Silverstone has announced that ticket sales for the British Grand Prix have been suspended due to ongoing challenges with their ticketing source.
Circuit officials have apologized for the inconvenience and affirm that ticket sales will resume on Friday morning.
Fans expressed their ire at the lengthy wait to reserve their spot at Silverstone in 2023 despite the fact that tickets had been distributed on Thursday.
Numerous fans complained on social media that after spending hours in line to purchase tickets online, their payments had not gone through, forcing them to resume the wait all over again. Circuit administrators have since claimed that the problem has been resolved.
“We are sorry some fans are experiencing problems purchasing tickets for the F1 British Grand Prix,” Silverstone offered an update on Thursday afternoon, posting on social media.
“We are experiencing unprecedented traffic on our site, causing delays. We want to get your booking on track as quickly as possible. We are doing all we can to solve this and cut wait time.”
However, hundreds of irate fans responded to the post with their own accounts of the long lines they had to wait in to get tickets. Some claimed that as the day went on, the line shifted ahead and backward, and there were reports of waits for more than three hours.
The time-tested “dynamic pricing” mechanism likewise raises ticket costs in response to demand, but this year’s frenzy for tickets has caused the price increase to occur more quickly. Some fans have even claimed that the increased prices occurred while they were in line waiting to purchase their own tickets.
“No-one can get on the site without it crashing or kicking us yet you still raise prices,” one fan tweeted.
“Demand isn’t there if people can’t get on the site. It’s a shambles and you’re abusing the good nature of F1 fans. It’s not a question of selling out but how much money you can get from us.”
Before making a further public announcement, a Silverstone official revealed to PlanetF1 that problems with their ticketing partner and the high demand for tickets had contributed to the challenges experienced on Thursday.
The public announcement read: “Due to ongoing issues with our ticketing provider, Secutix, we feel the fairest thing for us to do is to temporarily pause sales and freeze all ticket prices until these are resolved.”
“We plan to be back on sale at 11:30am tomorrow. Please watch our social channels and keep an eye on your e-mails for our most up-to-date timings.”
“Again, we sincerely apologise for the frustrating experience many of you have had today and thank you for your support throughout this time.”
More specifically, Sky Sports commentator David Croft stated that 210,000 people had signed up for tickets this year, with about 25,000 supporters waiting to get their tickets for the race the next year.
