09/05/2009
NEWS STORY
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Despite Donington boss Simon Gillett's recent comments that he is "100 per cent certain (the British Grand Prix at Donington) will happen" a common view is that next month's F1 race at Silverstone will be the last held in the UK.
Bernie Ecclestone has said repeatedly that if Donington can't host the British GP then there will be no race. "We can't go back to Silverstone because nothing has changed there has it? The reason we left hasn't changed," the F1 boss recently told Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt.
One person who disagrees with this view is Damon Hill, president of the BRDC which owns Silverstone.
This year Silverstone will host the British GP alongside Abu Dhabi, the newest circuit on the F1 calendar and one of the most high-tech. It seems strange to say the least that Silverstone is deemed good enough to be on the F1 calendar this year but not next year. This is Hill's view.
"It would be difficult to say that a circuit was acceptable in 2009 and not in 2010," he told Sylt, adding "we continue to upgrade the facility" so next year Silverstone will be improved on its current state. The difficulty of course is that Ecclestone and the FIA have final say over this.
"I have not spoken to Bernie directly about Donington," admits Hill. Like much of the F1 media he is uncertain over the future of the British GP if Donington fails to pull it off. It comes at just the wrong time. "Sales are very good. We've got another British driver at the front," Hill adds, concluding, "you could ask, who needs the British Grand Prix more? Is it Britain or is it Formula One?"