Bain's parting shot at 'gratuitous' comments

Rob Bain fired a parting shot at Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone tonight as he quit his role as one of the British Grand Prix bosses.

Bain resigned as chief executive of Octagon Motorsports following the row with Ecclestone after yesterday’s race at Silverstone.

He did not name grand prix’s Mr Fixit in his resignation statement but he had clearly been upset at Ecclestone’s blast that the event resembled a ’country fare’.

‘‘I have had a tremendous few years and I am very proud of the grand prix that was staged this weekend,’’ said Bain, whose Octagon Motorsports company took over the running of the event in 1999 and has the rights to the race until 2010.

‘‘It is disheartening still to hear gratuitous outside comments about the event, and I do not wish them to overshadow what the team has achieved.’’

Ecclestone was left furious when his helicopter could not land because of low cloud cover and had to be diverted to a nearby airfield forcing him to drive to the circuit where he got lost.

He claimed that route signs at the Northamptonshire track were not clearly marked and the delays left him late for a scheduled meeting.

‘‘It’s worse this year than it has ever been - the way they look after the public, or don’t look after them,’’ said Ecclestone yesterday.

‘‘I didn’t come by road but I went round the circuit and I thought the general organisation was pretty bad really - inside the circuit.

‘‘There were no signs. Nobody knew where anybody was going, nobody knew who was doing what. It was complete disorganisation.’’

But Bain immediately hit back after the race, saying: ‘‘I am very disappointed. He is just frustrated by the fact that he could not land his helicopter and as a consequence got here a little late.

‘‘We have been conducting a market survey of 1,500 people and of those we’ve asked about the signage, 75% said they were happy. We will be writing to the 25% who were not.

‘‘It is all very frustrating because otherwise it has been a very good weekend and very encouraging for the future.

‘‘What we have now is a strong platform, we have got the infrastructure right getting into the circuit, now we have to get the infield of the circuit right and that’s where the focus will move next year.

‘‘By May next year we will have a fabulous new facility, fabulous new pit and paddock, one that’s ranks alongside every other circuit on the F1 calendar.’’

Bain’s work in the £17million spent on improving the access roads around Silverstone and the car parks as well as turning the A43 into a dual carriageway certainly ensured there was no repeat of the traffic chaos of recent years that had placed the future of the race in doubt.

The success was partly helped by the decision to slash yesterday’s crowd figure to 60,000 though Bain had revealed over the weekend that next year’s attendance would be back at the traditional level of 90,000.

Bain’s departure does overshadow the next £40million stage of the development of the circuit with work due to begin today.

But it is unlikely to put the future of the race in doubt despite Ecclestone’s comment that next year’s race date of July 20 was not yet certain.

FIA president Max Mosley gave the improvements the thumbs up and has said the race could remain on the calendar if the event continues to be properly run.