F1 talks up Silverstone's ‘forever' future before Starmer meeting
The Italian told reporters he could not imagine a championship without Britain, home to seven of the 10 teams, but there was also no chance of the country having more than one race.
"I do believe Silverstone has the right characteristics to stay forever in the calendar," said Domenicali, who will visit Downing Street in London on Wednesday with drivers and team bosses to meet Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
"There's no other place where you can develop such a huge event in the UK. I don't see any other places."
Silverstone hosted the first world championship race in 1950 and has a contract until 2034. Last year it hosted the biggest crowd of any event on the calendar with 480,000 spectators.
Miami and Austria's Red Bull Ring have the longest deals, running to 2041, and Domenicali saw no reason why Silverstone could not join them, though the circuit management had yet to seek an extension.
The meeting at Downing Street is billed as an informal celebration of the 75th anniversary of the first F1 championship race at Silverstone, but is also a chance to raise issues the sport wants addressed.
Domenicali said he would highlight how much the "F1 ecosystem" contributes to Britain as the beating heart of a global sport, and the risk of losing that primacy due to restrictions on staff and movement.
Formula One figures calculate the sport brings £12bn (R290,826,680,000) annually to the UK economy with 6,000 people directly employed and a further 41,000 working in a supply chain of 4,500 companies.
The Italian said visa issues post-Brexit had affected the deployment of staff from race to race around Europe, while costly and time-consuming paperwork had complicated logistics and made it harder to draw up the race calendar.
"It is impossible to think in the short term that the teams will move out from the UK because of the limitation, but the teams will maybe organise themselves in a different way," he warned.
"What we are asking is not to change the decision your country has taken, because it's not our mandate and our role, but to facilitate things that are having a burden on the economical side.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
43 minutes ago
- TimesLIVE
Alpine appoint Nielsen to run F1 team day-to-day
Renault-owned Alpine appointed former sporting director Steve Nielsen on Friday to handle the day-to-day running of the Formula One team after the departure of principal Oliver Oakes. The Enstone-based team, effectively run by executive adviser and former principal Flavio Briatore who will continue to have overall charge, said Nielsen would start work as MD on September 1. Nielsen has most recently been working for Liberty Media-owned Formula One, after a brief period as sporting director at the governing FIA. He was also sporting director when Renault won championships in 2005 and 2006 under Briatore. Alpine, last in the constructors' championship but switching to Mercedes engines next year, also appointed Kris Midgley as head of aerodynamic development. Midgley previously worked at Ferrari as principal aerodynamicist and is also returning to the Enstone factory after a stint from 2007 to 2013. Oakes, the team's fifth boss in four turbulent seasons, resigned in May for personal reasons after being appointed in July last year.
The Herald
2 hours ago
- The Herald
Hamilton aims to break podium drought at Silverstone
Until now Hamilton has always raced here with British teams, first McLaren and then Mercedes. 'I don't know what to expect this weekend,' he said. 'Thursday is the same as always, it's the least enjoyable day of the week and this always is the case. You just want to be in the car. I can't wait for Friday. 'I'm sure driving on track for the first time in a red car in Silverstone is going to be unique and special in its own way. 'We have the best fans here at the British Grand Prix and for a British driver they make a difference. I've shown that to you time and time again. I hope this weekend they can make a difference for us as well.' James Vowles, the Williams team boss who previously worked with Hamilton at Mercedes, had no doubt the Briton could win on Sunday. 'He's special at Silverstone, he reacts well to local crowds and how the atmosphere is around him. Short answer: yes,' he told Reuters.
TimesLIVE
3 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Russell confident he'll stay at Mercedes despite Verstappen rumours
George Russell believes he'll remain with Mercedes in 2026, even as his boss Toto Wolff continues to leave open the possibility of pursuing Max Verstappen. Russell claimed last week his own contract negotiations are being held up by Mercedes' interest in Verstappen, the four-time defending Formula One champion for Red Bull. In comments to Sky Sports, Wolff denied there being a delay in Russell's negotiation while declaring it was his responsibility to weigh 'what a four-time world champion is going to do in the future'. Russell met reporters on Thursday in his native England before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit, where he said the chances are 'exceptionally low' that he isn't driving for Mercedes next year. 'I've been focused on my side, I am loyal to Mercedes,' Russell said. 'So everything will work itself out.' Russell is fourth in the driver championship race after a victory at the Canadian Grand Prix with a fifth-place showing last week in Austria. The 27-year-old came up through Mercedes' junior programme in 2017 and has driven for their F1 team full-time since 2022. His contract is due to expire at season's end, and there has been speculation that Mercedes could replace him with Verstappen while keeping its other driver, highly-touted 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli. 'Every team has two seats available and it's normal that every team is considering what the future holds,' Russell said. 'I don't take that personally, because I made it clear from the beginning I'm happy to be teammates with anybody. Of course there's conversations and rumours, it's been pointed towards me, but from my side that isn't going to be the case. 'I want to continue with Mercedes into the future. Toto has never let me down, has always given me his word, and he's also got to do what's right for his team, which includes me and the thousands of people who work for Mercedes.' Wolff's word, of late, has been concentrated on Verstappen and defending his interest in the Dutch superstar, saying it's 'only normal' to have conversations with drivers of his calibre. 'You make it sound like we have been asking [Verstappen], 'When do you want to join and what are the terms?' That's not how it is and how it works,' Wolff told a reporter on Wednesday. 'I want to just have the conversations behind closed doors, not town halls. And we have two drivers that have been in our programme since a long time, drivers I'm perfectly happy to have, drivers that will do great in the future of the team. So it's a bit different, the situation.'
