F1 News: Silverstone Revving Up for a Bigger and Better British Grand Prix: Week-Long Festival in the Works

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle is "working hard" to expand the event.

Stuart Pringle, managing director of the Silverstone track, is "working hard" on Formula 1 to try and extend the British Grand Prix from the three-day weekend to a week long event.

During a recent interview with Autosport, Pringle explained that the introduction of the sprint races hasn't changed up the race weekends too much and he wants to bring more of a difference in with the British Grand Prix. The managing director wants to create a F1 festival, which would be a bit more in line with the events surrounding the new Miami and Las Vegas Grand Prix, as well as the Mexican GP, just longer.

Pringle explained:

"We're looking to extend the weekend. I'm working hard on Formula 1. I believe they need to change the format of the weekend.

"They say that it's the FIA and they've got to do the systems tests and so on. But do them a day earlier. Let's get some stuff on track on Thursday. There are a lot of people that want to come and see things and three days isn't really enough.

"So, let's make it this big part of a week-long festival. People do turn up at Silverstone on a Tuesday, put the tent up and that's it, they're in."

The event has almost sold out for this year, despite the increasing ticket prices. Pringle continued:

"There are a handful of tickets left but they are the more fully-priced ones. But it was incredibly popular. It's a very nice problem to have that they are now seeing so quickly.

"There seems to be a huge realisation amongst all of us since Covid that when we stopped going to things, we had time to think about how much we missed experiencing the things that we love to do.

"That, coupled with greater popularity than ever before with Formula 1, meant that tickets effectively sold out within a week."

Silverstone hosted the first Grand Prix back in 1950 so has a huge place in the history of the sport, but it would be interesting to see if the FIA and F1 would go for a week-long event, and if it would be popular for fans.