Sports Minister Shows Support for British GP

Britain's sports minister Richard Caborn has stepped in to defend the British Grand Prix after the resignation of Octagon Motorsports CEO Rob Bain on Monday.

Bain stepped down from his post following criticism from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who claimed this year's organisation was worse than even before.

"The people are paying a lot of money to be looked after, and it isn't happening," said Ecclestone. We put in 20 million pounds and it still hasn't happened. They say they built new roads to make it easier - but there are no signs and cars are everywhere, going in the wrong direction.

"If their contract was up next year, I wouldn't get too excited about it. I've driven all around the perimeter and the only sign I've seen was one reading 'Silverstone exit'. That says it all."

But on Tuesday Caborn defended the British Grand Prix organisation, saying that the event went "incredibly well" and that FIA president Max Mosley was happy with the modifications made to the historic circuit in order to solve the traffic problems.

"Max Mosley said that the improvements that have been made now rank Silverstone as one of the best in the world in terms of transportation and getting in and out of the place," Caborn told BBC Radio 5 Live. "That is a major move forward and everybody involved should be congratulated on a job well done.

"I think the event went incredibly well. It was just unfortunate that Bernie got caught in an airfield about ten minutes away."

Caborn also showed his support for Bain, who was the man in charge of the British Grand Prix organisation until he resigned yesterday.

"He played a tremendous role in making sure that the circuit can get headlines saying 'Silverstone makes a golden comeback'," he added. "That is the sort of headline we saw yesterday and that must be good news for an industry that is worth £5bn and provides 40,000 jobs."