Silverstone GP director Richard Phillips hails record crowd, great race and fantastic atmosphere
Silverstone Grand Prix managing director Richard Phillips has hailed the 2011 British Grand Prix as one of the best races in terms of visitors and the thrill it brought.
A record number of spectators saw the race live from the grand stands and the Silverstone track made a record of the 2011 Formula 1 season in terms of spectators showing up for the event.
A crowd of 122,000 people was present on the race day which was much more than the crowds seen in the previous eight races of the season. Also, a record number of people saw the practice sessions and the qualifiers although rain interrupted the proceedings
over the weekend.
Phillips was jubilant about the business that Silverstone did on the race weekend and stated, “Record crowds, a great race, a fantastic atmosphere and significant praise for the Silverstone Wing, all contributed to one of the best British Grand Prix in recent
memory. It's been a fantastic three days and I have to pay tribute to the fans. We had more spectators at Silverstone for practice on Friday than most circuits get on race day.”
Coming from the 2010 season where not a lot of overtaking was seen, Formula 1 officials decided to add some new parts to the car to aid overtaking which the spectators come to watch.
Although not a lot of overtaking was seen on the track and for the fact that the pit lane entrance and exit were just below the spectators’ line of sight, still such a huge number coming to see the proceedings is in itself a huge success for Formula 1.
Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari’s pits were set away from the grand stands which was the only criticism for the Silverstone’s staff.
Defending this, Phillips stated, “A huge amount of hard work has gone into getting the Wing ready for this event. It's been a phenomenal effort from the team here at Silverstone. We've had one or two teething problems, and we'll continue to look at areas
that can be improved.”
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