The Glastonbury of motorsport: how Silverstone became the biggest GP in F1 history

McLaren fans gathered at the stage before practice at last year’s race at Silverstone. Photograph: Mark Sutton/Formula 1/Getty Images

The scale of change at the British Grand Prix in recent years will be writ large come July when the meeting is poised to become the biggest in Formula One history.

The race this year is expected to sell out its new capacity of 570,000 over four days, which will be a record-breaking 50,000 increase on the previous highest attendance of 520,000 at the Australian GP in 1995. Only Wimbledon, across two weeks, will boast more numbers in the UK summer with Silverstone the largest event on F1’s calendar.