11/02/2023
NEWS STORY
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.