04/12/2009
NEWS STORY
Officials at Silverstone have announced that a press conference will take place in London on Monday at which time the fate of the 2010 British Grand Prix will be made public.
The future of the British Grand Prix has been in serious doubt since an attempt to take the race to Donington ended in total financial failure and Silverstone, unwilling to be used as a stop-gap, refused to yield to Bernie Ecclestone's financial demands. In addition to a £12m flat fee - admittedly less than the £17m demanded of most other Grand Prix hosts - Ecclestone is demanding an annual increment of 7 percent.
With the F1 Commission meeting on Wednesday (December 9) a deal has to agreed by that time otherwise Britain will be missing from the 2010 calendar and quite possibly for a lot longer.
Now, following weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations, there is optimism that a deal has been agreed which will save the event with an announcement scheduled for Monday's pres conference which will take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel.
Despite the fact that Donington Ventures Leisure Limited (DVLL) has gone into administration, its boss, Simon Gillett, and Ecclestone, have both said that all is not lost and that the Derbyshire venue could host the event from 2011, having been handed a 17-year deal earlier this year.