Silverstone : Friday 5th July 2024
Our first day with tickets, and with gates opening at 730am, we were up early. Only a few people were ahead of us in the queue so it didn’t take long for security to have a cursory look in our bags, scan our e tickets and then we headed to pick up our Silverstone Radios.
Top tip: the £15 you will pay for a Silverstone on-ear headphone is very very worth it!!! It’s pretuned to Silverstone FM, comes on a lanyard so you can keep it accessible all day and the commentary team at the track is excellent!!! It’s so much easier to keep up with the action across the entire weekend and you can use it every year.
We headed to the main stage where some driver interviews were scheduled. Somehow we ended up right at the front, though off to the side a little. We had no idea who was appearing; this information just wasn’t being shared on the Silverstone App, but my son and I love the whole grid so we figured we’d enjoy it regardless.
First up were the Williams drivers, Alex Albon and Logan Sargent. All the interviews throughout the weekend were conducted by F1 Broadcaster Ariana Bravo who knows the drivers and made every interview fun! Just seeing two drivers in the flesh and not in a car was amazing; suddenly they were real people. And then, after the Williams team, she announced that McLaren were up next!!! Oh, be still my beating heart!! My favourite team, with my favourite driver, Lando, and my son’s favourite driver, Oscar. And that was it, we were both absolute fangirls, shouting their names and holding up our signs for all we were worth. As they were leaving the stage, Lando turned saw my sign and waved at me. I’m not ashamed to admit, I had a little cry, he knows I exist hahahaha !
Next came VCarb, Danny and Yuki were a lot of fun and played Pictionary. The crew came out afterwards with the pictures they had drawn and I ended up with the birthday cake that Yuki drew, talk about a unique souvenir!!!!
We also saw Alonso, curiously without Lance Stroll. I can wholeheartedly recommend attending the driver interviews on the main stage. Just to see the men that we only normally see on a screen put them into a whole new perspective. They are real people, just like us and it makes you feel so much closer to them. And I guarantee you will love them all; Ariana was so good at bringing out their personalities.
We’d stood in the Silverstone drizzle long enough so headed into the fan area where there was so much to see and do. You could have a podium photo, hang out with the Jack Daniels crew, have a virtual photo with your favourite driver and all the teams had merch stalls,particularly those teams that are based at Silverstone. Top tip: unless its an exclusive, don’t buy your merch at the track. Although the mark up wasn’t too bad, its still far cheaper to buy your merch online.
We headed to a hill just before the Pirelli bridge on Hangar straight to watch FP1; the sun had now appeared so we could lay out and relax for a while
And now we had cars on track!!!!!!! Wow, the sound was an utter symphony, seeing the cars in real life was just pure art. They really are beautiful machines, what struck me was how good the liveries look up close and how different the colours are. That gorgeous McLaren papaya is far more neon than you realise, and oh so easy to spot on track.
As we had a while until FP2, we wandered for a while around the outside of the circuit. The World Drivers championship trophy was on display and Lego had a huge activation area, including a full scale model of the MP4/4 as driven by the legendary Ayrton Senna, along with a Lego Senna helmet alongside his real one. Senna was who first caught my eye at the age of six and honestly, seeing the Lego display made me surprisingly emotional.
With FP2 rapidly approaching, we speedwalked to Vale to watch. Vale is the largest general admission area and where we intended to watch the race from so we wanted to get a feel for it. We sat at the barrier, directly opposite a Marshall post and pit entry which was honestly fascinating to watch. And it’s amazing how quickly your eyes become attuned to the speed of the cars. As they were heading to the braking point for Vale and then exiting out of Club, you could see who was on a very quick lap, even though you are talking about a tenth or twos difference in times. The good thing about Vale is that there is a big screen at the back and a big screen in front too, coupled with the commentary you truly get a full picture.
One thing I’ll say is that Silverstone really wants you to get your moneys worth! There’s a concert every night at the event and for Friday it was Stormzy! Trouble is, it’s an exhausting day with all the walking and the sheer exhilaration of seeing cars and drivers so we skipped the concert and went back to the campsite for some much needed R and R. And always bear in mind that campsites are not the quietest places, you’ll be serenaded by chants, mostly of LANDOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
