In the round-up: All 142,000 Sunday tickets for the British Grand Prix have sold out in record time, according to reports.
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In brief
British Grand Prix breaks Sunday sell out record
All 142,000 race day tickets for this year’s British Grand Prix have reportedly sold out in record time.The Guardian reported that all Sunday tickets for the July race had been sold, with tickets available for Friday and Saturday also becoming increasingly limited.
“We have experienced unprecedented demand for tickets for the 2022 Formula One British Grand Prix,” Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle said. “We have never reached a position of sellout so early in the year.
“We have increased capacity slightly by adding extra grandstand seats and anticipate our race day crowd to reach 142,000 this year. If sales continue at this pace, we expect to be sold out across all three days.”
New 2022 rules have “overdelivered” on racing promises – Steiner
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says that the new 2022 cars have improved racing in Formula 1 beyond what was originally envisioned.
After three races with the new ground effect cars designed to allow drivers to follow rivals more closely, Steiner believes the revised technical regulations are already been proven effective.
“It seems to be working,” Steiner said. “The cars look interesting, they’re all different – but they can all be competing. At the moment it seems that some cars are better for one race track, some are better for another. I think the new rules have overdelivered.”
Nashville circuit modified ahead of second race
The Nashville Music City Grand Prix street circuit will receive several modifications ahead of the race’s second edition in August.
Among the changes, the apex of turn 11 will be opened to provide better sightlines for drivers, while turn five will be resurfaced in an effort to remove a bump at its apex.
A new restart zone will also be created, moving from the finish line in front of Nissan Stadium to the exit of the bridge.
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Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Yes @1JessicaHawkins, what a drive! 👊 https://t.co/zfTBkwpUnb
— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) April 18, 2022
Happy Easter ☃️#VB77 #Arctic #Finland pic.twitter.com/FwdaZTLfAM
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) April 18, 2022
Shanghai International Covid-19 Cabin Camp! #上海封城 #f1 pic.twitter.com/wdRXFho9QC
— QIAN Jun (@ChinaF1Journo) April 18, 2022
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
Motor racing links of interest:
George Russell remaining cautious despite ‘pretty crazy’ second place in F1 standings (Independent)
"Somebody told me that and I didn’t believe them. It’s pretty crazy to think but this is a championship based on results and not necessarily based on pace.”"
Button targeting Le Mans return (Racer)
"I would like to do Le Mans again. To just be part of the race, whether it’s in GTs – GT3 cars are going to be there the year after next – so there’s many possibilities in Le Mans in the future."
Las Vegas’ F1 race is 19 months away, but interest is already at 200 mph (Nevada Independent)
"Those are real numbers, and on top of that, you have a global viewership pushing 100 million. The energy in the town is going to be incredible, which is really exciting and great for the market."
"Friends of the late legendary IndyCar broadcaster Bob Jenkins are raising money to honor the Liberty, Indiana native, who died in August from brain cancer. The mural will be on a two-story building in Jenkins’ hometown."
GB3 round 2: Oulton Park (GB3 via YouTube)
GB3 round 3: Oulton Park (GB3 via YouTube)
GB4 round 5: Oulton Park (GB4 via YouTube)
GB4 round 6: Oulton Park (GB4 via YouTube)
French F4 round 3: Nogaro (French F4 via YouTube)
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Comment of the day
This weekend’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix marks the first sprint race weekend of the season. But while many are less than thrilled by the prospect, @davidhunter13 thinks sprint weekend have something to offer Formula 1 beyond the 100km Saturday race itself…
Unpopular opinion here but after that Hamilton charge in the Brazil sprint I can see the appeal.
I do agree that it’s a bit of a farce with the naming of it all. If I attended a race I’d be quite happy for it to be a Sprit race weekend, feels like there’s more worthwhile action to watch. It’s nice seeing cars go round in practice but is it really that thrilling? Also the reduction of practice sessions means more chance of some upsets as drivers might not be able to hone their car to quite the same level so the race(s) are potentially a bit more interesting.
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Jiten, Lenny, The Comedian 39, The_Pope and Tommo N7!
Bradders (@bradders)
19th April 2022, 0:47
@willwood – some editing is needed here: “title, excerpt.”
Will Wood (@willwood)
19th April 2022, 0:50
Thank you!
Coventry Climax
19th April 2022, 1:01
So why wasn’t Silverstone’s saturday the first day to be sold out then? I thought I heard the FIA and Liberty say that sprints were an overwhelming succes?
On COTD: “It’s nice seeing cars go round in practice but is it really that thrilling?”
Psst, let me tell you a secret: It was never meant for a practice session to be thrilling, it’s just practice, you know. For thrilling, that’s what the race is for, the real thing, the Grand Prix, remember those? Only even the FIA themselves forgot, in their quest for money, and managed to take the thrill out of most sundays too.
But they’ve come up with new rules for the cars this year, so all the crappy gimmicks will go overboard now, and we’ll return to real racing, and on a sunday only.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
19th April 2022, 5:11
Perhaps it’s because Silverstone isn’t a sprint weekend?
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
19th April 2022, 6:18
@mashiat – You could have been a little more discreet mate. You know..
“Psst, let me tell you a secret… because it’s not a sprint weekend”
PeterG
19th April 2022, 1:24
I didn’t really find Hamilton coming from the back in the brazil sprint to be all that interesting as nobody really bothered racing him and that along with the fresh engine & the drs made things very dull to watch from a racing standpoint.
We weren’t seeing any good fights, any side by side competitive wheel to wheel racing or hard fought overtaking done by late braking.
Stat wise it may show a lot of changes of position but in reality there wasn’t really any good racing as it was just a series of boring and forgettable push of a button highway passing.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
19th April 2022, 6:18
I agree. I think this is an illustration of the different philosophies at play when it comes to overtaking/close racing in general.
For some people Hamilton’s drive in Brazil was really exciting because he made lots of overtakes. For others, the ease and inevitability of those overtakes (given his car advantage and the fact that no one was really racing him) meant that they were not that interesting.
It’s the same reason we still have DRS – you get more overtaking than you would without it, even if most of those overtakes are inevitable from the moment the trailing car gets within one second. Some people find that entertaining. Others, not so much.
“Quantity over quality” is probably the succinct way of putting it, and Liberty have firmly placed themselves into the quantity camp.
frood19 (@frood19)
19th April 2022, 6:28
@red-andy good point. With DRS, F1 is going for Quantity Street – you get 9000 chocolates in the tin but they’re all dreadful.
My idea for the sprint race is that they all do it in ford fiestas or something like that. There would be no risk to the race cars/engines and it would be incredibly fun.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
19th April 2022, 10:12
As much as (Sky’s) commentary hyped it up, it was a pretty boring overtaking affair brought on by a significant pace advantage. And it pretty much negated a legitimate penalty at that, so that was double whammy as far as I was concerned. So far, all sprints have really done a number on negating or easing the pain of penalties, while not really adding anything interesting over a regular qualifying.
I guess we’re stuck with it, but for me, the sooner it’s gone, the better.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
19th April 2022, 9:38
on COTD @davidhunter13 that wasn’t a consequence of the sprint race format, rather a post-qualy penalty (or DSQ in this case). It’d have meant an exciting race in a normal race weekend format anyway… Maybe Lewis wouldn’t have won so easily, but the excitement of seeing a driver carve through the field would’ve been the same.
If you analyse sprint races for what they offer, the only benefits to the racing were: a) free choice of tyre compounds (something that’s been fixed in normal events this year), and b) reduced activity that could throw surprises, which can easily be adapted to normal weekends too.
That being said, I agree as an spectator at the track, sprint races weekends are a lot more appealing.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
19th April 2022, 10:45
I would be interested to see a breakdown of ticket sale percentages to different countries.
I’m expecting an absolute ocean of orange clad Max fans and quite a few of the Tifosi may consider the trip to be worth while this season.
Jere (@jerejj)
19th April 2022, 15:51
I share Steiner’s view to an extent, but waiting until more races get done is better.
The SIC images are slightly weird.
While COTD makes a valid point, Hamilton’s comeback wasn’t entirely down to the Sprint format.