Silverstone Lacks Its Own Silver Lining

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Tuesday 8th July 2008

Pete Gill was allowed a rare weekend out of the office to attend the British GP as a humble punter. He liked what he saw - but only on the track...

Silverstone is an unpretentious, ramshackle sort of place. Windswept, dilapidated, untidy and in urgent need of refurbishment. It is then, in other words, quintessentially British. Which is, I suppose, why Bernie Ecclestone despises the place and why, year after year, rain or shine, it is populated by 100,000 souls happy to tolerate its discomforts and crumbling flaws.

Its charm is that it has none. "What has been put to me by Donington is potentially beautiful," remarked Ecclestone on Friday as he announced the rejection of Northampton's most famous location. Silverstone, by contrast, will never be beautiful. There is nothing attractive about the place - even the countryside does not seem inclined to roll. The unremittingly gloomy skies that enveloped the circuit throughout the weekend were a fitting backdrop to Ecclestone and cast Silverstone in a particularly grey pallor. The silver lining for Silverstone may have been that the rain inspired Lewis Hamilton's unforgettable victory, yet looking around at the crumbling walkways and ancient, uncovered grandstands it was all too easy to imagine that even the sun could not make Silverstone shine.

Not that this was a grim visit. The pleasant surprise of the day was the ease with which it was possible to access and depart the circuit. For the question of 'what time will Pete Gill arrive home from the British GP?' in PF1's pre-season predictions, the answer was 6.47pm, a decent effort considering my frontdoor is 115 miles from the Silverstone gates. Yet the BRDC, the Silverstone owners, can claim little credit for the feat given that the construction of the A43 - the bypass that has apparently conquered the circuit's infamous congestion - was constructed purely from government funds.

The BRDC have pledged investment of their own in the form of �25m circuit upgrades but, in financial terms, that is a mere quarter of the improvements promised by Donington bosses, long overdue and already too late (although it remains to be seen whether the switch to Donington actually occurs, especially as their upgrades are dependent on planning permission being granted). In any case, it is the infrastructure, and not the roads, which has prompted Bernie's rejection - as indicated by his willingness to sign a deal with Donington despite the circuit boasting no such A43 equivalent and being surrounded by single track rural roads. Regular attendees of the British GP will have noted that with trepidation.

Perched on muddy grass banks and suffering the inclement elements without shelter, the crowd at Silverstone were an impressively stoic lot. But stoicism shouldn't be part of F1. Not in the 21st century and not when the sports claims to be the most technically advanced in the world. Although there is bound to be a perverse element which celebrates Silverstone's eccentric Britishness, the reason fans love Silverstone is because it hosts the British GP. Yet viewed dispassionately it comes up short as a venue for an international event and is as far from being a state-of-the-art facility worthy of hosting a grand prix for 100,000 spectators each paying �150 for the privilege, as it is from still being a World War Two bomber base.

Pete Gill

Were you were in attendance at Silverstone this weekend, we want to hear your views. How did you rate the circuit? Was the traffic the nightmare it is generally depicted? Were the facilities worthy of a grand prix race? Happy with your seat and view?

Let us know at letters@planet-f1.com and if you took any pics of your day(s) out, we'd love to see them...