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British GP dilemma

By Matthew Marsh (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-03 09:23

Sunday's inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place on the 67th circuit to feature on the World Championship calendar. Ironically much of the paddock talk focused on the track which hosted the birth of modern Grand Prix racing in April 1950: Silverstone in Britain.

The simple question of whether there will be a British Grand Prix next year widened into a debate about the merits of the traditional circuits on which the sport was founded versus the state-financed tracks which F1's Bernie Ecclestone has inspired in recent years, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

As governments recognized the prestige and global exposure a Grand Prix brings to their country, so the pressure increased on circuits to pay increasingly high fees to secure a round of the championship. Furthermore the new national stadium style circuits have raised the bar for the facilities considered necessary. For the past decade Silverstone's owner, the BRDC (British Racing Drivers' Club), has seemed almost always to be in conflict with Ecclestone on both counts.

It was announced during last year's British Grand Prix that Donington Park had secured a 17-year contract to host the event from 2010. The pre-war home of the British GP was restored in the late 1970s by racing enthusiast and property developer Tom Wheatcroft and then hosted a single Grand Prix in 1993. In 2007, Wheatcroft leased the track to the company which then secured the deal with Ecclestone. But the week before last it became clear they had failed to raise the 135 million pounds ($221 million) required to upgrade the circuit and pay the commercial rights fees. Further sad news reached the Abu Dhabi paddock on Sunday with the announcement that Wheatcroft had succumbed to cancer aged 87.

Whilst saying he would be very upset if there was no British Grand Prix, Ecclestone claims the deal now on offer to Silverstone is better than anybody else's: "so if they don't like it, it's OK". No one believes any venue is sacrosanct. France held the first Grand Prix back in 1906 yet is missing from this year's schedule. The US is the world's largest economy but has frequently been absent from the calendar of this most commercial of sports.

Sir Jackie Stewart, a three-time driving champion, was president of the BRDC between 2000 and 2006. He calls Britain the capital of motor racing technology and talks about the more than 50,000 people in the UK who work in the industry. Six of the 10 F1 teams are British including Sunday's winners Red Bull (the Austrian national anthem is played in deference to the team's owner). Furthermore, the 350 flag and fire corner workers at the Yas Marina circuit last weekend were from the UK where being a marshal is a hobby for the sport's enthusiasts.

Last week the British government's Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson weighed in with a call to Ecclestone. He values the sport's contribution to the economy at 4 billion pounds ($6.5 billion). Government support seems impossible perhaps because of the reputedly high profits earned by the commercial rights holders. However in terms of macro economic benefit it's difficult to argue F1 is not worthy when the 2012 London Olympics will cost about 10 billion pounds ($16.4 billion) (much of which will be spent on creating stadia unlikely to see much use after the Games).

The best chance for the British GP seems, perhaps perversely, to involve Ecclestone's desire to maximize earnings by expanding the calendar to 19 rounds (from this year's 17). The teams say these extra races will require a greater than proportionate increase in costs and thus want more money. However most also want a want a British Grand Prix. Expect Mr E to use this situation to his advantage.

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