The case against the protesters who stormed the Silverstone circuit to disrupt the 2022 British Grand Prix has begun. The Just Stop Oil protesters ran onto the track to sit on the tarmac of the Wellington Straight at the start of the race, with marshals venturing onto the circuit and drag the protesters away. The race had been red flagged for the dramatic start line crash for Alfa Romeo's Guanyu Zhou, which slowed the cars down prior to the five protesters being removed and arrested. With the trial taking place at Northamptonshire Crown Court, all five - plus one other protester who did not make it onto the race track - are accused of committing "a criminal act of public nuisance". All six protesters deny the charges.
Video footage, including images from the Formula 1 cars, of the incident was shown to the jury, along with the video statements from five of the six defendants. The 12-person jury were then told: "You will see the moment they got on the track, having initially waited for most of the vehicles to pass. "You will then see two Formula 1 racing cars driving past the protesters... while five of the defendants were on the track. "You will see marshals having to run onto the track and drag the protesters off to the side. "The prosecution say that there was clearly an immediate risk of serious harm being caused. Plainly they could have been struck by fast-moving vehicles with obvious severe consequences. "We say that their actions also caused risk to the drivers, themselves and the marshals." The trial is ongoing.
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