The revised Silverstone Arena Circuit, which will hold the 2010 British Grand Prix, was formally opened by the Duke of York Prince Andrew in a ceremony at the track.During the ceremony, attended by many current and past F1 drivers including Mark Webber and David Coulthard, Prince Andrew stated:
"High performance engineering is very important to the UK economy. Motor sport is at the pinnacle of this industry and it’s through events like Formula 1 and bikes that we can demonstrate our expertise. I hope the future will be bright for Formula 1 and high performance engineering in the UK."
Soon after, BRDC President Damon Hill drove the Duke around the circuit in a two-seater F1 car. The new section - essentially two new straights linked by corners that bypass the old Bridge corner section - now boasts stretches dubbed Village, The Loop, Wellington Straight and Aintree.
It is estimated that F1 cars will hit 185mph through these new fast corners which direct them off the old track. The right-hander keeps the name Abbey, and the left-hander it feeds into is called Farm.
They are now followed by a sharp right at Village, then a pair of left-handers called The Loop. From there the cars re-join the existing track via the Wellington Straight, which could surpass the Hangar Straight as the fastest point on the Silverstone circuit when the F1 cars race there in July.
The revised track is expected to have a similar average speed to the previous track, with a slightly longer lap time.
David Coulthard became the first person to drive an F1 car around the new circuit after its official opening, piloting the Red Bull running showcar. His first impressions of the new section were positive and he feels the track has retained its high-speed character:
"It’s very fast on the way into Abbey. But we still have all the hallmarks of the original circuit. The corners are very high speed and some of the entries are blind because it’s built on an airfield."
Damon Hill declared:
"The development of Silverstone really is the crowning glory, and symbolises as a material representation of everything this country has done...in their successes on the track. This is a new circuit for a new generation of people to enjoy motorsport in the way we think they should and we hope it's also going to offer an incredible challenge to the drivers of the future."
The new layout, part of a major redevelopment that will have cost the BRDC nearly £40 million by the end of next year. A new F1 pit and paddock complex is also planned for 2011, with the start-finish straight moved to the other side of the layout. In that way, F1 will have its exclusive circuit base while GP2 and the other racing categories will continue to use the existing garages and start line between Woodcote and Copse, while the F1 race will start on the straight after Club and the first corner will be the revised Abbey bend. This will happen by 2012 and could happen as early as next year:
Silverstone managing director Richard Phillips commented why they enlisted design company Populous, who also created the Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirate than Hermann Tilke’s company that enjoys a near monopoly on F1, to re-design their new Arena circuit.
"We’ve had good, solid input from riders and drivers – people who are not going to wreck what is already a fantastic circuit."
