Bernie Ecclestone has warned that the British Grand Prix will have to be dropped from the 2010 calendar if Silverstone has not agreed to a deal by the time of next month’s World Motor Sport Council meeting.
Since Donington’s plans to host the British event from next season fell through due to a lack of funds several weeks ago, Silverstone’s bosses have been in talks with Ecclestone in a bid to secure a long-term agreement that will see the race return to its traditional home.
However with no deal having yet been forthcoming, Ecclestone on Friday raised the spectre of the race disappearing from next season’s schedule if the negotiations fail to produce a result by the time of the WMSC meeting on December 11 when the final 2010 calendar will be ratified.
“The World Council will meet and we will just pull it off — we will have to,” Ecclestone told The Times.
“We’ll have no other choice, if we don’t have a contract. We shouldn’t have anything on the calendar unless we have a contract in place.”
The warning – which is also likely to apply to Canadian GP officials with no final agreement for its Montreal race to return yet announced – would mean the provisional 19-race calendar is cut by one round, rather than another country being added in place, according to Ecclestone.
However, Formula 1’s impresario did offer hope that a deal would be concluded in the coming weeks, suggesting that Silverstone’s owner the BRDC – which earlier this year gave the green light to securing outside investment for the first time – is trying to find additional funding to secure the race’s return.
“They are close and they know they are close,” Ecclestone added.
“It’s not the terms and conditions so much as whether the investors are prepared to bankroll them and take the risk.”
And although Ecclestone has in the past been accused of being indifferent about retaining a British GP on the calendar, he has made it clear he is keen for a deal to be done – although he again stressed he won’t be offering Silverstone special rates compared with other countries.
“Of course we want a British Grand Prix,” he insisted.
“I’ve been spending an awful lot of time trying make sure it does happen, but there is no chance of an exceptional contract for Silverstone. Why should there be?”
The 2010 British Grand Prix is currently scheduled for July 11.