Silverstone loses British Grand Prix

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David Smith13 April 2012

Silverstone today lost its battle to remain the home of the British Grand Prix. From 2010, Formula One's most historic motor race will move to Donington Park, which will receive a massive investment of £100million aimed at making it the world's premier circuit.

In a surprise announcement ahead of Sunday's round of the world championship at Silverstone, F1 tsar Bernie Ecclestone revealed his Formula One Management company had signed a 10-year deal with Donington's owners Simon Gillett and Lee Gill.

And he fired a broadside at the Government for not supporting a long-running battle by Silverstone to keep Britain's premier motor sport event; a fight which had been led by former world champion Damon Hill, president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, who own the former wartime bomber base.

Ecclestone said: "Finally, the uncertainty is over. A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand Prix is now secure.

"We wanted a world-class venue for Formula One in Britain, something that the teams and British F1 fans could be proud of. The major development plans for Donington will give us exactly that, a venue that will put British motor sport back on the map.

"I am sorry that we could not have helped Silverstone raise the money to carry out the circuit improvements and run Formula One. I believe the Government could have supported them, which would have cost probably less than 0.002 per cent of the government's commitment for the Olympic Games."

Silverstone had already obtained planning permission for a state-oftheart pits and paddock complex costing £30m. It had also found the money to build it by planning to sell off land for a business park, hotels and a sports and leisure complex.

But Hill and the BRDC had been engaged in protracted negotiations with Ecclestone over a new rights fee to stage the Grand Prix, understood to be £12 million.

Hill, winner of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1994, had admitted earlier this week that it was only a 50-50 chance that a comprise could be reached.

Max Mosley, president of motor sport's governing body the FIA, said: "After many years of patient but fruitless negotiation with the BRDC, we are delighted that Bernie has nevertheless been able to ensure that the British Grand Prix will keep its place on the Formula One World Championship calendar.

"We understand that the development planned for Donington will achieve the very high standards we expect from a modern F1 circuit."

Meanwhile, Mosley and Ecclestone have ended the bitter feuding over Mosley's refusal to resign after allegations about his private life.

Ecclestone said: "We have patched up our differences."

How Silverstone lost the big race

Money talks in Formula One, much louder than the engines which today were echoing off the grandstands lining Silverstone as teams practised for the British Grand Prix.

And it is money, £100million to be exact, which will move the world's most historic Formula One race from its traditional home at Silverstone to Donington Park nestling under the flightpath to East Midlands Airport near Derby.

Silverstone, where the first F1 world championship Grand Prix was run in 1950, is owned by the British Racing Drivers' Club, who fought a protracted battle with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone for a new contract to replace the one which runs out next year.

What Ecclestone wanted in return was a commitment by the BRDC to completly rebuild the former wartime bomber base, bringing it up to the glitzy standards attained by new tracks in Asia, the Middle East and the Far East.

He also wanted a hike in the rights fee each circuit pays for the privilege of hosting F1's travelling circus. In Silverstone's case, that fee was understood to be £12m.

The BRDC, led by their president Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion and winner of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in 1994, offered a new £30m pits and paddock complex but were stalling over building new grandstands and agreeing the rights fee.

Hill admitted earlier this week that talks were "going round in circles". Now Donington has crashed those circles with a £100m investment programme Hill could never hope to match.

Donington? It held Grand Prix motor racing as far back as 1931 but lack of investment and an apparent lack of land to build the infrastructure needed by a modern F1 race meant it became a second division venue compared with Brands Hatch and Silverstone.

It did host the European Grand Prix in 1993 a race won by Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna with one of the most daring drives ever seen in the rain.

But until last year Donington was better known for its Monsters of Rock concerts and hosting the British MotoGP.

Then, in February 2007, the site was sold by motor racing enthusiast Tom Wheatcroft for an undisclosed amount to a new holding company Donington Ventures Leisure Limited (DVLL), led by founders Simon Gillett, a computer software magnate, and Lee Gill.

DVLL acquired substantial surrounding land and took over responsibility for the 'Donington Grand Prix Collection' - the world's largest collection of Grand Prix racing cars.

At the time, Gill said these acquisitions would allow the company to develop the circuit and motor sport events. Wheatcroft joined the company as president.

Gillett is understood to have made a huge fortune from his business, but there is surprise that he has come up with the £100m to transform Donington into a jewel in F1's crown.

There will also be concern over public access to the circuit. A sell-out crowd of 90,000 will pack Silverstone on Sunday, but, as things stand, getting that amount of people with their cars into Donington would be a logistical nightmare.

However, Gillett and Gill are upbeat. In a statement they said: "We are delighted and extremely proud to have acquired the rights to bring Formula One back to Donington Park.

"We have now entered a new and exciting chapter in the development of the Park.

"Donington Ventures Leisure Limited has worked closely with the local and national authorities in consideration of the planning requirements that are necessary to provide a first-class facility for the hosting of F1 in 2010.

The details of this and the Donington Park master plan that outlines a five year investment programme of some £100m, will be provided at a future date.

"The investment will be led by a private investor who is also a large shareholder."

The rumour at Silverstone today is that the investor might be Ecclestone, Mr Formula One himself.

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