Bernie Ecclestone turned the British Grand Prix into roadkill yesterday, squashing it without sentiment in his haste to do mega-deals with governments in the oil-rich Arab nations and Far East.
If the Tower of London was still trading, he would be in it, yet the decision to drop Silverstone is entirely consistent with the ruthlessness of Formula One.
Like a James Bond villain, Ecclestone must have given his cat an extra stroke last night when blame was heaped on the Government, who have invested £8 million of public money in roads around Silverstone but refuse to subsidise the multi-millionaires of the F1 paddock. Quite right, too.
Does anyone other than Sir Jackie Stewart and the British Racing Drivers Club seriously think the state should make up the £3 million shortfall between what Silverstone are offering and Ecclestone has in mind?
Bahrain, who spent £127 million building their new circuit, and Shanghai, who lavished £300 million on the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix last weekend, have their own motives for wanting to be on Ecclestone’s map of rampaging egos.
Sour grapes my friends, sour grapes.
Here’s a comment I entered earlier on AMCGLTD about the situation (thanks to Scott for the heads-up):
Good riddance! The BRDC were trying to go cheep, and frankly with circuits like Bahrain and Shanghai, there is no place for Silverstone UNLESS it (or the government) invests heavily at upgrading the infrastructure and the track itself.
I remember driving on the circuit in a Formula Ford a few years ago and it was fun, but I can see the millions of cracks on the asphalt, when I asked why this is the case considering it is the “mother of F1 tracks” they said, no worries it’ll get fixed very quickly. That was about 4 years ago and nothing was done about that!
Cheap lot they are, and they should have been axed a few years ago.
