Brits on Pole

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Gosh, what a week. You’d never know we were in the F1 close season, would you? Join us in ignoring the credit crisis, the ugly-duckling cars and the loss of races, and instead searching out some of the more fun and interesting things to happen this week.

Bernie Ecclestone has told British F1 fans that not even a home champion will be enough to save their grand prix in 2010 should Donington Park fail to meet its obligation to stage the event.

Dodgy penalties and unclear regulations mean that Formula One increasingly resembles the scripted ’sports entertainment’ of American professional wrestling. Is this really what the future holds?

People in Formula One’s top tier, it would seem, are not reading from the same script at the moment after Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo vented his frustration at his team’s abject performance in Singapore.

GP2 is launching a new support series entitled GP3. And Formula Master is also due to stage extra support races at 2009 F1 events. What’s going on?

Earlier in the season, just when the threat of a split in world motorsport seemed to be receding, up popped Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone with dangerous talk of F1 breakaways and rivals to GP2. But if it happens, does it have to end in tears?

Could the resignations of members of Donington Park’s senior management plus its PR company be the catalyst that saves the British Grand Prix?

Lewis Hamilton could potentially do more for the image of F1 as world champion than either Fernando Alonso or Kimi Raikkonen, according to Bernie Ecclestone.

Clearly the best solution would be not to have to go down this road in the first place. But we think the prospect of no British race in 2010 is, unfortunately, very real. So, what might we be able to look forward to instead?

A visit to Silverstone yesterday to watch the latest round of the British Touring Car championship has brought our thoughts back round to the vexed question of the 2010 British Grand Prix. And we are forced to admit that we don’t think it will happen at all.