deal, which expires at the end of 2012, and remain committed to keeping Hamilton ‘for the foreseeable future’.

Whilst the financial outlay required to keep both Hamilton and Button is vast, McLaren calculate that the pair provide good value for their big money – and not just in terms of race wins.

“The pair are also a marketing man’s dream team, crucial to McLaren, with more than 30 sponsors paying out on deals running into tens of millions of pounds, who love the handsome, articulate and glamorous drivers,” the newspaper reports.