Hamilton wary of Silverstone full crowd

LONDON • Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton said yesterday Formula One could be moving too fast with the decision to allow a capacity crowd at his home British Grand Prix next month.

The sport announced earlier that hundreds of thousands of fans could attend the July 16-18 event at Silverstone, with some 140,000 on race Sunday.

That would be the biggest crowd at a sporting event since the Covid-19 pandemic triggered a national lockdown in March last year.

The last pre-pandemic race held at the circuit with spectators in 2019 saw a three-day attendance of 351,000 and 141,000 on Sunday. The circuit hosted two races last year, both without a crowd.

"I'm kind of split," Mercedes driver Hamilton told reporters ahead of this week's Steiermark Grand Prix at Austria's Red Bull Ring. "I can't tell you how excited I am to see people and the British crowd, because it is the best crowd of the whole year. Obviously I watch the news so I hear about the cases going up massively in the UK and so on that side I worry for people, naturally."

The Briton said he did not want to turn the announcement into a negative but "it feels a bit premature to me".

Informed that everyone attending would have to be vaccinated, or test negative for the virus, Hamilton, said that was a good thing but it did not change his opinion.

His compatriots Lando Norris of McLaren and Williams' George Russell were more effusive.

"I'm very, very happy. Delighted in fact," said Norris.

"We missed it a lot last year. It's been nice slowly having more and more through this season already here and there."

Some 15,000 are expected for this weekend's race, with many more to be allowed at the following weekend's Austrian Grand Prix at the same circuit. Some 15,000 also attended last weekend's French Grand Prix.

The British Grand Prix will be the first to try out a new format, with qualifying on Friday and then a sprint race on Saturday to determine the grid for Sunday's race.

Points will be also awarded to the top three finishers on Saturday.

REUTERS

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