Six activists who ran on to the track in the moments after the British Grand Prix had got underway at Silverstone last year have been convicted of causing a public nuisance.

Five of the protestors ran on to the track while a sixth was in a car nearby with glue, cable ties and a Just Stop Oil banner.

As luck would have it, Guanyu Zhou's accident at the start, which saw the Chinese driver's Alfa Romeo slide along the track upside down before flipping over a tyre barrier had caused the field to slow as the race was red-flagged.

Nonetheless, video footage played in court showed drivers, including Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon, having to avoid the protesters on the Wellington Straight as marshals rushed to remove them.

"There was clearly an immediate risk of serious harm being caused," said prosecutor, Simon Jones. "Plainly they could have been struck by fast-moving vehicles with obvious severe consequences. Their actions also caused risk to the drivers themselves and the marshals."

One of the defendants, Louis McKechnie insisted that the protest - running on to a race track at the start of a Formula One Grand Prix - was planned in order to be "as safe as possible", adding that he had "watched every single race that's been held at Silverstone over the last 20 years" as part of his research.

"I scoured the internet for every piece of information I could get about the track, the red flag system and also the drivers," he said. "We picked a part of the track which would give the cars plenty of time to pass where we were and where the racing line was on the far side of the track."

The protest subsequently gained support from a number of drivers, most notably Sebastian Vettel.

The jury reached a unanimous verdict on five of the defendants, while the sixth, the one found in a car, was found guilty by majority.

The six will be sentenced at Northampton crown court on 31 March, with Mr Justice Garnham warning that they could face imprisonment.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by meatball, 13/02/2023 16:15

"where did they find Hemp zip-ties? and what brand of unicorn farts did the getaway car run on?"

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2. Posted by kenji, 13/02/2023 10:37

"Just Stop Oil....can you imagine the turmoil in F1 alone if they were able to implement this as law! There are a number of fuel alternatives already being used with many more to come but what about one of the most important elements of an F1 car...carbon fibre!. 90% of carbon fibre is sourced as 'polyacrylonitrile' , a petoleum product and the the other 10% from fossil origins. Here is a project for Vettel to get his hands on and he can spend some of his mega millions finding a suitable alternative...it's called putting your money where your mouth is. "

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3. Posted by @R1Racing71, 13/02/2023 7:33

"Risky business this trying to save the planet lark."

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4. Posted by Editor, 12/02/2023 11:14

"@ Paulinho

As we state in the article:

The six will be sentenced at Northampton crown court on 31 March, with Mr Justice Garnham warning that they could face imprisonment"

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5. Posted by Paulinho, 12/02/2023 8:50

"Alasdair Gibson, Louis McKechnie, Bethany Mogie, David Baldwin, Emily Brocklebank and Joshua Smith are the protestors convicted of public nuisance. I believe the maximum sentence is 12 months imprisonment, any ideas as to what they got ?"

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6. Posted by BillH, 11/02/2023 18:53

"Good
I hope their sentence includes no use of hydrocarbon derived products or services that use those products, including transport, agricultural produce, buildings, or heating.
That should set them on the straight and narrow after seeing the error of their ways."

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7. Posted by kenji, 11/02/2023 12:06

"I fully agree with their conviction. These people are pests and have no right to annoy others. If theywant to protest go do it somewhere else....like all the others recently put on notice by the FIA."

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8. Posted by Wokingchap, 11/02/2023 11:44

"Good. Yet something else we can do without on race day, or any other come to that."

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Silverstone activists convicted

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