Silverstone activates British Grand Prix break clause
- Published on 11 Jul 2017 15:58
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- By: Chris Soulsby
The future of the British Grand Prix has been cast into a shadow of doubt past 2019 as the BRDC have confirmed the activation of a break clause in its current contract with Formula 1. This will see the circuit stop hosting the race past 2019.
The activation of this break clause is a result of the rising costs of the race, with the cost increasing by 5% each year that the race is held, which would see the cost rise to up to £26 million - something that the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) is not able to afford.
"We have reached a tipping point," said John Grant, the chairman of the BRDC. "We can no longer let our passion for the sport rule our heads. We sustained losses of £2.8m in 2015 and £4.8m in 2016, and we expect to lose a similar amount this year. Our hope is that an agreement can still be reached, so that we can ensure a sustainable and financially viable future for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for many years to come."
Silverstone has been the home of the British Grand Prix since 1987 and has held the race every year since, and will host the race weekend which will be the tenth grand prix of 2017.
F1's chairman Chase Carey regards the British Grand Prix as "critically important" to F1, and told BBC Sport that: "We are very much determined to have a race in the UK and our priority would be to try to find a solution with Silverstone but we are not there today. We have a race in place through 2019, so you are talking three years. So there has to be a little bit of a reality check of the timeframe we are dealing with." Carey also revealed that there was "interest from other places that would have appeal" elsewhere in the UK, potentially referring to the idea of holding a race in the Docklands area of London.
Chris Soulsby
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Replies (7)
Login to replyJoeGreen84
Posts: 30
i really hope this is them just playing hard ball. It would really suck if Silverstone was not on the calendar any more. i just pray that they dont do something stupid like put it in London.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont really think so, you are generally not allowed to activate a break clause just like that.
Smiler121
Posts: 53
All the talk of wanting to cherish the history of the sport while moving forwards, lets hope this simply allows Silverstone to re-negotiate a sensibly priced deal.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
I imagine something new will be negotiated
yellowfly81
Posts: 79
If Liberty really feel the race is important, they'll prove it and sort something out, I'm sure!
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
The thing is, Silverstone has not been very clever in their approach, as they have tried to publicly put pressure on Liberty Media.
This puts Liberty Media in a very difficult spot in terms of renegotiating. Because Liberty can't really renegotiate and still save face, and even if they did, it would be a blueprint for others - just play hardball, and bully your way into a better contract.
That being said, the 5% annual increase is ridiculous. But, then again, they've agreed to it out of their free will.
Barron
Posts: 625
It's a shame Grosjean can't activate a brake clause....?