british grand prix

It's the British Grand Prix this weekend.

As I understand it there are actually still quite a few tickets for sale.  This is relatively unusual for Silverstone as it normally sells out a good way ahead.  Indeed, from what my Dad was saying, apparently they have some seats left in the grandstands, which is very unusual.

I think one of the causes might be the weather last year.  We were fully in the grip of the almost constant deluge and Silverstone was quite bad - people getting bogged in the mud, etc.  Indeed, my Dad went last year and had to be towed out as his car had stuck.  This was on the practice day (Friday) and they pretty much sorted it out for the qualifying and race days, not least of all because most of the campers would be in-place by then.

However, I think with the weather having not been that spectacular this year it might have put some people off a bit.

Another issue is that the brits are basically nowhere.  The McLaren is clearly nowhere near competitive, which takes Lewis out of the running.  Paul Diresta and Max Chilton are in non-competitive teams and of course while Lewis and the Mercedes might pull of their trick of getting pole or at the top end I expect they won't simply reverse down the field again.

Now while I don't think it actively harms attendance, with none of the brits in contention it means the boost effect doesn't happen.

I'm hoping it will be good race.  Silverstone can vary in terms of racing quality - you get some good races and some dull ones.

The thing that often causes interest at Silverstone is the weather - the forecast seems to be all over the place recently, so I've no idea if it will rain.  I hope if it does then it happens during qualifying or the race proper as that will shake things up a bit.