Silverstone says it has agreement to hold two F1 races this year

2020 F1 season

15th May 2020, 15:3516th May 2020, 23:45 | Written by Keith Collantine

Silverstone says it has reached an agreement in principle with Formula 1 to hold two rounds of the championship this year.

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The races are expected to follow the opening two rounds which are due to take place at Austria’s Red Bull Ring.

“Silverstone and Formula 1 have reached an agreement in principle to host two races behind closed doors this summer,” said the circuit’s managing director in a statement released on social media.

“These races will be subject to government approval, as or priority is the safety of all involved and strict compliance with Covid-19 regulations.”

The British government said earlier this week it may allow “sporting events to take place behind closed-doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact” from June 1st. The British Grand Prix was originally scheduled to take place on July 19th, two weeks after the Austrian Grand Prix.

“I would like to thank all our fans who have been so supportive throughout this and to assure them we are determined to do all we can to help Formula 1 put on a show this summer,” Pringle added.

As spectators will not be able to attend the races, Silverstone has previously announced fans who purchased tickets for this year’s race will be entitled to refunds.

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
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45 comments on “Silverstone says it has agreement to hold two F1 races this year”

Jere (@jerejj)
15th May 2020, 15:39
There’s still the upcoming required 14-day isolation for people entering the UK to sort out. Unless F1 can get exempted from it, July 26 isn’t possible for the first Silverstone-race, but August 2 at the earliest.
1. ColdFly (@)
  15th May 2020, 16:08
  It was reported a few days ago that F1 is working with the government to get such an exemption, @JereJJ.
  1. hunocsi (@hunocsi)
    15th May 2020, 16:15
    But that’s not just a one time thing for the British GP, the team personnel (and organisers etc) need to return after every race. Getting such an exemption for essentially every week seems like a stretch in this form.
  2. Jere (@jerejj)
    15th May 2020, 16:47
    @coldfly Yes, but I wonder how that’s going to pan out.
    @hunocsi Brings up a valid point, though.
    1. ColdFly (@)
      15th May 2020, 22:23
      Those discussions are about valid for the other races more so than racing at Silverstone. @JereJJ.
      The Silverstone race might actually be more difficult as FOM cannot control the personnel of the ‘foreign’ teams outside of the racing weeks.
2. black (@black)
  15th May 2020, 17:03
  If they get an exemption then no problem.
  If not they can run Austria on Sunday July 5 and the second race on Wednesday July 8 … +14 days isolation = July 22 … and have the first race at Silverstone on Sunday July 26 and then the second one on Wednesday July 29
  And repeat the same procedure for all the upocoming races.
  1. Jere (@jerejj)
    15th May 2020, 18:07
    @black The Wednesday-race option would only be needed ahead of the Silverstone-races, not after them.
    1. black (@black)
      15th May 2020, 18:11
      @jerejj They might need it also for the rest double headers if the other countries require 14 days in isolation. We only heard it for the UK but other countries might request it too given the travel restrictions.
3. jamesluke2488
  17th May 2020, 15:56
  Arent people coming from France exempt? So just send a load of coaches and come via Dover
gumbidave (@gumbidave)
15th May 2020, 15:50
With the confirmation of two GP’s (potentially) to be held at Silverstone this season, would they both be called the ‘British GP’?
Has any country ever had two national GP’s in the same year before? Haven’t a country’s second GP alway been renamed? (e.g. the European GP and Pacific GP)
I know it’s a very minor point and easily overcome with a bit of thought, but could we end up with a British GP and an English GP?
Or could we end up with something a bit more left-field? As Silverstone straddles two counties, could we have the Buckinghamshire GP and Northamptonshire GP?
1. GtisBetter (@)
  15th May 2020, 16:03
  Belgium said it could do the GP at the 30th of August
  1. GtisBetter (@)
    15th May 2020, 16:05
    And I was wondering if they will do two too. But most likely borders are relaxed by then. Would love to see 2 at spa
2. Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
  15th May 2020, 16:16
  Good question – maybe a British Grand Prix and an English Grand Prix?
3. Patrick (@paeschli)
  15th May 2020, 16:24
  I’m expecting at least one European GP. If both Hockenheim and Silverstone get two races, we could have:
  German GP
  European GP
  British GP
  United Kingdom GP
  1. JohnH (@johnrkh)
    16th May 2020, 1:10
    @paeschli We could hold the European GP in Australia after all we are in Eurovision :)
    1. Jamie B
      16th May 2020, 13:44
      @johnrkh You never know, Azerbaijan hosted the European GP and they won/hosted Eurovision (:
4. black (@black)
  15th May 2020, 17:06
  Either they’ll have British GP #1 and British GP #2
  or they’ll have Austrian GP & Spielberg GP, British GP & Silverstone GP, German GP & Hockenheim GP etc…
5. Unicron (@unicron2002)
  15th May 2020, 17:40
  I was thinking that too. 2 at Silverstone could be:
  British GP
  English GP
  2 at Germany:
  German GP
  European GP
  2 at Austria:
  Austrian GP
  Alpine GP?
  1. Jimmi Cynic (@jimmi-cynic)
    15th May 2020, 21:23
    Or…
    British Ghost Racing GP
    Brexit Ghost Racing GP
  2. Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
    16th May 2020, 14:52
    I really like the idea of Alpine Grand Prix, that sounds great.
6. anon
  15th May 2020, 18:39
  @gumbidave I believe that no country has officially held two national Grand Prix that both had championship status within the same year, though the race weekends for the 1967 and 1968 South African Grand Prix did technically occur within the same calendar year.
  The 1967 South African Grand Prix was held on the 2nd January, whilst the 1968 South African Grand Prix was held on the 1st January. The race weekend for the 1968 race did start in the last days of 1967, so technically the practise and qualifying sessions for the 1968 race did occur within the same calendar year as the 1967 race did – but that’s about the closest I can think of.
  1. Asanator (@asanator)
    17th May 2020, 17:48
    I’m just guessing, but perhaps when the Australian go moved from adelaide to Melbourne? Didn’t it go from one of the last to the first?
HUHHII (@huhhii)
15th May 2020, 16:24
It’s one of the worst places to have two races, but I guess we don’t have a choice.
1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
  15th May 2020, 16:44
  Why one of the worst?
2. Jere (@jerejj)
  15th May 2020, 16:46
  @huhhii How? I’d argue the opposite.
  1. HUHHII (@huhhii)
    15th May 2020, 17:41
    @jerejj The track’s flow was ruined in 2010. That slow mickey mouse section at the end and at the start of the lap completely kills it. And while Maggots and Becketts combination is pretty nice it’s highly overrated. I’d argue that Copse, Stowe and old Abbey and Bridge are/were even better parts of the track.
3. djole (@djordjeps)
  16th May 2020, 14:38
  @huhhii
  I hate Silverstone 2, so boring circuit
  I love Monaco, Canada, Suzuka and Hockenhaim
  Also would love to see Magny Cours and Imola back
Duali (@duali)
15th May 2020, 16:28
but will the second one be in reverse?
1. Jere (@jerejj)
  15th May 2020, 16:44
  @duali No. Impossible and not even needed in the first place as no two or more races races are ever the same outcome-wise.
  1. Jere (@jerejj)
    15th May 2020, 16:45
    I didn’t intend to leave the word ‘races’ twice there.
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
16th May 2020, 2:25
With all these rather spurious changes to the calendar just to make a grab at TV revenue, it’ll be interesting how the 2020 championship pans out, and how long it will take for someone to start claiming favouritism for one team or another.
Imagine if it turns out that one particular team turns out to be far and away superior over tight twisty tracks and the calendar is altered to maximise multiple races over those. Same for tracks that have a lot of high speed corners – what if 1 team has a clear advantage on those and only those sorts of tracks are selected for multiple races.
I’ll be seriously disappointed if an individual or a team end up being the WDC/WCC merely because the calendar has been re-engineered to suit them and their characteristics even of it’s “apparently” because of circumstances.
1. Esploratore (@esploratore)
  16th May 2020, 13:23
  I’ll be seriously disappointed if it’s yet again mercedes, but not surprised.
HOLMZINI
16th May 2020, 6:46
Last Grand Prix I was at was Long Beach 1983. So since then everything F1 has come through TV. The current races have become too expensive to attend so I have adapted and only access F1 in the cable system that costs too much period.
So to see a pair of races at the same track is fine with me. How about a morning race and a later in the day race? Same track but dealing with differences in performance of each race car, mainly because differences from the times of day that races are run.
The Team costs surely must be better as you are already there for the second race.
So let’s just get going. The drivers and their teams want to race.
F1 must figure out a way to operate because the old ways are now the gone ways. Shape the whole package to entertain me better. Give me a better race to watch. Prove to fans that we can watch races from home and with all the technology spice up the show, make it better to watch. Use technology to take Formula One to another level. You think Indycars or WEC are something special wait till you see what the new F1 is.
Now is the time.
Raise your game F1.
It’s time.
Niefer (@niefer)
16th May 2020, 7:33
I can only hope it will not be the same course both GPs.
1. Bradders (@bradders)
  16th May 2020, 14:13
  There’s no alternative at Silverstone. Both the International and National circuits are too short for F1, and both of those use the old pits complex on the National Pit Straight.
anon
16th May 2020, 8:55
Paul Ricard has an airstrip next door. That would be a logical choice. Plus have sprinklers. One dry, one wet race.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
16th May 2020, 14:50
Would be quite an irony if the second Silverstone Grand Prix got called European Grand Prix.
1. Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
  16th May 2020, 14:56
  By the way, is there any possibility that the second race would be held on the old layout?
  1. anon
    16th May 2020, 21:36
    @pironitheprovocateur considering that they have built a permanent grandstand on top of part of the old track, that’s not really possible.
    1. sato113 (@sato113)
      26th May 2020, 16:37
      I don’t think they have built on the old layout! look, bridge is as it were:
      https://earth.google.com/web/search/Silverstone+Circuit,+Towcester,+UK/@52.07293209,-1.01831495,153.15355121a,951.53288598d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CigiJgokCXlPyBoRpjZAEXVPyBoRpjbAGdl3RrOXEDzAIcaoisfmpWDA
2. neil
  17th May 2020, 12:22
  Europe != EU
jlb
16th May 2020, 15:24
Old layout is not FIA Grade 1.
1. jlb
  16th May 2020, 15:26
  In response to @pironitheprovocateur post.
Yaru (@yaru)
16th May 2020, 22:48
Last year we were worried that Silverstone might not be on the calendar……….and this year we got two races there!
[Of course, we also lost a lot.of not her races for this year :(]
The limit
17th May 2020, 0:11
Plenty of parking for those allowed to attend, and short lines at the burger van. Damn it Covid 19.