Williams: There Won't be a British GP

Team boss Frank Williams believes there will be no British Grand Prix next season after Silverstone's owners were given 48 hours to agree a contract for the race.

"If it (the contract) is done before Thursday, they are on the calendar. If it's not, they're not," Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said at meeting of team principals in London today. "They can't be on the calendar unless they've got a contract."

The official calendar, drawn up by Ecclestone, will be ratified at a meeting of the governing FIA's world motor sport council in Monaco at the end of the week.

Failure would mean Britain's absence from the calendar for the first time since the Championship started at Silverstone in 1950 but Ecclestone, 74, said he was sure the troubled race would be held.

"I guarantee there will be Silverstone. Bernie's word," he said.

Williams, however, sounded a pessimistic note at odds with the rest of those in the meeting.

"There won't be a race next year," he said.

That view was rejected by McLarens's Ron Dennis, who said: "Everybody believes it will be done."

Calendar Decision

Alex Hooton, chief executive of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) that owns Silverstone, did not attend the meeting but said negotiations were at a delicate stage.

"I can't divulge any details except to say that things are very much ongoing. My gut feeling is that there will be a British Grand Prix," he told the Independent newspaper's website.

In a rare spirit of openness in the highly secretive world of Formula One, Reuters was invited into the meeting room after the discussions. Such 'Piranha Club' sessions are usually cloaked in secrecy.

Ferrari and Sauber were absent but Ecclestone said that he and eight bosses had signed a commercial agreement for the French and British Grands Prix and was confident the other signatures would be forthcoming.

Neither Britain nor France have contracts for the 2005 races and both Grands Prix have been listed with an asterisk on a provisional calendar.

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart said he was sure there would be 19 races, more than ever before.

"Silverstone and Magny Cours were signed off today. Nothing can destroy Magny Cours and the only thing that can destroy Silverstone is the BRDC," Stoddart said.

"The teams have done their bit, Bernie has done his bit and it's down to the BRDC."

Ecclestone said he had sent the BRDC a contract for next year with an option for a further six years. The circuit owners have said in the past that they would prefer a two-year deal with a five-year option.

"The difference in opinion between FOM (Ecclestone's Formula One Management) and the BRDC is not that big," said Dennis. "All of the teams feel it's not an insurmountable problem."

Ecclestone said the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, champions Ferrari's home grand prix which has also been threatened, would go ahead.