Silverstone has apologised and promised to overhaul its ticketing system after fans faced hours-long queues and steep price hikes during the online sale for the 2023 British Grand Prix. The use of dynamic pricing for the first time at a UK sporting event sparked outrage among supporters, who accused the circuit of profiteering.
Fans reported being held in online queues for up to eight hours, only to be kicked out and forced to restart, or to find ticket prices had jumped by the time they reached checkout. Jon Fisher from Calne, Wiltshire, an F1 fan since the 1980s, saw his intended £419 ticket rise to £489 after an eight-hour wait. “It feels like a way for them to make more money, it’s not about fan experience,” he said. Phil Morris, a regular since 2014, was knocked out after six hours and faced a £50 increase. “We are being priced out of attending,” he lamented. James Smith, a lifelong fan, also criticised the system as “fundamentally unfair”.
Managing director Stuart Pringle expressed regret over the “frustration, upset, disappointment and anger” caused. He confirmed a “root and branch review” and stated, “We cannot have a repeat of this year. Nothing is off the table.” Pringle blamed the queue issues on third-party provider Secutix, which suffered a payment gateway failure, while the dynamic pricing fiasco stemmed from unprecedented demand: tickets that used to sell over five months shifted in two days, accelerating price increases normally spread over weeks into hours.
Pringle noted that Silverstone has moved from a survival struggle to “Adele, Coldplay-scale of demand” due to F1’s boom. He acknowledged the historic pricing model may no longer be suitable and promised to address the challenges: “We have to sort it out and we will sort it out.”
