British Grand Prix

In excess of 160,000 people pass through the gates at Silverstone Circuit on race day at the Formula 1 British Grand Prix each year, with some 580,000 people visiting the circuit during the whole four-day event. Policing this event, and keeping racegoers safe, takes months of preparation and planning to ensure everyone has a safe and enjoyable experience during their visit to our county.

Police presence at the race

As one of the biggest sporting events in the UK, the Grand Prix is a huge policing operation, and in recent years has become even bigger. No longer is it just a motor race - the British Grand Prix has expanded into a four-day long festival, with headline music acts playing on the main stage every evening and non-stop entertainment in all corners of the circuit. As such, policing these events brings about a whole new challenge.

We work around the clock Thursday to Sunday to ensure a safe, friendly, and crime-free environment, and deploy a large number of personnel to the circuit including, police officers, firearms officers (both overt and covertly armed), detectives, dog units, volunteers, and more.

There are proactive patrols in the campsites, car parks and surrounding villages, and we mount a significant Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) operation, ensuring that all roads into the area and around the circuit are covered. We check thousands of vehicles in order to deter criminals from entering the site. Alongside this, a separate traffic operation is run, in partnership with the Highways Agency, to ensure the roads around the circuit run as smoothly as possible.

Since 2023, we’ve also been utilising Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology at the event. LFR works by scanning faces with a camera to match biometrics against those held on a pre-determined watchlist of people of interest to the police or the courts, or who may pose a risk of harm. This list is generated by the police and focuses on those who pose the greatest risk of danger to the wider public in attendance.

Any images that trigger alerts are deleted immediately after use or within 24 hours, while the images and biometric data of people who don’t trigger an alert will automatically be deleted from the system. The use of LFR forms part of our ongoing work to keep people safe, prevent crime, and protect our communities.

While Northamptonshire Police takes overall command of the British Grand Prix operation, the south end of Silverstone Circuit and the Woodlands campsite stretch across the Northamptonshire border into Buckinghamshire. As such, we are assisted by our colleagues from Thames Valley Police, as well as from other forces around the country. 

All our officers on site, and in partnership with the circuits’ own security personnel, focus on creating a safe and enjoyable environment for all by:

• Preventing crime and disorder
• Reassuring the public through a visible presence at key locations
• Ensuring a swift and proportionate response to escalating threats and incidents where necessary

Safety advice

Crime is low at these events but we encourage all racegoers to take a moment to read through our safety advice and crime prevention tips before you leave. You can help us keep the event safe by reporting anything suspicious:

• to any of our officers at the circuit,
• online,
• via the Live Chat,
• by calling 101,
• by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Stay up to date

You can keep up to date with what’s happening leading up to the Formula 1 British Grand Prix by following us on X and Facebook, and checking out current news stories about the British Grand Prix in our news section.