Ecclestone: There’s No Donington

After months of questioning whether Donington Park would be able to prove its financial ability to host the British Grand Prix, the governing body’s chief Bernie Ecclestone has now publicly insisted that the track is no longer an option.

‘There’s no Donington,’ the F1 supremo has announced.

Donington had received repeated extensions on its deadlines to show it had the £135m funding required to hold the British Grand Prix, but could not deliver.

Now that Donginton has failed to come up with the finances, Silverstone is again the most plausible track to host the event, but questions have now risen whether there will be a British Grand Prix at all.

The company which owns the Northamptonshire circuit had stalled when a new deal was being renegotiated, but Ecclestone has said any possible deal is now in the hands of Silverstone.

This week, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson reportedly stressed to Ecclestone the importance of F1 and the British Grand Prix to the UK.

The British GP has been held every year since 1948, while British drivers have recently come back into the spotlight, with Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button winning back-to-back world titles.

Silverstone has hosted the country’s Grand Prix since 1987, while Donington has held only one F1 race, the European Grand Prix in 1993.