Silverstone loses GP to Donington

Eurosport - Sun, 06 Jul 15:00:00 2008

Donington Park will replace Silverstone as the British Grand Prix's host circuit from 2010.

FORMULA 1 Silverstone Race track 2007 - 0

"Following discussions with Formula One Management, the FIA can confirm that the British Grand Prix will be retained on the Formula One World Championship calendar," said an FIA statement.

"From 2010 the new home of the British Grand Prix will be Donington Park."

Donington Park said the circuit's co-owners Simon Gillett and Lee Gill had signed a 10-year agreement that included an investment of £100 million over a five-year period.

The surprise decision, while securing the future of the race in Britain, represents a huge blow for the Silverstone circuit owned by the British Racing Drivers' Club, whose contract to host the race expires at the end of next year.

The BRDC have advanced plans to redevelop the pits and paddock complex to bring the circuit in line with other more modern facilities but they needed the guarantee of a grand prix to proceed.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has threatened repeatedly to remove the race from the Formula One calendar if Silverstone, which hosted the first championship grand prix in 1950, is not upgraded.

Privately-owned Donington, home of the British round of the MotoGP championship, hosted the European Formula One grand prix in 1993.

"Finally the uncertainty is over," Ecclestone said in the FIA statement handed out at the British Grand Prix. "A contract has been signed with Donington Park and the future of the British Grand Prix is now secure.

"We wanted a world class venue for Formula One in Britain, something that the teams and British F1 fans could be proud of," he added.

"The major development plans for Donington will give us exactly that. A venue that will put British motor sport back on the map.

"I am sorry that we could not have helped Silverstone to raise the money to carry out the circuit improvements and run Formula One," continued Ecclestone, who also took a sideswipe at the British government and the funding of the London 2012 Olympics.

"I believe that the government should have supported them (Silverstone) which would have cost probably less than .002 percent of the government's commitment for the Olympic Games," he said.

FIA president Max Mosley said he was delighted that the race's future had been secured.

"We understand that the development programme planned for Donington will achieve the very high standards we and FOM expect from a modern F1 circuit," he said. "Finally, British Formula One fans will get the Grand Prix venue they deserve."

The Donington circuit, near the East Midlands cities of Derby and Nottingham, will require considerable improvement of its outdated facilities with poor access roads plagued by severe congestion on race weekends.

Reuters

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  1. "Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has threatened repeatedly to remove the race from the Formula One calendar if Silverstone, which hosted the first championship grand prix in 1950, is not upgraded."

    The first home of the British GP was not at Silverstone, it was run at Gatwick until someone decided to plant an airfield there.

    From moonwolf_equinox, on Tue 26 May 5:50AM

  2. Good luck Donnington especially IF F1 becomes GP2 or lower and FOTAF1 races at Silverstone.

    From abbietutty, on Tue 26 May 2:34AM

  3. The way I see it there is only one true home for the British Grand Prix. Silverstone has made great strides in recent years to improve. However to match or surpass the best the BRDC needed to invest a huge amounts of cash but without oil money etc it was going to be difficult. Hats of to them BRDC did eventually raise the required investment. But without the stability of a long term contract from Bernie that was going to be impossible. BE knows this. His greed (& Max’s vendetta against the BRDC) has sealed Silverstone’s fate…… I think there is still a faint glimmer of hope. If FOTA¬ and the drivers GPDA stood up to them Silverstone as well as Canada, USA etc might still have a chance.

    From jd.patel@..., on Mon 25 May 9:31PM

  4. until we get a circuit like shangai, bahrain,malasia etc what do we expect
    silverstone i love but what a @#$% hole it is
    donnington| well brands had its day oulton park has a cracking track but bugger all stand wise , can go on , we need a new cicuit midland area so we can all access it
    we have enough poles etc to do the job cheap
    so come on brown now the expenses are ars up spend em on a new circuit

    From rock, on Mon 25 May 8:02PM

  5. At last, the Brit GP run on a real road circuit rather than a pumped up airfield that thinks history and nostalgia are all it needs to run the event.I am old enough to remember the "good" alternate years when the race was run at Brands Hatch. A far better circuit for a fan to visit, even if it did mean twice the travel distance.
    Good luck Donington.Let's hope you can do it. (For all our sakes)

    From rockott, on Sun 6 Jul 9:48PM

  6. Yawn.

    From yawn1001, on Sun 6 Jul 6:26PM

  7. These things happen...Silverstone's fate has been sealed by it's own inefficiancy. Silverstone cannot be the flagship British race circiut on reputation or nostalgia alone. It's like the BBC losing Match Of The Day, in that it's where it belongs, but gets better because of the competition. This is the same in horse racing. The big events are bound to the big tracks, and the grounds had to redevelop recently, Doncaster/Aintee are better for it! Get better and win it back.

    From anthony.littlewood, on Sun 6 Jul 4:29PM

  8. i live 5 miles from donington,i dont want f1 there,the roads wont cope,the infrastructure wont cope,the track will get rippled to f*** in the braking areas. i used to take my daughter up there on non racing days to watch bikes practising,i took her last week and guess what? since being taken over this is no longer possible as the new owners have stuck massive gates on both entrances to the circuit. please,no f1 at donington......

    From dave l, on Sun 6 Jul 4:19PM

  9. It seems Bernie has got his wish at last.
    With all the money that Bernie has made from the sport that started at Silverstone, he should be helping Silverstone financially to retain the British Grand Prix, instead of being a colluder in its downfall.

    From stuart.alexander5@..., on Sun 6 Jul 11:53AM

  10. Shut up the lot of you got nothing better to do who cares where its at as long as we have british GP silverstone had its chance andn its day

    From clive, on Sun 6 Jul 11:17AM

  11. has f1 gone mad Silverstone is best circuit in england have to donnington what s##t hole F1 is now finish in england roll on 2010 MOTO GP back at silverstone were it belongs thanks FIM & ACU.

    GRAHAM BENNEY NORTHAMPTON

    From GRAHAM B, on Sun 6 Jul 11:08AM

  12. Been going to Donnington for years GP BSB, its was a bike fest run by bikers for bikers now it's corparate and the prawn butty brigade have invaded along with the Ride it and shine it brigade... if you want facilities stay at home and watch it on the telly take the Grand Prix's elswhere and leave Donny alone

    From jquinn955i@..., on Sun 6 Jul 10:47AM

  13. The best thing I remember about Silverstone is getting laid on the runway, I don't think I will try that at Doddington so I might get to see some proper racing on proper hills with real corners :-)

    Who is spreading all these rumours about Ballack coming to WHUFC B-)

    From art_tidesco, on Sat 5 Jul 5:32PM

  14. Don,t get me wrong donnington is excellent spectator cicuit its just out of date with facilites

    From james, on Sat 5 Jul 4:58PM

  15. Surely we should be greatful that we still have a british grand prix yes donington needs major improvements and silverstone had its chance why not run the race at rockingham or even take it back to brands hatch, we have better circuits and some of the most demanding in the world like cadwell park would love to see f1 cars flying over the mountian well one can dream.

    From dazdaman, on Sat 5 Jul 4:50PM

  16. There is one good public toilet in the exhibition center thats poor!

    From james, on Sat 5 Jul 3:52PM

  17. Silverstone is a British monument. To replace it with a grotty old S**theap is proproerous. Just like the Royals relegation.

    From davidglyndwr.jones5@..., on Sat 5 Jul 3:46PM

  18. Lets face the real bottom line has any one used the craper at donnington!

    From james, on Sat 5 Jul 3:40PM

  19. die die bernie you are a conplete fool GP british home of silvertone you only care about yourself you asso
    maggie towcesterl

    From maggie766@..., on Sat 5 Jul 3:10PM

  20. doh! I think the word 'venues' might be missing from previous message :-)

    Think I was getting excited about the imminent transfer of Michael Ballack to WHUFC :-)

    From art_tidesco, on Sat 5 Jul 12:24PM
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