Britain alone in 'no' for Bernie

Walker arrived in London over the weekend and plans to hold meetings with Ecclestone to canvas for next year's grand prix to take place in late April - so as to avoid a clash with Melbourne's hosting of the Commonwealth Games.

But the meeting will also almost certainly also include discussion about Walker's campaign, revealed exclusively by autosport.com, to get a unified support for Ecclestone from race promoters in the wake of the threat from the manufacturers' plans for the GPWC breakaway

Although Walker was unavailable for comment about the talks, source close to him have told autosport.com that 16 of his fellow race promoters have told him that they will get behind Ecclestone and commit their future to F1. One promoter has so far failed to get in touch, although is also expected to side with Ecclestone, with only Silverstone saying it will not join the campaign.

The news of Silverstone's decision not to get behind Ecclestone will likely do little to ease tensions between the circuit's owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club, and Ecclestone - following last year's affair where the race nearly did not make it onto the 2005 calendar.

The overwhelming support for Ecclestone comes at the very time when the GPWC is ramping up its efforts to finalise its series. It had made contact with the current F1 tracks to try and win them over for its own series, but now will almost certainly be forced to look elsewhere for other venues.

The GPWC is also due to meet with F1 teams later this week to discuss its vision for the future, although FIA president Max Mosley has indicated that of the nine teams not yet committed to F1 beyond 2008, up to five may be about to confirm they will join Ferrari and not take part in any breakaway.