Bernie Ecclestone has denied claims that he could personally step in and finance the upgrade of Donington and thereby save the British Grand Prix.

Despite the never-ending assurances from Donington Ventures Leisure Limited's Simon Gillett that all is not lost - his company having failed to raise anything like the £135m needed and subsequently going into administration - all hope of F1 returning to Donington appears at an end, leaving Silverstone as the only serious alternative.

However, some believe that Ecclestone has always had his own agenda in terms of the British Grand Prix and that, having failed to take Silverstone off the hands of the British Racing Drivers' Club, the Englishman might mount his own rescre package for Donington. Not so, says the F1 supremo.

"I have not the slightest interest in buying Donington or running the British Grand Prix there," he told the Daily Express.

Be that as it may, in recent weeks, having already published details of Gillett's track record in terms of failed business ventures, Pitpass has been handed further information.

If only a small percentage of what we are told is true, one has to wonder why Ecclestone hadn't done his own research before handing him a 17-year deal for the future of F1 in Britain nor indeed why the Wheatcroft family - the owners of Donington - hadn't investigated the man who was to take hold of their circuit for the foreseeable future.