South Africa return edges closer

Although Cape Town's bid to host a race has been widely reported in the past, insiders have told autosport.com that Ecclestone is on the verge of giving official approval to the project after meeting representatives of the company bankrolling the project.

A development company, the Omega Consortium, has been pushing hard for the deal and it is understood that they have given Ecclestone enough proof of their intent to put on a race for him to be ready to give them a slot on the future F1 calendar - and perhaps as early as 2006.

And although the calendar is currently packed with events, the continued uncertainty over the British Grand Prix's future allied with Cape Town's willingness to put on a race appears to have swayed Ecclestone's opinion.

Ecclestone himself suggested on Wednesday morning that his frustration with talks over Silverstone's future had boiled over thanks to interest from another country - believed to South Africa.

Speaking about pulling out of the Silverstone negotiations, Ecclestone said: "What could I do? I have got an offer from another country who are looking to build a lovely venue and invest a lot of money in Formula 1 - and they will pay the going rate. I have to give them a year's notice to go ahead. If I miss that because I am still messing about with the BRDC [Silverstone's owners], I would be keeping out a country that desperately wants to be in the Formula 1 world championship."

A site for the South African Grand Prix has already been earmarked near Cape Town airport. The country's government is also being canvassed at the moment to waive its current ban on tobacco advertising to act as a further incentive for Ecclestone.

The inclusion of a new race in South Africa on the calendar, if it came at the expense of Silverstone, would make it incredibly hard for the British Grand Prix to ever find its way back onto the calendar.

Alex Hooton, chief executive of the British Racing Drivers' Club that owns Silverstone said: "It is always more difficult to put something back after it has fallen down than it is to continue to maintain something. It would obviously be a backwards step if we lost the race."