Stewart urges PM to help

BRDC president Jackie Stewart has written to Downing Street asking for government assistance in the situation - even though last week Sports Minister Richard Caborn was adamant that it was up to Silverstone's chiefs to resolve the problem themselves.

In a letter to Downing Street's policy adviser William Perrin, Stewart claimed that it was impossible for Formula 1 events to survive nowadays without government support - especially because the only revenue stream open to circuits was from ticket sales. All other income, including hospitality, trackside advertising and sponsorship, goes to Ecclestone's own companies.

Stewart wrote: "What seems to have been missed is that there has been simply no money coming back into the sport from Mr. Ecclestone's large rights fees and commercial rights contracts."

He went on to claim that a circuit could not hope to upgrade its facilities to match those like state-of-the-art venues like Bahrain and China, "unless a government, such as is the case with almost every other grand prix around the world, is supplying the finances to build exciting, glamorous and expensive facilities".

Silverstone's bosses have less than two weeks to resolve the issue, with motor racing's governing body, the FIA, due to publish its provisional calendar after a meeting of its World Council in Paris on October 13.

Ecclestone himself has not completely ruled out a solution being found - and suggested that an alleged £1.5 million difference between what he wants per year and what the BRDC can afford to pay should come from local businesses - with the Silverstone region estimated to earn around £30 million from the presence of the grand prix.

The other hurdle that must be overcome in that situation is that the teams would then have to agree to compete in 18 races next year - one more than the maximum number laid down in the Concorde Agreement, the document by which F1 is run.

That may only be resolved with a financial incentive - although whether Ecclestone would try and force Silverstone to pay such compensation remains to be seen.