Silverstone’s £30m offer to keep F1
THE owners of Silverstone have offered Formula 1 the entire £30 million ticket money from the British Grand Prix to try to save the historic race from the axe.
A source told The Mail on Sunday that Silverstone is prepared to give all the profit it makes from the race to F1 – in return for enough money to cover the costs of hosting the event.
Silverstone is owned by the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which includes Sir Jackie Stewart, Nigel Mansell and reigning F1 champion Lewis Hamilton.
It is the only F1 track in the world lacking Government funding so it has to cover running costs and the £17 million F1 hosting fee largely from ticket sales.
The Drivers’ Club made a loss of £51 million over the six years to the end of 2017 and so last year decided to break its F1 contract. The 2019 Grand Prix is due to be the last at the Northamptonshire track but F1’s owner, Liberty Media, has kept the door open to negotiations.
A senior member of the Drivers’ Club said: ‘The ticket sales would go to Liberty but we could provide all the management, all the organisation. In return, Liberty would pay us a reasonable amount to cover our overheads for the use of the track and job done. All logic says they are going to come to an agreement but there is no great urgency for it ... as it’s a year before they set the calendar [for F1 races].’