On the first lap of last year’s F1 race, six members of the environmental campaign group ran onto the track, but a red flag following a crash by Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu meant the car slowed significantly as it passed demonstrators on the Wellington Straight.

Three of the protesters received suspended sentences, while others received community orders and unpaid work.

The Grand National at former F1 venue Aintree was postponed earlier this month after protesters, allegedly from animal rights group Animals Rise, and Just Stop Oil’s World Snooker Championship in Sheffield this week. The above is interrupted by climbing up the table and dropping the orange powder.

That has led to fears that the London Marathon and British Open later this year could also be affected.

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle said incidents such as the track invasion in 1987 to welcome winner Nigel Mansell meant the venue had taken precautions.

Reflecting on the 2022 hiatus, Pringle told Autosport: “Obviously we need to learn our lessons. Our fencing and crowd managers are very different to Australia (which the FIA ​​called out earlier this season due to track invasions). We Already more advanced.

“Frankly, we’ve been doing a good job of that since ’87 when people went over the fence to embrace Nige.

“We have had a massive internal review following last year. We are again working closely with the police.”

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Photography: Japp/ motorsport pictures

While Pringle stressed that tour organizers were working hard “to ensure people’s fun is not spoiled again”, he did admit that F1’s popularity made the British GP an inevitable target.

Calling sporting events a “soft target” for protesters, he continued: “I don’t take it lightly in any way. I’d be surprised that people whose information is a good idea aren’t somehow correlated.

“We know that people have tried to associate themselves with goals in football (Everton vs Newcastle in the Premier League in March 2022).

“People know sport attracts a lot of attention. Where else can you do it?

“Sports venues overall are a soft target, relatively speaking, and the risk-reward for individuals is quite high. It’s just something we as sports promoters have to deal with.

“But we’ll work hard to make sure people’s fun isn’t ruined again this year.

“They’re just doing it because 100 million people around the world are watching.”