Silverstone ready to host back-to-back Formula 1 races

The Northamptonshire circuit is poised to host back-to-back races on the weekends of August 2 and August 9 as part of an eight-race calendar to be announced this morning.

Those races were initially pencilled in for July, but were moved back due to concerns regarding a quarantine period for international travellers arriving into the UK, which is due to begin on June 8.

However, elite sports events are set to be exempt from the quarantine period, with Home Secretary Priti Patel expected to make an announcement outlining further details later on Monday.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has listed F1 alongside the likes of football and racing as sports that are “set to return to our screens shortly”.

An F1 spokesperson said: “We welcome the government’s efforts to ensure elite sport can continue to operate and their support for our return to racing.

“We will maintain a close dialogue with them in the coming weeks as we prepare to start our season in the first week of July.”

The F1 season, originally due to have begun in Australia in March, is now set to begin with back-to-back races at Austria’s Spielberg circuit on July 5 and 12, followed by a Hungarian Grand Prix on July 19. Following the double-header at Silverstone, further races in Spain, Belgium and Italy are expected to follow.

All the initial races will be held behind closed doors and teams will operate with the minimum of personnel.

Editor’s note: First and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you. James Mitchinson, Editor