Silverstone awaits British GP fate

Silverstone's owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club, has already offered to take over the promotion of the race for the next three years in a bid to secure its future - even though the club will not make any profit from doing so.

But F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has yet to accept the BRDC's offer because, it is believed, the financial terms do not match those paid by rival races in Europe. He laid down the September 30 deadline because the FIA cannot put a race on the calendar if it does not have a promoter by that date.

Ecclestone and the BRDC have been at a stand-off over the issue since before the Italian Grand Prix and concerns are growing that Silverstone will be absent from the provisional 2005 schedule due to be released by the FIA next month.

Ecclestone himself appears unwilling to back down - and warned on Wednesday that BRDC president Jackie Stewart had every reason to feel 'worried' about the fate of the race.

"He should be worried," Ecclestone told The Daily Mirror. "I don't care where the money comes from. We have got something for sale. They know what the position is and I am the wrong guy to play hardball with. I have had a lot of practice and I am pretty good at it."

Hopes that intervention from the government could be forthcoming to help save the British Grand Prix were also recently dashed when, according to Stewart, Ecclestone phoned up the government and told them not to offer any assistance in the situation.

Speaking to autosport.com last week, Stewart maintained his stance that the BRDC would do everything it could to help save the British GP but it would not do so at any cost.

"Bernie asked us for an amount of money that we were not able to accept," said Stewart. "We provided an offer that has now been lodged with Bernie, which would allow us not to make any money but, at best, to break even.

"There's a shortfall and if that isn't met or somehow handled, then I think there's no alternative for us to decline the sort of money that Bernie is asking for, simply on the basis that it's unaffordable."