No Government Help for Silverstone

The British government has ruled out further cash help for Silverstone to keep the country's Formula One Grand Prix on the calendar next year.

Sports minister Richard Caborn told BBC radio that the government would not help the circuit's owners make up a shortfall between Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone's asking price and the amount they could offer.

"Is it right that a cash-rich, asset-rich sport should take money out of (the overall) sport budget?" he asked.

Ecclestone said on Thursday that Silverstone, which hosted the first Grand Prix in 1950 and is owned by the members-only British Racing Drivers' Club, had been axed from the 2005 calendar.

The British government has already contributed significantly to road building around the circuit, where traffic congestion was a significant problem in the past.

The news of the race cancellation has been greeted by dismay within the sport in Britain, with the country's Motor Sports Association (MSA) warning that the reverberations would be significant.

"It is widely acknowledged that the British Grand Prix makes a significant direct contribution to the UK economy each year and that it is an important flagship for the hugely successful British motor sports industry," said MSA chairman John Grant.

"We seem to have arrived in the situation where a funding shortfall of some two to three million pounds a year is standing in the way of retaining an iconic event which is vital for our sport," he added.

Grant said the race directly contributed some 40 million pounds ($71.86 million) a year to the local economy and the government's own tax revenues.

"With a bit of goodwill, we are hopeful that a constructive solution can be found to the benefit of British motor sport, the British economy and F1," he said.