LONDON: Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle believed that staging two Grand Prix races this season will help lure a new round of fans into Formula One.
“On the one hand of course you want your sport to dominate the back pages and sometimes the front,” Pringle told BBC Radio.
“But equally for the fans that attend the grand prix, we have had some absolutely fantastic afternoons when we have gone over to the main stage and watched the football or the cricket final.”
The circuit will play host to races on August 2 and August 9 as part of a revised F1 calendar following the coronavirus outbreak.
Last month F1 had rescheduled races — two races (Australia, Monaco) have been cancelled, seven (Bahrain, China, Vietnam, Netherlands, Spain, Azerbaijan, Canada) have been postponed and the later rounds, starting with the French Grand Prix on June 28, are in doubt.
No Premier League matches are scheduled for those dates and unlike last year, when the British Grand Prix was up against England’s Cricket World Cup final triumph at Lord’s and the men’s singles final at Wimbledon, this year’s race may not face the same competition from rival sports events.
Some of the marquee sports fixtures won’t take place in 2020 because of COVID-19.
“Making an afternoon of sport is an amazing live event with being able to flick the giant screens over,” he added. “But I do think that by being top of the bill this summer, hopefully we may introduce some people.”
Formula One will finally get underway with the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5, the Austrian government announced on Saturday.
The Spielberg circuit has also been given the green light to stage a second race the following weekend.
