'The BRDC know the terms', sport's supremo underlines.
The 2009 British Grand Prix will be the last to be held in the country - that is the warning from Formula 1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, who admits he 'would not put any money' on the race continuing to be held at the Northants circuit following the expiry of its current contract next year.
There has been uncertainty over the long-term future of the British Grand Prix - a permanent fixture on the F1 calendar since the world championship's inception all the way back in 1950 - for a good number of years, with both Ecclestone and FIA President Max Mosley repeatedly issuing scathing remarks about the state of the venue's facilities.
With the former having given circuit owners the British Racing Drivers' Club an ultimatum to pay the going rate or else face the consequences, time is fast running out. The Daily Telegraph states that in Ecclestone's view, negotiations over a new deal for Silverstone to continue to host the British Grand Prix have the status of 'a dead duck'.
The renewal date for the existing five-year contract has already elapsed, with the new deal presented by Ecclestone being the standard $22 million (£11.2 million) a year for European promoters, rising at a rate of five per cent per annum. Insisting they cannot meet such demands, the BRDC - currently running at a loss - are still refusing to bite.
"I suppose they could come back to me," 77-year-old Ecclestone surmised. "They could get the building done in six months, but I would not put any money on it.
"The BRDC know the terms. If they meet them, then we are in business, but at the moment they can't and therefore there is no race in 2010."
The threat of the axe previously hung over the British Grand Prix in September 2004, when the race was saved by an eleventh hour agreement from the BRDC to upgrade the former airfield site to bring it up to the standard of the new raft of Eastern circuits joining the calendar. Plans for a further £40 million pits and paddock complex have been granted approval by the local authorities in recent months - on the condition that the track retains its blue-riband event.
Pressure is increasingly on European venues, with a wave of new countries queuing up to gain the right to host a grand prix and only a certain amount of space on the F1 schedule. Abu Dhabi will join the grid in 2009, with India set to follow suit the year after.
