Silverstone considering cardboard cut-out fans for F1 double-header

Silverstone officials are considering using a cardboard crowd to help fill its grandstands when the circuit hosts its back-to-back grands prix in August.

The Northamptonshire track occupies two of the eight dates on the recently released European section of the F1 calendar, with the British Grand Prix on August 2, followed by the 70th Anniversary GP a week later.

Like the other six events in Europe, the races will be staged without fans, leaving Silverstone to consider how to create some kind of visual background appeal, such as the cardboard fans witnessed recently at Bundesliga matches in Germany.

“We have looked at things and I’m certainly not short of people trying to sell me interesting novel ideas, particularly printing companies seeking to replicate the Bundesliga cardboard crowd thing, which actually is great and I’m up for,” managing director Stuart Pringle told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“We’re in the entertainment business, we want to retain a relationship with the fans. We want to keep them as involved as possible, and, of course, that’s a lot easier in the digital age. We’ll be doing an awful lot on our website and social channels and things like that.

"But if there is a way that practically we could involve people, be it a video wall or the cardboard crowd on the seats, absolutely we’ll look at it. We are exploring all of those things.”

Despite the lack of atmosphere at the circuit without fans across the two weekends, Pringle is hoping one of the positives will be an influx of new F1 followers as people are desperate for a fix of live sport and will be forced to watch on television over the next few months.

"On the one hand, of course, you want your sport to be the one that dominates the back pages and, on occasion, perhaps the front," added Pringle.

"But equally for the fans that attend a grand prix, we have had some absolutely fantastic afternoons. You'll recall very well where we have all moved over to the main stage and watched the football or the cricket final.

“Actually, if you're just sitting at home and you're watching it, to be able to go from one great sporting event to another, we absolutely have been the centre of some of the greatest sporting weekends of the summer in recent years.

“But I do think that by being top of the bill this summer, hopefully, we may introduce some people.

“We all love our own sport and sometimes we don’t try other sports. And actually, if you’re a sports fan, then just getting stuck into something is a great experience.

“But it’s just great to get sport back up and running and I’m sure we will pick up some new people, and fingers crossed, we'll have an exciting race.

“We are lucky at Silverstone, generally our venerable old circuit throws up some absolute humdingers, so fingers crossed we'll have that again.”

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