Mandleson Adds To British GP Pressure

The UK government has waded into the row over the British Grand Prix with Business Secretary Lord Mandleson urging F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone to secure the event’s future.

Ecclestone and Silverstone are in talks after official venue Donington Park failed to raise the funds to fulfil its contract.

Despite the British motorsport industry being worth £4bn to the economy, according to Mandelson, he says it is not the government’s place to step in with any physical action on this occasion.

‘It’s not as if it’s a growing start-up company. This is a very cash-rich sport so it would not be possible to justify using taxpayers money for a sport that doesn’t actually need our financial help, whatever we’re spending on the Olympics.’

Doubt was cast over the future of the British Grand Prix, which has taken place every year since 1948, when Donington missed a deadline to prove it could raise the £135m it needed to stage the race.

Silverstone Holdings, which operates the track, says its is ‘getting a lot closer to signing’ though F1 commercial rights holder Ecclestone is adamant he will not cut a cheap deal to ensure it goes ahead, and insists that the circuit’s facilities will need modernising if the race is to go ahead in 2010 and beyond.

Lord Mandelson said he understands Ecclestone’s position, but has stressed how important the British GP is for reasons which go beyond sport.

‘He has my backing and huge amounts of goodwill. But he also has my pressure to make sure that we don’t, as if by accident, lose the grand prix from this country. I don’t want to see that happen. It would damage the sport but also our economy.

‘It contributes getting up to £4bn to the economy and if you look at the jobs it creates there are 25,000 engineers involved in this sport in Britain, quite apart from 40,000-odd other jobs.

‘So I have a responsibility to retain it and to support the motor sport industry just as I would any other.’