British GP gets ticket sale surge after Norris and Verstappen Austrian F1 clash

Formula 1 fans have been snapping up the remaining tickets for this weekend's British Grand Prix following Lando Norris's explosive collision with Max Verstappen in Austria.

British Grand Prix bosses have noticed a surge in ticket sales for this week's race as fans lapped up the action at the Red Bull Ring.

George Russell's shock victory for Mercedes, plus the fallout from Norris and Verstappen's coming together on track has seen fans scramble for tickets for the final race in this triple-header.

Last year's event saw a total attendance of 480,000 across the grand prix weekend and Silverstone chiefs expect Sunday's race to be a sell-out, despite some criticism about the price of tickets.

Lewis Hamilton had said that the Northamptonshire circuit should focus on making it more affordable with prices increasing on previous years amid a cost of living crisis. However, that has not put off punters eager to watch the live action with tickets left in their hundreds, rather than thousands.

Autosport earlier reported that Silverstone chief Stuart Pringle had suggested that ticket sales had originally been slow at the start of the year due to Verstappen's success, adding "it's certainly been a lot harder with Red Bull dominating".

That drew a response from Verstappen who said any failure to sell tickets was not down to him and rested with the promoter.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battle for the lead

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Pringle also added: "As a promoter, you have to get your ticket pricing strategy correct. You could make these things go quicker if you reduce price.

"But we have got expensive bills to pay, not less the promoter fee, so it's about hitting a strategy and making sure it works, which we're pretty comfortable with."

In the run up to this weekend's race, Silverstone says it noticed a spike in sales even when Verstappen won the Spanish GP in Barcelona.

It comes after the circuit enjoyed its fastest ever sell-out in 2022 with 142,000 tickets snapped up for race day shortly after being put on sale.

And last year's figure showed continued growth, however, for this year the circuit deliberately reduced capacity as it felt it would offer customers a better experience.

It also decided to invest in fan entertainment by booking rock band Kings of Leon as the headline act to open the weekend, while rapper Stormzy will play on Friday, Pete Tong Presents Ibiza Classics on Saturday and drum and bass act Rudimental will close a four-day music festival on Sunday.

Watch: F1 Austrian GP Analysis - Never Give Up VS Never Back Down