Brits on Pole

F1: will Silverstone stalemate cost Britain its grand prix?

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By LJ Hutchins

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

 

The British Grand Prix is under serious threat of ending, according to the Daily Telegraph, because the British Racing Drivers’ Club is refusing to sign Bernie Ecclestone’s standard European contract.

Now this could be an instance of that paper’s customary Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire style of reporting, which would mean, roughly, that a lack of manliness and civic virtue on behalf of the BRDC was allowing the barbarian horde of Ecclestone to over-run it.

Or it could mean that the British Grand Prix is genuinely under threat. Perhaps you’d better give up on our strained metaphors and go straight to the source:

Silverstone approaches end of the F1 road

To quote Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone, negotiations over a new contract to host the British Grand Prix enjoy the status of “a dead duck”. The existing five-year deal ends next year. The renewal date has already passed. The contract presented to the BRDC by Ecclestone was the standard demand made of European promoters: $22 million (£11.2 million) a year, rising at a rate of five per cent per annum.

The BRDC sent it back unsigned, with a number of queries attached, along the lines of: ”Can we have a discount?” Ecclestone laughed the response out of his Knightsbridge office.

The end of history is nigh. As things stand, the 2009 British Grand Prix, a race that has run unbroken since the inception of the Formula One world championship at Silverstone in 1950, will be the last. Read full story here…

Related posts:

• Could the BRDC sell Silverstone?
• F1: Silverstone wins 17-year British Grand Prix contract
• F1: Is British GP safe even if Donington does deliver?
• F1: Would British GP have sent BRDC bankrupt?
• Silverstone has go-ahead to seek investors

Read more about Bernie Ecclestone, BRDC, British Grand Prix, Formula One, Silverstone.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 9:23 am and is filed under F1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Author: LJ Hutchins. Supports McLaren, kind of. Thinks James May gets a rough deal off the other two. Drives a Subaru Impreza but regrets its lack of bright blue paint and gold wheels. Is very nearly old enough to know better but probably never will. Is a supporter member of the BWRDC. LJ has written 1117 articles for us.