Silverstone had it Coming, Says Ecclestone

Silverstone could have continued to host the British Grand Prix if its owners handled the affair differently, Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone claims.

Ecclestone had set yesterday's date as a deadline for offers to promote the event, and after the owners of the circuit, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) failed to meet the deadline, the event was scrapped from the provisional 2005 calendar, along with the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours.

"[The BRDC] came to me with a letter which more or less said, 'take it or leave it'," Ecclestone told the Daily Telegraph. "The obvious thing they should know is that when they say that to me, that is an opportunity to leave it. I put up a third of the money for the improvements at the circuit and all they did was build car parks. That's it. They paid nothing for the circuit in the first place."

Ecclestone had long been critical of the facilities at Silverstone, branding the event a 'country fair masquerading as a world event'. And, according to the 74-year-old, the British Grand Prix suffers from a lack of commercial leadership.

"I want to deal with a commercial organisation, not a gentlemen's club, which is what has been happening at Silverstone for far too long," Ecclestone told the newspaper. "I have given them their chances for years. I even offered to go into a joint venture deal with them to help out, but they refused that. I try to be fair and honest with everybody.

"The deal I offered them was already on the old terms and the cheapest in Europe and the rest of the world. It was a really super deal. We have gone along with them for a long time but I couldn't do it any more. They don't want to take a risk. In fact, they don't want to do anything that doesn't suit them."

The 2005 calendar is set to be approved by the FIA's World Council on October 13th, and the decision to axe the oldest Grand Prix in the World Championship may be reversed, although Ecclestone said the chances for that happening are slim.

"They haven't lost it yet, but probably will," Ecclestone told ITN. "It's quite embarrassing, I'm pushing the world to raise the standard everywhere and our country has got probably one of the worst (facilities).

"It's bad news for all the people that have supported us at Silverstone, they've had terrible conditions but they stuck by us. We even gave them an option to have a contract in 2007 so they can have two years off, get everything done properly and come back in 2007 but they haven't taken in those things."