The social media riposte was immediate. Following the publication of an article on the Autosport website, where Silverstone boss Stuart Pringle intimated to journalist Jonathan Noble that the success of Max Verstappen and Red Bull was a driving factor in reduced ticket sales for the 2024 event, the public British public responded.

Ticket prices!
Ticket prices!
Ticket prices!

Responses across Social Media to the article from British fans are a deluge of quotes such as these X replies to the original article: “you hiked ticket prices up an extortionate amount,” “It’s the pricing model that particularly bites after 14 years of austerity,” “Absolutely nothing to do with the racing and everything to do with the INSANE price of tickets.”

The rising cost of hosting a Grand Prix combined with the growing demand for tickets in the new USA market is understandable given the popularity explosion that has occurred in the country. The matured UK market, at an event which is unusual in F1 in that it is not backed by the Government, a local authority or an invested enterprise, naturally finds itself having to cover the costs itself. That means that the fans have to collectively cough up a hefty amount to satisfy the lining of the pockets of F1 owner Liberty Media – but when with a month until the race a General Admission ticket is £349 per person (or £175 for those under the age of 11) is the face value for entry, there is still an air of astonishment at the cost.

A long-held belief, and an argument, from UK racing fans is that it is cheaper to attend a full season of BTCC racing than it is to attend the British Grand Prix, and on ticket prices alone that is the case. Taking a family friend as an example – two adults, two children aged 14 and 12 – the simple figures for tickets were this:

British Grand Prix: 4x GA three day tickets at £349 = £1,396

BTCC: 2x adult, 1x teen, 1 x under 13 GA tickets for all 10 rounds = £1,178

(For balance and reference a three day GA ticket for the same people for Moto GP would be £345.)

In theory that makes a full season of BTCC cheaper than a standalone British GP weekend, but of course there are other factors including travel, accommodation and food. Admittedly the quick calculations are not entirely fair. Early Bird ticket prices were available for the Grand Prix, and all of the BTCC ticket prices included in this article are advanced prices, but BTCC advanced prices run up to a couple of days prior to an event, and to put things into perspective, part of the (backfiring) PR reason for the interview was to get the rest of those tickets flogged pretty sharpish. In comparison today, a Thursday, you can buy a weekend ticket for this Saturday and Sunday for the Oulton Park round of the BTCC on the MSV website at advanced sales prices, which is common practice for venues the championship visits.

The extras are the difference, however. Silverstone for the BGP is one weekend, and for many it’s two nights away, and I’m making some assumptions here in that it is hotel stays and not camping. My totals that I came to are partially influenced by my own experiences working as a BTCC journalist/photographer, versus what is available right now for Silverstone. I came to the conclusion that a full season of BTCC racing for the mentioned example family would cost £2 more than going to the British Grand Prix, and that is partially because I found a hotel for the BGP at an absurdly low price that probably skews the result (hint, if you’re after a BGP hotel for Friday and Saturday night there is one Milton Keynes Premier Inn offering £85 for a family room for those dates – but it’ll go soon, and it’s around £80 cheaper than others further away!)

Speaking of accommodation, for the 2023 BTCC season I stayed at eight hotels (all Premier Inn) to cover BTCC at an average £50 per night booked well in advance. For two circuits (Croft and Knockhill) I returned home each night as the petrol cost was far lower than a hotel room (and one is only a 40-minute drive away.) That racked up a total of £400 in accommodation costs, and they were family rooms. Add that to free parking and you’re banging out a cost of £1,578. (See figure below for round-by-round BTCC ticket prices.) This works out at £2 more than the British GP cost.

As mentioned earlier the General Admission cost at the British GP is £349 for anyone aged over 11 (according to the current purchase options from the Silverstone website.) The discount for children does not apply for grandstand seats with the cheapest there being £549, meaning a whopping £2,198 for the family of four (BTCC grandstand seats are paid optional extras.) But for this article, it’s cheapo GA all the way, standing on the grass come rain or shine, so we have that £1,369 ticket price and, luckily, that £85 Premier Inn room, but there’s F1 parking too. £95 for your three days (unless you pay park and ride,) compared to free at the BTCC rounds (some tracks have charges for parking inside the track with the ability to watch from your car, otherwise external parking is free.) That brings us up to £1,576. A couple of quid short of a season of BTCC.

Yes, it is a subjective way at looking at costs. For instance, you would be laying out travel to 10 events for the BTCC. For most people in the UK there is a track or two within driving distance to make a Saturday night at home a reality, cutting some hotel costs, and there is food. For the British GP there are strong restrictions on what you can bring into the circuit in terms of amounts with your 20 litre bag or empty cart – and meagre four cans of beer – meaning you can only bring so much food and drink. No matter whether its F1or BTCC the food and drink prices are horrendous, but these rules only apply to one BTCC round – Silverstone – and I’ve seen very mixed experiences on whether it is enforced at the venue for Tin Top meetings (if you been to Silverstone over the last two years for BTCC, you’ll have seen fans voting with their feet – last year I was able to walk out of the media centre, to the car and drive straight out, those two hour delays are long gone it seems,) Otherwise bring what you want. It’s not unusual to see a family bedded down for a day cooking a ‘Full English’ at the Touring Cars, or folk with a little more than the four beer can restriction feeling ‘reasonably happy!’

Of course, the quality argument is subjective. The BTCC is NOT F1. The two categories are vastly different, and a large part of the Silverstone crowd will walk away from the Grand Prix with the intention of watching Wimbledon, Euro 2024, London NFL games and other high value ticket sporting events either in person or on TV. They will have no intention of following the BTCC (although, if that part of the crowd were to attend the right BTCC event there is the possibility that the very different experience would be one they’d like to repeat.) F1 is an ‘event.’ It is more than just a race weekend for many attendees, it’s the highlight of the year, but not all. There are many who are left unimpressed by the ‘Festival Engineering’ and limited scope of musical entertainment tacked onto a very parse racing timetable, but that worldwide tag plays its part in drawing in that crowd alongside the diehard F1 fan.

Value for money is also something that is subjective. At the end of the day the GA ticket holder at Silverstone is there for the F1 race. Not the hob-nobbing, music, F2, F3 and Porsche Supercup, they are there to watch (this year) Verstappen vs Norris, Hamilton’s Merc farewell, the magic of Ferrari and the like, everything else is an add-on, and the same can be said for the BTCC. The argument for getting multiple rounds of F4, PCCGB and Mini Racing is of no interest to much the hordes who line up for Sutton Vs Ingram Vs Turkington Vs Hill. F1 is an ‘event’ once a year with a weekend to soak up, which is reflected in the BTCC in direct comparison drawing a much larger crowd on a Sunday for the three BTCC races (yes, there is a hardcore who invest in the supports,) which brings another costing of the top level of national racing, there is a section of fans who only hit the track on race day, which across a season cuts almost in half a full year of BTCC attendance.

The initial headlines and responses about the reasons for a lack of sell-out does rankle with fans, they rightfully feel that the excuses are a slap in the face, especially the dynamic pricing model which is repeatedly defended. In the Autosport article Pringle stated that the Grand Prix used to have a system where the first 10,000 tickets, or purchasing before a set date would entitle the customer to a discounted price. He justifies the dynamic pricing as being the modern equivalent which is laborious tosh.

As part of an academic study in the year that Silverstone introduced the practice, I personally entered a ticket at around 10am on the day of release to the general public, the option to buy appeared at around 7pm as the ticket had sat in a queue all day, and when the option to buy appeared it had raised the price by around 15%. That is a very, very different model to setting a price and saying after X date it will raise to Y price. At best it is a disingenuous twist that takes advantage of passion and love for a sport, and insults those dedicated fans with the means to add an extra £80-£200 in that moment. It is indefensible without a doubt. The argument that it prevents touting and price gouging by third parties is a very poor excuse, because even with the best of wills it is not successful. Touting is still a standard part of any major event.

In terms of BTCC costs the Silverstone round is actually the best price for the example family in BTCC terms. £100 will get you both days for the four members (but likely not the free entry pre-race test day which is open to the public for most other rounds,) but again Silverstone is building a reputation among BTCC fans on social media as being an awkward event to attend thanks to ticketing difficulties, dissatisfaction with gate personnel and venue stewarding, along with the restrictions on bringing food, and limited viewing compared to other venues (although grandstand seating is free.) Across the last couple of seasons the BTCC rounds at Silverstone have appeared to the naked eye to be considerably lower than in pre-covid times (last season I walked from the media cantre to my car and was shocked I could drive straight out – it usually takes 90 mins!) compared to other rounds of the championship where places like Knockhill, Thruxton and Oulton Park (70,000 tickets already sold for this weekend) are still packed.

Silverstone has a legendary status in Formula One. Fans know it is a valuable asset to the championship and understand that to cover the costs that it is not going to be a cheap weekend away. Even with price complaints fans have still flocked to purchase tickets at a rate that some international F1 races can only dream of, and they are pushing for a probable sellout (a good showing from Norris/Hamilton/Russell at the Spanish GP or the upcoming Austrian GP will likely force that,) but to make statements that imply that the quality of racing rather than the price factor is the major indictor for having not yet sold out the event is simply an insult to F1 fans.

Silverstone is a fantastic venue. As much as it’s great to have a variety of tracks across the country at different levels that host the BTCC, in terms of greasing the wheels the championship benefits from the association. From conversations with drivers hunting for budget, the chance of hospitality for possible partners at Silverstone pricks ears more than the equivalent at other tracks. Even during a recent commercial meeting, I heard one company owner in his sixties raise his eyes with surprise that Brands Hatch is still a place, and that racing still goes on there, which adds to the importance of Silverstone getting F1 right. No matter how the staunchest of dug in BTCC fan likes to play it, the track is central British motor racing (even though every championship organiser constantly complains about track hire fees.) The association makes it easier to sell the rest of the sport. But Silverstone has to take a more authentic relationship with fans from the start about F1 pricing. The fans are not foolish.

Right then, time to get my cameras and bags packed for Oulton Park this weekend, and while I’m there I’ll be dipping into coverage of the Spanish GP, which, incidentally, is not cheaper to attend in GA (including travel that Silverstone for a British fan.)