Lewis Hamilton tells Silverstone to ‘watch ticket prices’ as Red Bull theory weakens

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in action at last year’s British Grand Prix..

Lewis Hamilton has said the one thing British Grand Prix organisers need to keep in mind is ticket prices getting “hugely expensive”, particularly for those travelling to Silverstone as part of a family.

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle recently said that the handful of tickets left for this year’s race were partially due to the one-driver, one-team dominance of Red Bull removing “jeopardy” from the racing, but Hamilton also pointed to the pricing of the tickets behind that.

Lewis Hamilton: Silverstone has to ‘watch’ ticket prices

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Pringle’s comments drew criticism on social media in particular, with fans pointing to ticket prices as their reason behind not heading to Silverstone so readily this season – with the UK currently experiencing well-publicised issues with the cost of living.

While up to 470,000 people are still expected to attend over the course of the weekend, a huge number by any metric, this is a slight decrease on the 488,000 crowd of recent years – with a deliberate decrease in capacity to ease traffic and slower ticket sales attributed to this.

Hamilton, the record eight-time winner of the British Grand Prix who has the pit straight at Silverstone named in his honour, hopes to see “better accessibility” for fans who are looking to buy a ticket, with general admission tickets starting at £349 for a weekend for adults and £175 for children under 11.

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“I mean, it’s an incredible event,” Hamilton told media including PlanetF1.com in Barcelona.

“If you take it from a bird’s eye view, the whole event is…all the space is used up. So many fans come and have a great weekend.

“The only thing I would ever say is that we have to watch ticket prices. I think they’re continuing to rise and the cost of living nowadays, I think it’s too high.

“I’m just thinking from the perspective of a fan that would come with a family. It’s hugely expensive, so I think it’s looking into ways where you can make better accessibility for people.”

When asked about the subject himself, Max Verstappen denied the slowdown in ticket sales this year had anything to do with him, instead pointing the finger back at British Grand Prix promoters for not selling tickets as quickly this season.

“I don’t think it’s my fault. I mean, the F1 season is very exciting,” Verstappen said.

“There are a lot of teams fighting for wins now and if a promoter can’t fill the seats, and they blame it on someone, then I think they first have to look at themselves and what they’re doing wrong. Because other places are quite easy to fill.”

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