Racing
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Silverstone has offered Formula 1 a second race this season to help cover the gap left by the cancelled Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix, but the series is not yet ready to commit while the situation in the Middle East remains unsettled.
The loss of the two April rounds has reduced the calendar to 22 races and helped create a five-week break between the Japanese Grand Prix and this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix. No replacement has been announced.
Stuart Pringle, Silverstone CEO, said the circuit has already put its proposal to F1 and believes it could react quickly if needed. “I have offered, because we stepped in during COVID and we were able to help Formula 1, and if that would help again, then of course, we will,” he told Sky Sports.
Pringle said the offer comes with obvious logistical challenges, but Silverstone is prepared to work through them. “There are numerous practicalities that need to be considered,” he said. “The offer is in, they know we’re here, and we can move fast.” Despite Silverstone’s busy schedule, he added that “everything is movable in a crisis.”
That flexibility has recent precedent. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Silverstone staged two consecutive races, the British Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. It was one of three venues to host a double-header that year, alongside Austria and Bahrain.
F1’s position is more cautious. Liam Parker, F1 chief communications officer, said the championship does not want to make early decisions around replacement races while the wider picture is still changing. “Everyone can just look at the TV and see the news every day that the situation is so fluid and so dynamic, and nobody knows what is going to happen tomorrow, let alone in September and October,” Parker said.
He added that F1 still has time before it is due back in the region later in the season. “We have a long period of time until our events that we need to go back to the Middle East region,” he said.
That leaves Silverstone as a ready-made contingency if F1 decides it needs to restore part of the schedule, but for now the championship is waiting to see whether the calendar disruption becomes a short-term gap or a wider problem.