Breaking: British GP in jeopardy
November 20, 2009 by SJ Skid
Filed under Prime & Option, Top Story
Bernie Ecclestone is at it again.
Formula 1’s boss told the Times of London that, despite ongoing negotiations with the owners of Silverstone, he expects he’ll have to “drop” the British Grand Prix from the 2010 calendar.
Makes total sense. There’s no “all-British world champion” team that might draw crowds to a race in the UK or anything like that.
Here’s the news:
Ecclestone told The Times last night that he has been in regular contact with the circuit and believes that Silverstone’s owners are trying to source additional funding to help them to settle the deal. But he believes that at the next meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council, in Paris on December 11, he will have to remove next year’s race from the calendar.
“The World Council will meet and we will just pull it off — we will have to,” Ecclestone said. “We’ll have no other choice, if we don’t have a contract. We shouldn’t have anything on the calendar unless we have a contract in place.”
Ecclestone said the race would be scrapped initially for only one year and no other grand prix would be scheduled in place of it next season, reducing the 2010 championship to 18 rounds. He added that he and Silverstone are close in negotiating terms but he is not convinced a deal will happen in time.
“They are close and they know they are close,” he said. “It’s not the terms and conditions so much as whether the investors are prepared to bankroll them and take the risk.”
When asked whether losing the race was something he would regret, the 79-year-old billionaire said: “Of course we want a British Grand Prix. I’ve been spending an awful lot of time trying make sure it does happen, but there is no chance of an exceptional contract for Silverstone. Why should there be?”
The good news is that it does sound like the two sides — Ecclestone and Silverstone’s owners, the British Racing Drivers’ Club — are close on negotiations, so this might be the usual Bernie bravado to squeeze that extra pound or two out of his “partners.”
Ecclestone’s view that the two sides are close was echoed by Damon Hill, the president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which owns Silverstone. He said the negotiations were coming down to a fine line between taking the risk of signing a contract that could break Silverstone financially in the long term or taking a more prudent view. It is believed the contract requires Silverstone to pay an annual fee of £12 million, subject to an annual escalator originally set by Ecclestone at 7 per cent, to stage the race.
“The club does not want to sign up for something that puts it in peril,” said Hill, who believes the FIA should step in to ensure that an arrangement is arrived at that safeguards the race. “Bernie doesn’t care whether you lose your shirt or not — he wants to deal with someone who can take a chance. We saw what happened with Donington [the Leicestershire circuit that had planned to stage the race but the leaseholders of which are now in administration], and so there is a point at which it becomes a fine line between signing a contract or not.”
Nonetheless, it all is so infuriating.
Hey, Bernie, here’s an idea: If Kimi Raikkonen really does stay out of F1 in 2010 and if Heikki Kovalainen can’t find a drive, why not replace the British GP with a Finnish one?
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Bernie’s an idiot. We all know that. Hell, they should just let them do the race for free with as much as they stand to gain from having it. Or rather, with as much as they stand to LOSE by NOT having it.
Infuriating is exactly what it is – especially as both sides seem to have criteria to fulfil which are mutually exclusive. Bernie needs to bring in enough that CVC can continue to service its debts, Silverstone needs not to go out of business.
In the meantime, the administrator called in to sort things out at Donington Park is talking about F1 returning there in 2011, and having “an overseas buyer” interested in making that happen.
It raises the spectre of this going on for months, if not years, longer. And we, like you, are heartily sick of it.
Bernie is in deep water here. Several of his compant shareholders will not want this and, what’s more, does he really think that all those grass-sitting REAL F1 fans will take this quietly… “we know where you work and live Bernie.” will be their slogan in demonstrations.
On the other hand, Bernie may have just provided his partners the excuse to ease him out. Like Max’s nonsense during (Silverstone again) the UK GP last year, it may be the last straw.
Let’s set this straight: Spa, Silverstone, Monza, Nurbergring.. they are F1.
No British Gran Prix in 2010…this is unheard of.
Come on Bernie you are British and Silverstone is an icon in the Motor Racing World…You have made millions of dollars over the years from F1…what about doing us all a favour for a change and give Silverstone the F1 race in 2010 with some of your own dollars..I am sure you will reap the rewards in the end and of course the respect of the European and World fans that will attend the Silverstone race.
Good on yer Bernie.
Bernie will figure it all out – he has done it before [okay, okay, he has missed a couple of things here and there:)] In all seriousness though, the pressure in the sport comes at a time where general conditions are bad…time for “Bernie” to hand it in to a successor, even if he will be 100% handpicked!