Silverstone confident of British GP future

Silverstone hope the long-term future of the British Grand Prix will be guaranteed by F1's new owners. Liberty Media.

Derek Warwick, president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, believes there is common ground between them and Liberty Media, now renamed as the Formula One Group, over the future of the race at the iconic track.

Warwick warned in recent weeks that Silverstone may not be able to afford the staging fee to host the race after 2019, but says the Formula One Group seem as keen as he is to keep the race on the F1 calendar.

"We cannot carry on the way we are," Warwick said.

"We have to look at different revenue streams, we have to look at a different contract to the one we have at the moment to extend beyond 2019.

"There will be a way because Liberty don’t want to lose Silverstone and the British Grand Prix and we don’t want to lose it, there has to be middle ground for all of us. If you have two willing partners there will be a way to move forward, we will find some common ground."

The Formula One Group have no intention of reducing the staging fee, which is currently £17m but rises year on year under the terms of the contract, but may allow Silverstone to keep more of the ancillary revenue from the race.

"Under our current contract the only way we can make money out of a grand prix other than concerts is ticket sales," Warwick continued.

"(New chief executive) Chase Carey is saying other circuits have slightly different contracts to ours so there are other opportunities we can use to increase our revenue. He is saying he is going to change the way we can earn more money from the grand prix.

“Maybe we can have more pitwalks, bigger concerts, more sponsorship – maybe we can name corners. There are things we can change which we haven’t been be to do under the current contract."

Photo Getty Images/Mark Thompson

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