PICTURES: Pair have the formula for success as Inverness Travel organises a trip for Highland motorsport fans to travel to Silverstone to watch the 2021 British Grand Prix which saw a crash between rival drivers Lewis Hamilton and championship leader Max Verstappen in the first lap
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A group of Highland Formula 1 (F1) fans completed a bucket list trip at the weekend when they travelled to Silverstone to watch the 2021 British Grand Prix.
Among the 140,000 fans at the event on Sunday – the biggest crowd at a UK sporting event since the start of the pandemic – were 17 people on a trip of a lifetime, organised by Inverness Travel.
The dramatic and controversial race was won by defending world champion Lewis Hamilton on home soil, despite being penalised after his involvement in a high-speed crash on the opening lap.
Scott and Sarah Murray, who jointly own Inverness Travel, are both F1 fans and escorted the group with transport provided by city-based D&E Coaches.
Mr Murray said they set off last Friday and the guests were able to watch pre-qualifying at a hotel – as well as qualifying on Saturday and the main race on Sunday.
He said, with the uncertainty over international travel, it made sense to concentrate on staycations this year, adding: “The feedback has been pretty good – we kind of wanted to make it one of those trips where people did not have to worry about anything.
“We took care of everything and made sure all the timings were right. They just had to get to the bus on time and everything else was done for them.”
He said both he and his wife, as fans of the sport, had talked about organising a trip to Silverstone in the past. He said: “People aren’t really travelling anywhere at the moment. So we thought why don’t we see if we can get a group of people that want to go down and we will do it like a kind of escorted tour.”
Mr Murray said the race itself had been pretty contentious – particularly after championship leader Max Verstappen was unable to continue following the crash involving Hamilton.
He said: “It just happened that the guy I was supporting did not make it around the first lap. Hamilton got a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.
“Verstappen was leading the championship by quite a number of points – he still is, but not by as big a gap.”
Mr Murray described it as a “bucket list” trip for them. He added: “The weather on the day was a welcome bonus.”
He said they were already thinking of arranging another trip next year.
“There is definitely demand – I think this year people were still not confident in travel, they were not sure if it was going to go ahead, so I think that put a lot of people off. But now they have seen it happen and they’ve seen crowds and it has been done safely.
“A lot of people will have watched this weekend and wished they had gone so I think next year that should have hopefully generated some more numbers. The 140,000 sold out so it just shows you that people are desperate to do something.”
