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Ecclestone: Donington F1 move 'not a bluff' |
Bernie Ecclestone has insisted that the announcement that the British Grand Prix is to move from its traditional home of Silverstone to Donington Park is 'not a bluff', despite cynicism inside the Formula 1 paddock that the news is simply a smoke-and-mirrors façade.
The revelation – which came pointedly on the opening day's practice for this weekend's British Grand Prix, and on Silverstone's 60th anniversary – was a hammer blow to the Northants circuit, which has welcomed the top flight on no fewer than 41 occasions since the official inception of the Formula 1World Championship back in 1950.
It has also prompted a good many questions as to just how Donington – which has only once hosted F1 in recent times, being the stage for the European Grand Prix in 1993 – can upgrade both the track and the facilities in time to honour the start of its new ten-year contract in 2010, even allowing for a pledged £100 million cash investment to overhaul the Leicestershire venue.
The sport's 1996 world champion Damon Hill, President of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) – which owns Silverstone and has been in protracted negotiations with F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management company for months in ultimately futile efforts to forge a new deal – stressed to
ITV: “We don't think we're completely out of the hunt.”
Ecclestone, however, rubbished any such speculation that Donington will not be race-ready come the summer of 2010.
“It's not a bluff,” the 77-year-old is quoted as having said by
F1SA. “A contract is signed.
“The plans – what has been put to me by Donington – are elaborate and nice. It's what we want and what we need.”
The sport's commercial rights-holder added that he was pleased to have saved the British Grand Prix – one of the true mainstays of the F1 schedule – from the axe that has hung precariously over it for some time, whilst pointing the finger of blame for Silverstone's loss squarely at the BRDC, which he said had pleaded with him for two more weeks beyond this weekend's deadline.
“If they haven't got anything done in five years they are not going to make it happen in a fortnight,” Ecclestone contended. “They don't know what they are doing. The problem is that they don't do anything in a business-like way.
“I always said to them that the British Grand Prix was the deadline, and they weren't ready. It's not personal – do the job and we have a British Grand Prix. Now there is [a British Grand Prix], definitely, 100 per cent.”
