Ecclestone critical of Silverstone

Although the dual carriageway by-pass around Silverstone was not completed in time for the race, promoter Octagon Motorsports and the police made sure that the mammoth traffic jams that have always blighted British GPs became a thing of the past.

But Ecclestone told BBC Online that Silverstone's place on the F1 calendar is still not guaranteed for the future. "We'll see what happens," he said.

Although he admitted that traffic congestion was much better than ever before, he slammed the organisation within the circuit.

"I didn't come by road but I went round the circuit and I thought the general organisation was pretty bad really - inside the circuit. There were no signs. Nobody knew where anybody was going, nobody knew who was doing what. It was complete disorganisation.

"Inside the paddock is all right, and the roads thank God are all right. But the rest of it is typical. In fact, it's worse this year than it has ever been - they way they look after the public, or don't look after them."

Octagon boss Rob Bain dismissed the remarks as "ridiculous". He said: "It's not fair criticism at all. We have done 1,500 customer surveys and one of the questions was were the signage and police directions good - and 75 percent said yes.

"It comes down to the fact that the helicopters couldn't land [because of the weather], Bernie got lost and he's not happy."