British Grand Prix brings 'great benefits' to area

The British Grand Prix celebrates its 75th anniversary this year

As the British Grand Prix at Silverstone celebrates its 75th year, an Oxfordshire tourist board has praised the annual race for bringing "great benefits" to the county.

Although the race track itself is in Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, many visitors chose to stay a few miles down the road in neighbouring Oxfordshire.

The county is also home to three of the 10 teams currently competing in Formula 1, and makes up part of the region dubbed Motorsport Valley.

It is estimated that the Grand Prix brings £100m of tourist revenue into the region each year, with more than 400,000 descending on the area for the four day event this weekend.

More than 400,000 fans are expected to attend the Grand Prix weekend, which started on Thursday

Chris Aylett, who is the chief executive of the Motorsport Industry Association, said: "There's no question that to have the world's best and most popular Grand Prix race in the centre of motorsport valley and in this region is enormously valuable."

He said fans "don't arrive for a two hour football game - motor racing takes up days, so they do stay in the area".

"The economic value is absolutely outstanding," he added.

"It's good for Oxfordshire and from a tourism point of view, and its pretty good on the commercial side too."

Many fans chose to stay in Oxford, which is just a 45 minute drive from Silverstone

Lesley Wright , from the tourist board Experience Oxfordshire, said Silverstone and the county "work in synergy" to bring in a "substantial number" of investment.

"We have lots of visitors coming in, staying over in hotels across the county - with many substantially booked out many months before the Grand Prix takes place," she explained.

Ms Wright said many visitors were "staying longer", spending money at the county's bars and restaurants and visiting tourist attractions.

She added that the annual British Grand Prix brings "great benefits into Oxfordshire".

Stefano Domenicali described the UK as "the heart and rock and roll of this business"

Alongside the impact of tourism on the local area, F1 teams Haas, Williams and Alpine all call Oxfordshire home - whilst many other local firms support the four other UK-based teams with engineering support.

Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali described the UK as "the heart and rock and roll of this business" during a meeting with Sir Kier Starmer earlier this week.

Domenicali said the F1 industry was worth £12bn annually to the UK economy, employs more than 6,000 people and has a supply chain involving 4,500 companies.