Formula One drivers Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have pushed back on claims made by a senior figure at Silverstone that Red Bull’s dominance has hurt British Grand Prix ticket sales.
Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle made a claim in an interview with Autosport that Red Bull’s dominance of Formula One since the 2022 regulation change was one of the factors behind slower tickets to the British Grand Prix, which is due to take place at Silverstone next week.
Hamilton and Verstappen duly responded to this theory in interviews over last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, with both suggesting that higher ticket prices at the track are a likely factor.
Although a bumper crowd is still expected to Silverstone, with Autosport estimating an accumulated crowd of over 450,000 people is expected over the 3 days, several areas of the track are still not sold out, as compared to last year’s event, which sold out months in advance.
Pringle’s remarks in his interview with Autosport also said that there was an element of demand for live events cooling after an initial post-covid rebound, he also suggested a 2023 season where Red Bull won 21 out of 22 grand prix and Verstappen won 19 races was a factor in slow sales.
He said, “Historically we’ve always had to promote up until the end, but definitely there was a discernible bounce post-Covid. That wasn’t unique to motorsport or Formula 1. Indeed, it was seen in other sports and entertainment events.
“But if there is a strong likelihood of the same winner, and the jeopardy is taken out of sport, it does take the edge off it. Last year was very repetitive in terms of one team dominated and they set off this season in the same vein.
“Things may be changing now, and I do recognise that we had several years of a British driver dominating the championship, and we didn’t mind that so much as a British promoter! But it’s certainly been a lot harder with Red Bull dominating.
“Also, as a promoter, you have to get your ticket pricing strategy correct. You could make these things go quicker if you reduce price. But we have got expensive bills to pay, not less the promoter fee, so it’s about hitting a strategy and making sure it works, which we’re pretty comfortable with.”
The remarks were duly put to reigning world champion Verstappen in a press conference ahead of last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, and the Dutchman denied that his form should be blamed as a factor.
In remarks reported by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Verstappen said, “I don’t think it’s my fault.
“This current Formula 1 season is actually very exciting, lately several teams have been competing for victories.
“If then a promoter cannot fill all the seats and blames someone else, it is better that they first look at themselves what they are doing wrong because in other places, I think they manage to fill the stands quite easily.”
His remarks were echoed by 8-time British Grand Prix winner Hamilton, who is preparing for his final British Grand Prix with Mercedes before joining Ferrari for 2025.
Hamilton praised the British Grand Prix as an event but said that the organisers needed to work on ways to make it more affordable for fans.
Some reports have found that ticket prices to the British Grand Prix have increased significantly in the last few years, with 3 day general admission standing tickets priced from £350 as of today (24/06), and 4 day tickets including an additional concert on the Thursday night crossing the £400 mark. For scale, a 3 day general admission ticket to the 2019 British Grand Prix was priced at £180.
Hamilton said, “I mean, it’s an incredible event. 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.”
Last year’s British Grand Prix saw a record attendance for Silverstone, with an accumulated attendance of 480,000 over the three days and race-day crowd of over 150,000 reported by the venue.
The 2024 British Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on Sunday July 7th.
Max Verstappen was the winner of the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona as the Red Bull edged out McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen won from second on the grid to win the Spanish Grand Prix for a third year in a row, and in the process the Dutch driver extended his advantage in both championships.
The victory was Verstappen’s seventh in the ten races so far in 2024, despite Norris’ McLaren taking pole and being the faster car in the latter stages of the race.
As it was, a poor start from Norris saw Verstappen overtake him into turn one, and although George Russell surprised both cars who started on the front row to swipe the lead, Verstappen passed Russell and maintained enough of a gap to take the win.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez finished 8th, with the Mexican scoring points for the first time in three races after failing to finish in the last two rounds.
Victory means that Verstappen retains a comfortable lead in the World Driver’s Championship, with the Dutch driver up to 219 points. He holds a 69 point lead on Norris, who jumped ahead of Charles Leclerc to take second in the standings.
Perez, meanwhile, now has 111 points and sits fifth in the championship. He is 5 points behind Carlos Sainz and 24 points ahead of Oscar Piastri.
In the Constructor’s Championship, Red Bull maintain the advantage with 330 points from the opening ten rounds of the 2024 F1 season. The Milton Keynes-based team are 50 points ahead of Ferrari, who currently sit second.
Verstappen had been narrowly pipped to pole in Saturday’s qualifying session by Norris, and at the start of the race, the two had a duel into turn one. Verstappen had been able to overtake Norris at turn one, but Mercedes driver Russell pulled off a flying move to bypass both cars and take the lead.
Russell would lead for just two laps, however, as Verstappen was able to get past and duly set off building an advantage.
While Verstappen would maintain a net lead after the first round of pit stops, Norris seemed to be the quicker car after the second round of pit stops later on in the race and was able to close the gap down from 9 seconds to around 3.
However, Verstappen had enough tyre life to outlast the McLaren, maintaining a gap of over two seconds to see the job through and win the Spanish Grand Prix for a fourth time.
Meanwhile, Perez had qualified 8th but started in 11th after taking a three place grid penalty for driving an unsafe car at the last round in Canada.
But hopes of being able to progress up the field came unstuck when he was stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg for a large part of the afternoon.
Eventually, Perez would be one of the only drivers to adopt a three stop strategy after a late switch. This would be enough to see him jump ahead of the two Alpine cars, with Perez passing ex-Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly on the final lap, but he was still over 25 seconds behind Piastri in front.
Former MK Dons loan midfielder Lewis Bate has signed for Stockport County after expiry of his Leeds United contract.
The 21-year-old had spent the second half of the just-completed 2023/24 season on loan with the Dons from the West Yorkshire club. He made 22 appearances for the Dons in all competitions.
Bate was released by Leeds upon expiry of his contract, and he has now made the move to join a side promoted to League One for next season.
Stockport have confirmed that Bate has signed a three year contract at Edgeley Park, and he will be Stockport’s fifth signing ahead of their return to the third tier of English football for the first time since the 2009/10 season.
Stockport’s first team Manager Dave Challinor told the club’s official site that he had attempted to sign Bate in January before he moved to MK Dons, and that he was delighted to persuade Bate to join him ahead of the new season.
He said, “Lewis is a player that we attempted to sign in January but it wasn’t to be. From that point, we’ve kept an eye on his situation and when we knew he was being released by Leeds, we immediately renewed our interest. We’ve had to be really patient as there was interest in Lewis from higher up, but thankfully our patience has been rewarded.
“For some time now, we’ve felt that our biggest evolution as a team would come from a ball playing midfielder that will not only receive the ball in tight areas but manipulate space and play forward, as well as driving forward when the opportunity presents.
“Lewis is fantastic at all of these things and will be of huge importance to our development. Personally, for him, playing in the Premier League and Championship is where he wants to get back to and we really feel he has every opportunity for that to be the case.”
Apple will relocate its Milton Keynes store to a new branch that will open later this month.
The American computing giants will be leaving their shop in Midsummer Place to a new location elsewhere within the Midsummer Place shopping mall.
The shopping centre themselves confirmed on social media that new branding has been placed as a placeholder for the soon-to-be opened new branch.
Under the confirmed plans, the existing Apple store will close at the end of day’s trading on Tuesday 25th June 2024, before the new outlet opens from 10am on Saturday 29th June.
Reports had first emerged last summer that Apple was planning to leave its existing premises in Milton Keynes, which it has occupied since 2008.
Bloomberg reported in July 2023 that the existing site was among those that Apple was planning to either renovate or replace with stores more in line with recently remodelled Apple stores elsewhere in the world.
Milton Keynes is one of 40 Apple stores in the UK as of February 2024, which is the largest number of Apple Stores in one country anywhere in Europe.
MK Dons have signed defender Sam Sherring, who will join the club when his Northampton Town contract expires.
Sherring, 24, has signed a deal of undisclosed length at Stadium MK, and he will move on July 1st to Milton Keynes.
The defender had been offered an extension to his deal with the Cobblers, but the defender opted to turn down the chance to stay with the League One side.
The move sees Sherring become MK Dons’ fifth new signing ahead of the upcoming season, following the previous signatures of Conor Lemonhaigh-Evans, Luke Offord, Laurence Maguire and Tommy Leigh.
Sherring made 77 appearances in two seasons at Sixfields after joining Northampton from his academy club Bournemouth, with the defender helping Northampton achieve promotion from League Two in 2023 and helping Northampton comfortably stay up in the just concluded season.
In an arrival interview with the MK Dons website, Sherring voiced his delight to make the move.
He said, “The plan and the vision for the club, as well as the facilities and everything here, made it a no-brainer decision for me. I’m really happy to be here!
“The style of play is something that’s massive for me! I think it’s really attractive and something that’ll suit me, hopefully, we can be successful with it.”
MK Dons Head Coach Mike Williamson added, “Sam fits the profile of the kind of player we want to bring into the club down to the ground. He’s young and hungry to succeed but already has meaningful EFL experience and has won promotion from this division before. We’re really pleased to have him and look forward to seeing what he adds to our defence.”
Northampton manager Jon Brady told the Cobblers’ official website that he was parting with Sherring on good terms and that they were focusing on finding new recruits.
He said, “We thank Sam for his two years at the club, he is another player who we think has improved in his time with us, and we part on good terms.
“We were pleased to secure the signature of Jordan Willis earlier this week and we move forward at a busy time for the club. We have a number of targets who we are in discussions and negotiations with.”
