Bernie confident for British GP

On announcing Barcelona's F1 contract extension, the Spanish RACC president, Sebastia Salvado, brought a wry smile to Ecclestone's lips when he said that he'd read that Bernie was actively helping Silverstone to secure the future of Britain's Grand Prix...

"I don't know where that came from..." Ecclestone murmured, before adding: "I'm absolutely sure that a promoter will come forward. I know that the BRDC will be extracting a large amount of money from Interpublic, so they can do all the building work that they want and I hope they can build something that is a lot better than has been proposed."

Ecclestone continued: "The BRDC are going to take a bit of a bath on their rent. They've got a circuit that people were offering £40m to buy and they've been getting £10m a year rent. They'll have to have a think. We made a contribution to the car parks. Super car parks. You could park tanks on those... They haven't really run things very efficiently from a business point of view and the government have been good enough to put the roads in."

Ecclestone denied holding off on signing tripartite plans that would allow the Silverstone work to go ahead.

"It's nothing to do with me," he said. "It's up to them to pay for it."

Ecclestone's ultimate message seemed to be somewhat confusing when he said that he would not be interested in promoting the race himself, because "I run a business that's not used to losing money..."

But then he went on to say, when admitting that the chances of Government support for the GP was pretty slim: "I think a promoter that's doing a good job could make it work and make a profit. If we find a promoter, we'll sign a long-term contract."