The British Grand Prix looks to have been saved after Bernie Ecclestone has agreed to forgo fees of £60 million.
According to British newspaper The Times, a £300 million deal saving the British Grand Prix is set to be announced today by Damon Hill.
Ecclestone’s fee waiver may come as a surprise to some given that he initially demanded a £12 million annual fee for the right to stage the race, with a 7 percent annual increase on that fee using compound interest, and the fact that Ecclestone has repeated said that there is a strong possibility of the British Grand Prix being totally axed. The race made just £662,000 profit last year and there were fears that the demanded fees would push the business into bankruptcy.
Ecclestone is now thought to have reduced the annual increase to just five percent and the reduction means that they will have to pay £60 million less than the original deal over ten years. A clause giving either party the option to break after ten years is also thought to be in the contract.
