Hill hails Silverstone grand prix deal

• BRDC president says track is 'place for all motorsport'• Details of 17-year agreement remain unclearThe protracted negotiations to secure the future of the British grand prix ended in success yesterday when the British Racing Drivers' Club secured a 17-year deal to stage the race at the wartime RAF airfield which has been at the core of motorsport for the past 60 years."The title of Silverstone as 'the home of British motorsport' has come true," said Damon Hill, the BRDC president, who won the 1996 Formula One world championship when driving for Williams. "It is a place for all motorsport. Everybody in the BRDC loves motorsport and we are looking forward to the Moto GP as well as the British GP."It is not easy to enter into a contract of this magnitude and you have to take on a lot of responsibility but the BRDC wanted this relationship to continue. Everyone was well aware that the British grand prix was not just a sporting event but the dynamo of the industry in this country. Losing it would have been damaging and perhaps there would have been no coming back."Hill's delight was echoed later in the morning when Gordon Brown appeared at the BRDC's annual awards lunch to present Jenson Button with the Richard Seaman Trophy, in memory of the British Mercedes driver who was killed in the 1939 Belgian grand prix."This puts Britain at the centre of world racing for 17 years to come," said the prime minister.The details of the contract are sketchy. As is the way with race promoters' contracts signed with Bernie Ecclestone, the billionaire Formula One commercial rights holder, the intricacies of the financial details are strictly confidential and have left the motor racing fraternity clutching at straws."We are satisfied with the deal and confident that Silverstone can turn a profit under its terms," said Robert Brooks, the BRDC chairman. However, he would not be drawn into discussing speculation that the starting cost for the 17-year deal was around $21m (£12.775m) for the 2010 race. Nor would he say whether the crucial annual financial escalator had been reduced from its previous level of 10%, though the figure of 5% was reported yesterday."I can't talk about things like that," he said, though Silverstone was reported to have bought the rights at a starting price of £11m.What is clear, however, is that there is a break point which can let Silverstone relinquish its obligations after 10 years. That serves as a reminder that Formula One can be a challenging business when there is no bottomless pit of government money available to buttress any financial shortfall. Nor is it clear whether there is any cash penalty payable in the event of Silverstone exercising its get-out clause.Yet Silverstone remains hopeful that it can pack in a capacity 90,000 crowd year after year, tapping into the soul of fanatical British fans at a time when they have the last two Formula One world champions, in Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, to entertain them.Silverstone made a profit of only £662,000 last year and that is a surplus which could be wiped off the balance sheet at a stroke, should the FIA, motor sport's governing body, require improvements to the Northamptonshire circuit – such as kerbing or wider run-off areas – in the interests of safety.The saga behind cementing the British grand prix's position on the 2010 international calendar has been a lurid one but entirely in keeping with the tortuous and unpredictable relationship which has existed between Ecclestone and the BRDC for two decades now. After weeks of telling the BRDC to sign up or bow out of Formula One, and despite the distractions caused by the failure of Donington Park to live up to its commitment to take on the grand prix contract, Ecclestone said he was happy a deal had been done with Silverstone."This will ensure that Britain will remain on the Formula One calendar for many years to come, which is something I have personally always wanted to see happen," said Ecclestone. He could not resist a parting shot, however. "It's been a long and tiring nonsense," he was reported as saying. "They could have done this whole thing months and months ago."This time, however, the crucial difference is that the minimum 10-year deal at least gives Silverstone leeway to earn some money, plough investment back into the circuit and build a pit and paddock complex that is more to Ecclestone's taste, and facilities closer to those provided by tracks like Bahrain, China and Abu Dhabi.More importantly it has saved Silverstone as a shrine to Formula One, something for which future generations of fans will come to be grateful.British grand prixSilverstoneFormula OneMotor sportAlan Henryguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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