Ecclestone leaves door open for Silverstone recall

Bernie Ecclestone has called on the hundreds of businesses who profit from the Formula One circuit annually calling at Silverstone to make up the £1.5m (€2.2m) shortfall which is threatening to take the race off next year’s calendar.

He believes that the local authorities can rescue the situation, by meeting Formula One halfway in their demands.

F1 chief Ecclestone stressed that his body had slashed its demands for bringing the sport to the Northamptonshire venue, following a plea by Sports Minister Richard Caborn.

He believes that by agreeing to forsake £1.5m (€2.2m) of its initial demand, Formula One is making a significant gesture of goodwill, and one which should be seen as such.

“In the end there was about £3million difference,” Ecclestone told BBC Radio Five Live.

“We agreed with the (British0 Minister of Sport Richard Caborn who asked me: ‘Bernie can’t you help, do something about it’. So we split the difference basically, so there was about £1.5m (€2.2m) difference.”

And Ecclestone felt that such an additional sum should have been easy for the British Racing Drivers’ Club – who own Silverstone – to come up with.

“I read that they said the Northampton area was going to lose £30m (€43.5m) or £40m (€58m) if this race went away,” added Ecclestone.

“I thought they would just have said to the BRDC, ‘You’re short of £1.5m (€2.2m), we’ll put that in because we’re still £28m (€40.6m) better off’.

“But nobody’s done any of those things, nobody wants to give anything, nobody wants to do anything. They expect us to do everything and we have, we have!

“We’ve met people halfway because that’s what our sports minister asked us to do, and that’s what we did.”

Asked on BBC Five Live if he would accept responsibility should there be no British GP next season, Ecclestone added: “It won’t be my fault if there isn’t, that’s for sure.”

There could still be space for the British Grand Prix on next season’s calendar, even though the 17 slots for races have been taken.

“Ask the BRDC are they prepared to sign the contract and, if they are, ask the teams if they’re prepared to go in 18 races,” Ecclestone added.

Although the race has a proud history, Ecclestone is an efficient businessmen acting on behalf of a pool of shareholders, of whom he says many are German.

Because they understandably do not share the passion of British enthusiasts for the Silverstone race, Ecclestone is forced to take their stance on board.

“I’ve got great memories of Lotus and Brabham and all the British teams that disappeared,” said Ecclestone.

“We’ve all got great memories of things, but you can’t live on memories.”

He will also feel sympathy for the many thousands of spectators who have been making the pilgrimage to the British GP since Formula One began.

“I feel terribly sorry for them. I wish the BRDC had been a bit more sensible,” added Ecclestoe.

Although next year’s race is under threat, there could still be a bright future for Formula One in Britain.

“They [the BRDC] say they’re going to sell half the land for £150m. And if that’s the case they’re going to spend half on building the super circuit, which it would be,” Ecclestone said.

Of the current predicament with the BRDC, he continued: “They have to ask two things. They have a contract, they need to sign it. Then we have to see if we can get all the teams to run in 18 races, or they can do that – the BRDC.

“Most of the British teams are BRDC members, so it’d be easy for them to say yes.”