Silverstone signs 17-year British Grand Prix deal
Agreement has break clause after 10 years
London: Silverstone's owners said yesterday they had agreed to a 17-year deal, including a break clause after 10 years, with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone to stage the British Grand Prix.
The owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC), confirmed the agreement at a news conference in London.
"It is not easy to enter into a contract of this magnitude and you have to take on a lot of responsibility, but the BRDC wanted this relationship to continue," former world champion driver and BRDC president Damon Hill told reporters.
"The title of Silverstone as home of motor sport has come true. It is a place for all motor sport. Everyone in the BRDC loves motor sport and we are looking forward to the MotoGP as well as the British Grand Prix."
Silverstone Circuits Ltd managing director Richard Phillips told the news conference there was a break clause in the agreement after 10 years.
Silverstone, a former Second World War airfield, hosted the first championship grand prix in 1950 but appeared to have lost out after Ecclestone agreed to a 17-year deal with Donington Park from 2010. That plan fell apart when Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd, now in administration, failed to raise the money needed to develop the facilities.
The final 2010 calendar, with a record-equalling 19 races provisionally listed, is due to be finalised tomorrow and published on Friday.
Britain is home to a majority of the 13 teams while the country has also provided the last two world champions in Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.
Next year's British race is due to be held on July 11, the same day as the World Cup final in South Africa.
