Oliver WhiteIn the ongoing saga of the 2010 British Grand Prix, Bernie Ecclestone has now stated that the race, due to be held at Donington Park in 2010, could be postponed for a year while the upgrades to the circuit are completed. This news comes after it was reported that the event could be in real jeopardy following legal action being instigated by the circuit owners against the company that currently leases the track.
Wheatcroft & Sons, the family owned company that owns Donington Park, lease the track to Donington Ventures Leisure Limited, who run motor sporting events as well as music festivals on the land. However, DVLL owe £2.47m in rent to WSL, and this is why legal proceedings have commenced. If DVLL have their contract revoked, then the British Grand Prix is in serious trouble.
Bernie Ecclestone has insisted that Silverstone will not hold the British Grand Prix again, despite the circuit investing a lot of money in redevelopments of the old airfield. Such is Ecclestone’s disgruntlement towards Silverstone’s owners, the BRDC, that Ecclestone would rather drop the race from the calendar or postpone it until Donington can get its act together.
If the work at Donington is not finished in time, we would be happy to skip a year. I don’t want to lose the British Grand Prix, that’s the last thing we want to do, but we aren’t going to Silverstone for sure. Bernie Ecclestone, speaking to The Times.
One has to question why Ecclestone has allowed this to happen, and the bad press this saga is generating for Formula One in the UK. While Bernie may not get along with the BRDC, surely the billionaire businessman can see how this is reflecting on the sport in the UK, a nation that contributes an awful lot to the global motor sporting industry.
As I have always said, the thought of F1 without a British GP- even for a year- is absolutely unthinkable!!! With the possible exception of Italy, there is no other nation that has contributed (and continues to contribute)as much to F1 in nearly every capacity as Great Britian. The event is always a smash-hit and among the most popular on the schedule, and there is no way the nation should be without a GP.
Indeed, even though Button makes such a big deal of living in Monaco, if he holds up his lead we could face a situation next year where the defending champion has no race in his native country- how good woould that look?
Bernie is senile, stupid, and a bully. As the first ever race of the official World Championship in 1950, British Grand Prix must stay on the calendar. If Bernie truly cared about the sport he built up and not just lining his pockets, he’d see that British Grand Prix is an integral part of Formula One. If something happened to the Monaco Harbor and it seemed the Monte Carlo track couldn’t be completed in time for Monaco Grand Prix to be held during its usual place on the calendar, would Bernie skip the race for a year? OF COURSE NOT! It’s all about $$$$, $$$$, and control with Bernie. It makes me sick.
There will be a British GP at Silverstone in 2010 an for the foreseeable future. Everything since the Donington announcement is just negotiation.