The 2018 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was a miserable affair from every possible perspective.
On Friday, the riders complained bitterly about the bumps that had appeared, despite the track having been resurfaced over the winter, a complaint which echoed the Formula 1 drivers, who had raced there several weeks earlier.
On Saturday, in a downpour, several riders crashed at the end of Hangar Straight, including Tito Rabat. Unfortunately for Rabat, Franco Morbidelli crashed immediately after him, his bike slamming into Rabat and shattering the Avintia Ducati rider’s leg. Rabat would face a very long recovery to come back from such a severe injury.
Things got worse on Sunday. Heavy rain drenched the track after warm up, and continued steadily throughout the day. Mindful of Rabat’s accident, and the fact that there was standing water at several points on the track, the racing was delayed in the hopes of better weather. When better weather didn’t arrive, it was called off altogether.
That created a massive problem for Silverstone. Though fans who had turned up on Sunday had their tickets and parking refunded, the future of the British Grand Prix – both of them, F1 and MotoGP – was at stake.
The surface laid by Aggregate Industries was not deemed good enough to race on, the bumps coming through too quickly, and the drainage not good enough.
If Silverstone wanted to continue hosting world championship motorsports, they would have to resurface once again. And they could not afford to get it wrong again this time.
