The future of the British Grand Prix is back in the headlines and Donington Park says it isn’t interested in hosting the race if things with Silverstone fall apart.
There has been a lot of discussion about what could happen to the British GP beyond 2019 in recent weeks.
Silverstone’s owner the British Racing Drivers’ Club admitted it was considering whether it will activate a break clause in its British GP contract.
If Silverstone does decide to ditch the British GP, then the 2019 event would be the last at the track. And circuits aren’t lining up to become Silverstone’s replacement.
It’s clear the fee to host the British GP (and many European races) is extortionate and the BRDC feels it’s far too expensive to continue.
Silverstone’s contract runs to 2026 but, apparently, there’s a break clause for 2019, which would need to be activated before this year’s race in July.
Donington Park has hosted just one F1 race, the European GP in 1993. But when the future of the British GP was thrown into doubt last time round in 2010, Donington made a bid to host it and failed.
When asked if Donington would consider stepping in to host the British GP, circuit managing director Christopher Tate is quoted saying to Autosport:
“We’ve set a very clear target of keeping the trace of the circuit as it is. We’ve no interest in hosting modern, high-speed single-seaters because we’d have to completely change Donington Park.”
He was critical of the way F1 and circuits run races but Tate feels new owners Liberty Media could change that:
“The business model makes no sense to anyone and all the messing around with the F1 calendar has a terrible impact on the rest of motorsport. Hopefully there will be a totally different business model, and Liberty has made all the right noises about heritage events [such as the British GP]. I do think the new owners will understand where it all fits in because they are media savvy. It can’t continue on the basis it is.”
Let’s hope something is sorted out because it would be a huge shame to lose the British GP in the future.