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[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

Donington admits bond plan has failed

By Jonathan Noble Friday, October 23rd 2009, 07:55 GMT

Donington Park says it has until midday on Monday to sort out its financial planning for the British Grand Prix, after confirming efforts to raise a £135 million bond have failed.

Reports emerged last night that its funding scheme had been pulled from banks, as it bids to raises the finances necessary to redevelop the track ahead of next year's British Grand Prix.

The track has already failed to hit a deadline with Bernie Ecclestone, which means it is now effectively in breach of contract. However, the terms of the deal do give the track extra leeway to rectify the breach before the contract is terminated.

That deadline, claims Donington Park, runs out on Monday - leaving track owners less than two working days to try and put a money package together before it loses the British Grand Prix.

In a statement issued on Friday, the track said: "Donington Ventures Leisure Limited can confirm that a bond for £135 million to cover the cost of the F1 redevelopment at Donington Park has been unsuccessful.

"Despite higher than expected levels of interest and very positive early indications, the bond - which was launched with Citi Group last week - has failed to secure enough subscription ahead of today's deadline.

"The news dealt an unexpected blow to staff and management at the circuit, who still have a deadline of 12pm on Monday 26 October to remedy a breach of contract with Formula 1 Rights Holder Bernie Ecclestone, in order to keep any plans for retaining the existing 17-year Formula 1 contract alive.

"Information regarding the circuit's future plans is not yet available, however the major focus is on providing security for the Leicestershire venue and all related parties, including staff and suppliers."

Silverstone is waiting in the wings and ready to do a deal with Ecclestone to secure the future of the British Grand Prix, with dialogue between the two parties having increased in recent weeks.

[EwanM]

A possible light for the British Grand Prix?

Silverstone already in 2010 GP talks

By Jonathan Noble Friday, October 23rd 2009, 16:48 GMT
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79704

Silverstone has already begun serious discussions with Bernie Ecclestone about a new British Grand Prix deal, AUTOSPORT has learned, but a contract is still far from guaranteed.

Donington Park has until midday on Monday to sort its financing out before it is in breach of its contract to host the race, and sources have revealed that talks have already opened between Ecclestone and Silverstone about a fall back plan.

But although it is understood that those discussions have moved up a gear in recent weeks, once it became clear that Donington Park was in trouble, there remains no certainty that a deal will be put in place.

Sources suggest that the contract currently being proposed by Ecclestone's camp is very similar to the one that Silverstone rejected 18 months ago as being commercially unviable - and which led to the deal with Donington Park happening in the first place.

Although Silverstone is keen for a long-term deal to secure the future of the British Grand Prix, the track has made it clear several times that it will only keep the race if it makes financial sense.

A source close to the discussions said: "Silverstone is keen and ready to progress, but as we stand at the moment, no viable contract has yet been offered."

But....

DO WE NEED A BRITISH GRAND PRIX? BERNIE: NO
Saturday October 24,2009
By Bob McKenzie THE future of the British Grand Prix is in the balance again as Bernie Ecclestone and Silverstone resume their slug-fest over the price of staging the race.


The failure of Donington to raise the £120million to rebuild the circuit has brought back the brinkmanship over the grand prix, which was the first to be staged in 1950 to herald the official Formula One era.

A contract is on the desk of Silverstone Circuits managing director Richard Phillips but they believe it to be too much like the 2008 deal, which was rejected as a loss-maker.

It was then that Ecclestone turned to Simon Gillett, who has a 100-year lease on Donington, and said he could stage the British Grand Prix. His plan to raise the rebuilding capital from the City and fund the project mainly through a debenture scheme has failed to attract investment.

The deal ends on Tuesday, a two-week breach of contract according to Ecclestone.

It puts Silverstone back on the agenda as the only possibility – but a spokesman there said: “Silverstone has not yet been offered a commercially viable contract.” Ecclestone’s reply was: “No one is forcing them to take it. This is business. We have offered them a deal.

“The contract they have is the contract we like. We are not prepared to charge less. Do we need a British Grand Prix? No.”

Ecclestone, F1’s commercial rights holder, dismissed the idea that the British race should be an annual fixture as one of four protected “traditional” grands prix.

“Italy is a traditional race because they have always raced at Monza,” he said.

“Monaco is traditional as they have always had the same track. Britain and France have raced at three different circuits. They want a cut-price deal because it is traditional. That’s not traditional to me. Britain is not protected. I would like a new plane because it’s traditional as I have had one for 40 years but no one is offering me a cheap deal. That’s not how it works.

Phillips is aware that time is running out to prepare for next July’s race, particularly as it is on the same day as football’s World Cup final.

By now they would have sold 30,000 tickets, but nothing has been done because of the Donington problems. “You have to sell an awful lot of tickets to break even with a grand prix,” he said. “We are hopeful that something will resolve itself in the next few days.”

Ecclestone, who was pleased that former Ferrari boss Jean Todt won a clear 135-35 vote over Ari Vatanen to succeed Max Mosley as FIA president, is not prepared to enter a long period of talks . “We’re not going to negotiate to negotiate about negotiations. Let’s get on with it,” he said. “They can make money. It’s up to them.”

Suggestions that new world champion Jenson Button might join Lewis Hamilton in an all-British line-up at McLaren were rubbished yesterday. Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug said: “There are no negotiations with Jenson but I do have an understanding that people in England are dreaming of an English team with two world champions in the cockpit. However, dreams do not always come true.”

Button is trying to negotiate a rise on his cut-price £3m annual salary at Brawn GP.FORMULA ONE: New silverstone talks ‘A lot of countries want a grand prix’

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/135 ... Bernie-No#

[EwanM]

Executives at Donington Park could be faced with paying Bernie Ecclestone up to £15 million as a result of their aborted attempt to take over the rights for the British Grand Prix.

The Formula One commercial rights-holder was yesterday mulling over the fallout from Donington’s failure to raise £135 million to stage Britain’s biggest motor race.

Simon Gillett, the Donington chief executive, has until noon on Monday to try to remedy the breach of contract with Ecclestone but it seems that any hopes of taking the grand prix to the Leicestershire circuit are over, which means it will be liable for a cancellation fee, thought to be between £12 million and £15 million.

A Donington statement read: “Information regarding the circuit’s future plans is not yet available; however, the major focus is on providing security for the Leicestershire venue and all related parties, including staff and suppliers.”

Ecclestone, meanwhile, is faced with a choice between cancelling next year’s British Grand Prix or going cap-in-hand back to Silverstone, the race’s traditional home. That might not be as easy as in previous years when Ecclestone was able to call the shots in negotiations.

Sponsors and teams will be clamouring for a British Grand Prix and Ecclestone will be under pressure to deliver. This time, though, Silverstone is resolved to hold out for a long-term deal that would be financially favourable. Silverstone revealed this week how little profit the grand prix makes. On a turnover of £38 million last year, the circuit managed an operating surplus of a little more than £662,000 — the sort of number that may have played a part in turning potential investors off the Donington project.

[myownalias]

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone insists the sport does not need the British Grand Prix as negotiations continue over the hosting of the race from 2010.

Donington's bid to stage the event looks over after the promoters failed to raise the £135m needed to host it.

And Silverstone, the most likely alternative venue, is stalling over the terms of Ecclestone's contract offer.

Ecclestone said: "I want a British Grand Prix, of course, but we are not going to do special rates for Britain."

Silverstone has hosted every British Grand Prix since 1987 but in 2008 Donington, which has only ever held one grand prix, won the rights to the event.

Donington's apparent inability to come up with the cash required to host the race has seen it offered back to Silverstone but the deal is thought to be similar to the one presented to, and rejected by, the circuit 18 months ago.

Ecclestone told the Daily Express: "Silverstone have a contract in front of them. We've no commercial arrangement in place for a British Grand Prix for next year.

"That is why the race has an asterisk beside it on the 2010 calendar.

"If they can't make it work then don't do it. If that happens, there won't be a British Grand Prix. Simple as that.

"No-one is forcing them to take it. This is business. We have offered them a deal."

Ecclestone ruled out the prospect of Britain being given a discount rate, similar to those enjoyed by Monza and Monaco as the sport's "traditional" grands prix.

He added: "The contract they have is the contract we like. We are not prepared to charge less. Do we need a British Grand Prix? No."

Donington still has until midday Monday (1200 GMT) to meet the deadline set by Ecclestone for executives to prove they have the finances required to upgrade the aged track.

The central England circuit had been set due to take over hosting rights from Silverstone next July in a 17-year deal.

Earlier this month, Donington launched a bond issue in an attempt to raise £135m, but track operators, Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd, confirmed on Friday that it had been unsuccessful.

The track operators added: "Despite higher than expected levels of interest and very positive early indications, the bond, which was launched with Citi Group last week, has failed to secure enough subscription ahead of the deadline."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsp ... 323753.stm

Why does the phrase "cutting off your nose to spite your face" spring to mind? The highlighted section above irks me because he just gave Canada a special deal to hold the race in Montreal, why can't he do that for Silverstone as it's one of F1's core market! Bernie may have built up F1 but now it seems like he is trying to destroy it!

[7UpJordan]

I think if Bernie decides to leave it off the calendar, the teams and fans should just turn up anyway just to make him flip.

[EwanM]

Well the deadline for Donington has passed. Although the circuit is yet to make a statement, the 2010 bgp has been removed from the site. Curtains. Donington is now left with no gp and a building site

[headless]

Well the deadline for Donington has passed. Although the circuit is yet to make a statement, the 2010 bgp has been removed from the site. Curtains. Donington is now left with no gp and a building site

What a balls up

[hamilton08]

well hopefully now silverstone can get the race
there MUST be a british gp

[Tony_sa]

well hopefully now silverstone can get the race
there MUST be a british gp

well bernie says otherwise...- apparently he was last seen in somalia hoping to find a few unused street

[MAD MAX]

Ecclestone has offered Silverstone a 17 yr contract to host the British G.P. He wants £12m, which according to Sky news will increase by 7% a year

[myownalias]

It's not looking good for the 2010 British Grand Prix

Former Formula 1 champion Damon Hill says the future of next year's British Grand Prix is far from certain because of competition from around the world.

With contracted venue Donington Park struggling to find the cash to redevelop its circuit, Hill is trying to move the event to Silverstone.

But he fears F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone may look elsewhere.

"F1 can go anywhere in the world and get a huge amount of money," Hill told BBC Radio 5 live.

"That's what Bernie's wrestling with. But it's not his job to give a discounted job to the UK."

The British GP has been held every year since 1948 and has a rich history, while recently English drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have won 2008 and 2009 world titles respectively with Brackley-based Brawn also clinching this year's constructors' crown.

"There's a whole load of reasons why it should happen here," Hill added. "But ultimately you are competing against countries which are able to inject public money into their infrastructure and into the contract of the grand prix. And that seems to be the stumbling block here."

The proposed move to Donington Park on a long-term contract was announced in July 2008, but a deadline passed on Monday for the company redeveloping the circuit to prove it had the £135m funding required.

In June, Ecclestone has said there would definitely be a British GP in 2010 and that it would be at Silverstone if Donington failed to come through.

But more recently he has backtracked and said it is not certain there will be a grand prix in Britain next year at all.

He said on Friday: "I want a British Grand Prix, of course, but we are not going to do special rates for Britain.

"If they [Silverstone] can't make it work then don't do it. If that happens, there won't be a British Grand Prix. Simple as that."

Hill, 1996 F1 world champion, is now president of the British Racing Drivers' Club which is negotiating a deal to take the race back to Silverstone, although he is not directly involved in those talks.

But he believes Ecclestone, who has long criticised the lack of investment in upgrading Silverstone, could take up the chance to earn more money elsewhere by giving the slot in the calendar to a country such as Korea, which is on the provisional grand prix list for 2010.

"He [Ecclestone] can get a value globally that is far in excess of what he can get for the UK," Hill said. "We can respect that it is a difficult position for him to be in. He has to answer to his shareholders.

"There are options on the table. There are discussions taking place and I'm hopeful something can be sorted out."

The British GP was almost was dropped in 2005 because of a dispute between Ecclestone and the BRDC, which refused to pay the race fee he had demanded.

The race was left off the provisional race calendar but was reinstated after negotiations produced an agreement.

Silverstone has hosted every British Grand Prix since 1987, while Donington, which is synonymous with MotoGP, has held only one F1 race, the European Grand Prix in 1993.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsp ... 300268.stm

[Jabberwocky]

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_ ... t_id=39435

British tabloid the Express claims that, in what would have to be an amazing 'skin of the teeth' move, Donington boss Simon Gillett has found £12m and thereby "saved" the British Grand Prix.

While nobody is quoted and no source attributed, the British tabloid claims that Gillett won a "last-gasp bid to keep the British grand Prix after transferring £12 million to Formula One on the deadline last night".

If true, by transferring the money - which happened after the close of business on Tuesday night and therefore legally missed the latest deadline - Gillett might have caused this pathetic saga to rumble on for a little bit longer.

However, every day that Gillett continues with the Donington bid makes it harder for Silverstone to get on with the process of organizing the event, assuming that the Northamptonshire circuits owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club, can agree a financial deal with Bernie Ecclestone.

Where the £12m came from the Express doesn't say, but there are no branches of Cash Converters close to Donington, therefore that can only mean that Gillett has sent in several thousand jiffy bags containing unwanted jewlery (sic) to Postalgold.

[texasmr2]

I apologize if this point has been broughtup before but why can't they, the FIA, alter between the two track's?? Silverstone, the birthplace of modern day F1 should never even be considered to be taken off the list and Donington has a great F1 history aswell so why can't we have an alternateing schedule for the next few seasons and then see how things pan out??

[Jabberwocky]

There is another British world champion maybe one will become the European GP?!?! especially as the current one is loved so much

[myownalias]

I apologize if this point has been broughtup before but why can't they, the FIA, alter between the two track's?? Silverstone, the birthplace of modern day F1 should never even be considered to be taken off the list and Donington has a great F1 history aswell so why can't we have an alternateing schedule for the next few seasons and then see how things pan out??

That would require an agreement between Gillett and the BRDC to share the British Grand Prix; with both parties coming up with half the fee. And of course Bernie would have to agree to the coalition as well; which I doubt he'll do; I personally think that Bernie is trying to drive F1 away from Europe completely to pastures new where the governments are willing to pay the big $$$ to boost their countries image.