EXCLUSIVE: Silverstone calls in the ARMY to thwart Just Stop Oil protests with 100 soldiers deployed in beefed-up security operation ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix
- Organisers are almost resigned to an attempted sabotage of the British GP
- Facial recognition will also be used along with intensified bag searches
- Follow Mail Sport on Threads here: https://www.threads.net/@mailsport
The Army will be deployed at Silverstone in a beefed-up security operation intended to repel Just Save Oil activists.
Organisers are almost resigned to an attempted sabotage of the British Grand Prix at which 480,000 spectators and staff are anticipated across this weekend.
Mail Sport understands 100 soldiers are due to be at the track. Although some of them will be working at recruitment stalls most of the time, they will be stationed at various sections of the track to ‘mitigate’ potential flashpoints at key moments.
Facial recognition will also be used along with intensified bag searches, while there will be a heavy reliance on Northamptonshire Police protecting the eight miles of Silverstone’s fencing.
The steps are the product of long-term planning between track bosses, Formula One Group and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in addition to the police.
The Army will be deployed at Silverstone in a beefed-up security operation against protestors
Silverstone organisers are almost resigned to an attempted sabotage of the British Grand Prix
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Five protestors were arrested last year when they sat on the Wellington Straight after Zhou Guanyu’s spectacular crash on the opening lap caused the race to be red-flagged.
Just Stop Oil have since struck across the sporting summer, most recently at Wimbledon this week.
Silverstone chief executive Stuart Pringle has called on campaigners not to risk their lives and urged fans to act as eyes and ears for them.
He said: ‘We need to work together to ensure the weekend passes without serious disruption.’
Friday’s practice sessions passed without intrusion, though not without trouble for Mercedes’ British duo, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. They finished the afternoon 12th and 15th, 1.160sec and 1.205sec off pacesetter Max Verstappen.
Lewis Hamilton has said he will modify his radio exchanges following a public rebuke last week
‘It was not our finest Friday,’ said Russell. ‘We need to get to the bottom of it.’ Hamilton was hardly more upbeat.
‘It is a tough car to drive no matter what we do with the set-up,’ said the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton has said he will modify his radio exchanges following a public rebuke by team principal Toto Wolff in Austria last week.
He vowed: ‘I’ve reviewed my comments (repeatedly asking why some of his rivals were supposedly not being penalised for exceeding track limits as he had been), where I was at mentally, and will make sure I adjust that for the future.’
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