I sat in the Chapel Grandstand at Silverstone during last year’s F1 British Grand Prix.
This is my guide to spectating from this stand. It includes my tips on picking the best seats in this stand, videos of the views from various seating positions, a full seating chart, tickets and more.
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Where is Chapel grandstand at Silverstone?
Chapel grandstand is positioned on the outside edge (left-hand side) of the track at Chapel corner, at the end of the Maggots – Becketts – Chapel complex.
It’s positioned at 90 degrees to the Becketts grandstand, which if you are sat in the Chapel stand you can see off to your right. It’s at the point where the cars are finishing the final turn in the complex and accelerating hard on to the long Hangar Straight.
Chapel grandstand is North facing so you are likely to have the sun behind you for most of the day.
Is Chapel a good place to sit at Silverstone?
The grandstand at Chapel is positioned parallel to the circuit as it comes around the right-hand Chapel corner. This gives a great view back up the Maggots – Becketts – Chapel complex as the cars are coming directly towards you through that series of corners. You will see them snake right, left, right then left again as they get closer to you.
Whilst this section of corners doesn’t always provide huge overtaking opportunities, it does offer something else.
With the cars coming straight towards you it gives a unique and dynamic perspective of the cars in action, entering these turns at 180mph and being nearly flat out the whole way through, seeing their immense downforce in action.
Chapel grandstand doesn’t provide as complete or broad an overview of this section of track as the Becketts grandstand next to it does, but having the cars coming directly towards you is what makes it a worthwhile consideration as a place to sit.
This grandstand was only opened to the public for the F1 in 2021 and has been used for the Grand Prix ever since.
If you’re camping at Silverstone some of the closest campsites to Chapel corner are Whittlebury Park and the Ridings.
Chapel grandstand tickets
I’ve bought Formula 1 tickets on both of these platforms a number of times during the last couple of seasons, including for this year’s British GP and when I went to Vegas for the 2023 Grand Prix. I’ve always had a great experience and will definitely use them this season for more.
They also have a great ‘FanProtect guarantee’ which makes sure your tickets and money are always safe and protected.
Are there big TV screens at Chapel?
Across the track is one big TV screens visible from this stand. Because there’s so much gras and gravel run-off either side of the track, the screen is actually quite far away. You definitely need binoculars or a really good zoom on your camera to be able to read the timing on the screen.
Is Chapel grandstand covered?
Chapel grandstand at Silverstone is not covered. It is completely open to the elements. So bring sun or rain protection, depending on what the British weather is doing.
View from Chapel grandstand
The image below shows the views of the track from this grandstand highlighted in pink:
Unlike the adjacent Becketts grandstand, Chapel doesn’t offer views of the infield section (turns 2, 3, 4 and 5) as it’s lower down. But because of it’s location, you do have more visibility of the cars approaching Maggots.
I filmed the video below from a number of different seats in the Chapel stand to show how the view differs. This was filmed from:
- Row L Seat 1 (furthest seat to the right)
- Row Q Seat 44 (back row)
- Row A Seat 123
- Row Q Seat 240 (back row furthest seat to the right)
As the video shows, the main view from Chapel grandstand is back down the track towards Maggots and Becketts.
The grandstand isn’t particularly high up. In the lowest seats at the front you’re not high enough to see over the catch fencing. This means that, unlike Becketts grandstand, you’re not quite high enough to see over the fence on the other side of the track and into the infield section of Farm Curve, Village, The Loop and Aintree.
The seats in the top few highest rows will get a better vantage point but still, you’re not really able to see anything of the infield.
Because of the way the grandstand is orientated, you don’t get to see much of the cars as they enter the Hangar Straight. The nature of the track here means that the entry to Hangar Straight curves around the side of the grandstand and round behind it, so you lose the cars at this point.
If you are sat on the extreme left hand side of the grandstand (highest seat numbers) you will be able to see a bit more. Again the highest rows at that end of the stand will have a better chance of seeing the cars for longer down Hangar.
Best seats
Without a doubt the best seats in this stand are those on the extreme left hand side, so seat number 240. Aim for the top few rows, and if you manage to get them, you’ll be able to turn around to your left and watch the cars go down the Hangar Straight which improves your view dramatically over all other seats.
Chapel grandstand seating plan
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The grandstand has rows which run from A (front / lowest down) to Q (back / highest up) and seat numbers from 1 (closest to the entrance of Chapel corner) to 240 (closest to the Hangar straight). There is no row I (eye).
How many seats are in Chapel grandstand?
There are approximately 3,200 seats in the Chapel grandstand at Silverstone. This takes in to account the gaps between each of the different sections, as can be seen on the seating plan above.
Best entrance gate for Chapel grandstand
The closest entrance gate to Chapel grandstand is Gate 9. However if you want to walk within the circuit boundary you can enter via any gate and walk around the outside of the circuit.
See our article on all Silverstone entrance gates for a map and full details of each spectator gate location.
Other Silverstone Grandstands
Check out my spectating guides for all other grandstands at Silverstone:
- Abbey grandstands
- Becketts grandstands
- Club corner grandstands
- Copse grandstands
- Farm Curve grandstands
- Hamilton Straight grandstands
- Luffield grandstands
- National Pit Straight grandstands
- Stirling grandstands
- Stowe grandstands
- The View grandstands
- Vale grandstands
- Village grandstands
- Woodcote grandstands
