The British Grand Prix has been hailed by many as the race that F1 needed, the silver lining in the cloud that has been Formula One in 2015.
The Silverstone round was not a classic race by any stretch of the imagination. There was a lot of activity at the front of the pack, we saw Safety Cars both real and virtual, one-third of the grid retired, and there was some good battling in the closely-packed midfield. It wasn't a dull race, but nor was it the saving grace of F1 that some labelled it to be at the time.
Following a weekend which had seen drivers talk to the press about one-stopping and tyre preservation, few expected that Sunday afternoon to bring anything other than a procession barring the odd bit of drama around the pit stop window as drivers settled into position. Instead, we had the de facto winners beaten off the start, and the drama of watching to see whether the Williams pair would be able to hold off first the Mercs and then Sebastian Vettel.
It was entertaining, but not the saving grace of Formula One that many pundits deemed it to be.
Newspapers around the world asked "Crisis? What crisis?", with outlets from The Times of London to Dubai's Sport360 using versions of that question in their race coverage. The team bosses were similarly united in their take on the weekend; Claire Williams summarised the paddock's view on things by saying: "We still have to remember - and this weekend proves it - that F1 is a phenomenal sport."
To argue Williams' point would be foolish - Formula One is a phenomenal sport.
But it is a sport that relies on a lot of factors and a dash of pure fortune to deliver a perfect weekend. Part of what made Silverstone so special was the crowd. Like Albert Park and Montreal before it, the British Grand Prix is a race with a passionate fanbase who will pack out the grandstands from dawn to dusk. A race heaving with screaming spectators will always have more atmosphere than one without.
As we expand across the globe we will have to find ways of rising above the lack of atmosphere at new venues as each one works to build the kind of devoted following we see in the sport's traditional heartland.
Given that circuits can only make money through ticket sales, it should not be their responsibility to grow the fanbase through giveaways. Instead, it should be down to the commercial rights holder to invest in new territories. If FOM could guarantee the purchase of 15% of all tickets for the first five years of a new race contract the commercial rights holder could then 'return' those tickets to the track to use as promotional freebies and prizes to drum up both interest and attendance, making new rounds look more appealing on the all-important TV coverage.
Off-track, Silverstone is a race that sees the teams and drivers make a real effort to connect with their fans. It doesn't hurt that the British round is a home race for much of the grid, of course, and it helps that the lack of hotels in the area means that most fans can be found in campsites around the circuit, but the level of active engagement is something teams and fans should be doing more of elsewhere to build up Silverstone levels of passion at every race on the calendar.
Albert Park got the season off to a good start by expanding autograph sessions to include driver Q&As, while Silverstone campers had an endless parade of drivers on stage taking part in mini (and light-hearted) fan fora. Some venues (*cough* Monaco *cough*) make such interactions logistically impossible, but active circuit-based fan engagement needs to become the norm, not the exception.
Other factors that made the British Grand Prix so good to watch - poor vs great starts, the late-falling rain, and Williams' total lack of stability in the wet - can't be replicated without artificial means, and what Silverstone showed us above all is that the fans want genuine drama. If Formula One is to end its era of crisis the sport needs to accept that for F1 to be real, it will occasionally be dull. If we want the fans to keep coming back regardless, to follow the sport come rain or shine, we need to engage with them off-track to ensure their continued support on it.