Silverstone Officials Deny Threat to British GP

Octagon Motorsports CEO Rob Bain rejected threats to the future of the British Grand Prix today, saying he does not expect the FIA to cancel the event next year or thereafter.

Reports in the British press claimed the FIA has threatened to scrap the event from next year's calendar because of intense traffic leading to and from the track. Bain confirmed that they have received a letter from the FIA with regards to the traffic situation, but said no threat was included in the correspondence.

"I hardly expect the FIA to drop the race,," Bain said today. "I think things went very well [this year] and obviously the July date was very helpful. The reaction was mainly positive, so we're certainly moving in the right direction."

Bain added that the track will be even more approachable in the future. "We've employed traffic consultants to look at traffic flows and come up with a working methodology to improve things further next year," he said. "This year we improved exit times by about 45 minutes compared to previous years, with the exception of last year. If we can do it another 45 minutes then we have saved an hour and a half.

"It's still not acceptable, but we're not going to really resolve the issue until the bypass (a direct link between the two highways surrounding Silverstone) is in and that's 2003. That's the big year for us. But, if we can continue to make improvements each year then the fans will be happy, so I would be surprised if they did drop the race."