29/09/2015
NEWS STORY
Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that Silverstone could be missing from the 2016 calendar.
It was revealed yesterday that the future of the British Grand Prix is under threat as the Northamptonshire circuit struggles to meet the financial terms of its contract.
Due to a number of disastrous business moves, the cost of upgrading the circuit and a clause which hikes the hosting fee by 5% each year, currently the circuit is paying said hosting fee a year in arrears.
Formula One Management is happy to allow this to continue as long as the circuit is able to provide a letter of credit from its bankers guaranteeing that the money will be there for the following year.
Unfortunately such is the financial situation, the bankers are no longer willing to issue the letter of credit, and, already a year in arrears Ecclestone is not going to allow the debt to increase.
"Can I guarantee the future? No I can't," Silverstone's managing director Patrick Allen told the Daily Telegraph on Monday. "Could I hand on heart say to Mr Ecclestone, 'don't worry, your money is absolutely safe for the next ten years?' No I couldn't... to pull the contract would be a sad thing for Silverstone, it would be a sad thing for motor racing and it would be a very sad thing for Britain."
"They are paying next year for this year's race because I have allowed them to do this," said Ecclestone, "otherwise they would have closed before."
Today, Ecclestone reiterated the threat to the race.
"We have got a clause in our contract where we can stop it in 2016 and I don't know if the race is going to continue next year." he told Forbes.