The British Grand Prix is under threat.
It doesn’t matter how successful Lewis Hamilton is, how well the other three British drivers or, or even that most of the F1 teams are based in Britain: If Bernie Ecclestone doesn’t get his money, it’s game over.
Ecclestone wants the British government to put up some cash for the race. It’s common practice outside of Europe, especially among Asian states that seem to be falling over themselves to build tracks at enormous cost to the public purse.
And it just so happens that the leader of the opposition party in Britain was elected in a constituency in which two F1 teams are based.
David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative party, is Member of Parliament for Witney. The Oxfordshire constituency is home to two F1 teams: Williams in Grove and Renault in Chipping Norton.
Witney is a safe Tory seat to begin with: Cameron was elected with 26,571 votes in 2005 and a majority of 14,156.
But that hasn’t stopped people from speculating that, were the Conservatives to take power, Cameron would be keen to support the British Grand Prix. He would support the race to safeguard against the threat of a substantial loss of highly skilled jobs on his own back door.
Ecclestone is more than happy to do such deals. The organisers of the next European Grand Prix, to be held on the streets of Valencia next year, were only promised the race as long as the Partido Popular regained power in elections there last month. They did, and the race will go ahead in 2008.
And don’t forget that a supposed deal with Ecclestone was one of the first major embarrassments for Tony Blair’s new government in 1997, when Blair returned a ?���ܣ1m loan from Ecclestone amid controversy over legislation banning tobacco advertising in F1.
Related links
- Valencia to be second F1 street track in 2008
- Debate: Should Ecclestone buy Silverstone?
- UK government not interested in Grand Prix
- Why Britain should share its Grand Prix
- Grandprix.com – The Mole: Save Silverstone, vote Conservative? (external)
Tags: f1 / formula one / formula 1 / grand prix / motor sport
Clive
11th June 2007, 23:00
There was talk recently of Flavio Briatore leaving F1 and going into politics – wanted some job called “The Italian Prime Minister” apparently. But Bernie’s antics seem to be getting perilously close to something even better – the power behind the throne. Come to think of it, he’d make a rather good “eminence grise”, don’t you think?
Wes
12th June 2007, 0:37
It would be sad if Silverstone were to be removed from the race calendar. I hope a solution and an agreement will be found soon.
Journeyer
12th June 2007, 3:42
Clive, my thoughts exactly! What a laugh… First, he supports New Labour. Now, he and the Tories might team up. Goodness…
Alianora La Canta
12th June 2007, 19:26
Hmmm… some people never learn. If Bernie tries to do a deal with David Cameron, Bernie will be in his second governmental scandal in twelve years. Bearing in mind that we are talking about the opposition to the party that Bernie acted dodgily towards last time, the schadenfraude in the Houses of Commons would be immense. It wouldn’t quite be a resignation matter for Mr Cameron, but it would put his leadership on perilous ground.