British GP: Lewis Hamilton opens up on racing at home without fans

Lewis Hamilton admits he will miss the "honour and privilege" of starring in front of his home fans at this weekend's British GP, as Formula 1 prepares for a first behind-closed-doors race at Silverstone.

The opening three races of F1 2020 have all taken place without fans in attendance, and while Hamilton and his fellow drivers have praised the strict coronavirus measures being undertaken to get the season started, he will particularly feel the loss in atmosphere at his home race.

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Hamilton, a six-time F1 champion, six-time winner at the famous Silverstone circuit and its star attraction, is used to being cheered on by a sea of Union Jack flags and has often been crowd-surfing after the races, too.

"I'm so grateful that we are back at work and we are so fortunate, all of us here, to be back at work and have our jobs and be able to compete again," said Hamilton ahead of this weekend's British GP, live on Sky Sports F1.

"But absolutely, the atmosphere for me, it's night and day different. At Silverstone, there's nothing like it. The whole year, it's the highlight of my year, the support is insane.

"It grows every year and I get to interact with the fans differently on that weekend and it's such an honour and privilege to be able to perform well and win a Grand Prix in your home country."

Hamilton, 35, added to Sky F1: "It feels great to be out there because once you're in the zone you're in the zone, but I really do miss the energy they bring.

"At Silverstone, for sure - I don't have a lot of years left and that's going to be one year that I miss all the fans. But I do want them to stay safe and we're in that period of time where safety is everything."

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This weekend's British GP will be followed by the 70th Anniversary GP at the same track and Hamilton acknowledged that race-going fans - Silverstone regularly has the highest attendance on the F1 calendar - are going to miss it "terribly", but also urged the public to stay at home.

That message has been repeated by F1, Silverstone and Northamptonshire police, who say they have a "robust and detailed" plan for the back-to-back races, with an "exclusion zone" around the circuit.

Expanding on how he'll miss the fans, Hamilton explained: "I've also felt that fans give you extra time because they just give you so much energy and it really lifts you up and you're bubbling, you're walking on a cloud.

"Obviously we won't have that but I do interact with my fans and I don't know what the solution is moving forward to have a better way of interacting with them, particularly during this time but I guess that's something I will try to discover as we go along.

"But I just always want to send positive messages up to my fans and then to really encourage people out there. I see so many people who are not taking COVID period as seriously as others and some are really taking it seriously and I just want to encourage everyone to continue to.

"Hopefully, I think, we are doing really great as a sport, showing everyone's wearing a mask. There's for sure, more we can do because there's probably a little bit too much waste with all these re-usable masks but it's great to see everyone taking the precautions, keeping the gaps, the distances and we have to encourage the rest of the world to do the same."