Six members of the environmental activist group crashed at the circuit during last year’s opening F1 race but a red flag for the crash of Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu meant the cars slowed down considerably when they passed the demonstrators on the street. Wellington Straight.
Three of the protesters were given suspended prison sentences and others given community orders and unpaid work.
The Grand National at former F1 venue Aintree was delayed earlier this month by protesters allegedly from animal rights group Animal Rising, while Just Stop Oil disrupted the World Snooker Championships in Sheffield this week by climbing on a table and throwing orange powder .
This has led to concerns that the London Marathon and The Open golf event later in the year could also be hit.
Silverstone’s managing director Stuart Pringle said that events such as the 1987 track invasion to greet the victorious Nigel Mansell meant that the venue was already ahead with its preventive measures.
Reflecting on the 2022 disruption, Pringle told Autosport: “Obviously there are lessons to be learned. Our fencing and crowd stewards are very different in Australia [which was summoned by the FIA for a track invasion earlier this season]. We are becoming more advanced.
“Frankly, since ’87 and people jumping the fence to hug Nige, we’ve been pretty good at that.
“We’ve done a big internal review after last year. We’re working with the police again.”
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While Pringle stressed that circuit organizers were working to “make sure people’s entertainment is not spoiled again”, he agreed that F1’s popularity made the British GP an inevitable target.
Calling the sports event a “soft target” for the protesters, he continued: “I don’t in any way accept this risk. I would be surprised if there wasn’t any level of correlation between the Silverstone protest and to people who think it’s a good idea to go and have a crack at Aintree [Grand National] and get their own message out there.
“We know that people try to tie themselves to the goals of football games [Everton versus Newcastle Premier League fixture in March 2022].
“It’s what people with the most eyeballs in sports know. Where else can you?
“Sports venues in general are, relatively speaking, soft targets with high reward for the risk individuals take. It’s just something we have to deal with as sports promoters.
“But we will work hard to ensure that people’s entertainment is not spoiled this year.
“They only do it because there are a hundred million people watching around the world.”