What if Britain lost its GP?

[Raggs]

If Bernie et al would cease siphoning the life-blood from F1 and allow it to return to the basic motorsport, perhaps normal people could afford to attend and TV cost would return to reasonable levels. If not what will we be left with? Six Japanese GPs, three Abu Dhabi GPs and a few select, possibly alternating sites, to complete the calendar.
Why can't F1 have V8s or some standardized powerplant instead of super-hightech combos that cost fortunes to develop? Let FormulaE or some other series be the conscience of the sport and F1 to be pinnacle of driving. I'd rather see it go in the direction of tin-tops and let the best man, or woman, win on the track in equal cars. Why do you need 600 people in a factory chasing the dream at whatever cost when it could be 20-30 in total? I see why Ferrari or even McLaren might use it as a marketing strategy but what do Force India, Sauber, Marussia, etc. have to sell apart from the products of their sponsors who could continue to do so?

[Matt Phelps]

So equal cars @Raggs?

Kind of like IndyCar? Bar the option of picking your power unit (Honda or Chevrolet in this case).

[Jag_Warrior]

I see CVC as a much bigger problem than even Bernie. Hopefully they will soon sell their stake and new ownership will reinvest and work to build the sport, rather than just worrying about growing profits... at the expense of F1's future.

BTW, the rumor I read just the other day was that Jaguar-Land Rover (Tata Motors: TTM) was looking at buying Silverstone. If that happens, then hopefully the future of the race would not be in jeopardy any longer. It seems so strange that there is no German Grand Prix, no French Grand Prix and Silverstone and Monza are under threat.

[Matt Phelps]

What are the substitutes?

Britain: Oulton Park and Donnington are surely the only realistic contenders.
Italy: Misano, a return to Imola.
Germany: Confirmed for next year
France: Magny-Cours is surely the only option, Le Mans seems to short and tight.

[jens]

Britain losing a GP... Considering we lost the French and also German (!!) Grands Prix, nothing would surprise me any more. Another classic Italian GP is also in danger.

I guess the bright side is that motorsport in Britain survives anyway. They have lots of circuits, still lots of racing series hold races there (both cars and bikes), the facilities of many teams are located there - tradition, business and technology will not stop.

Just that local people can't spend huge amounts of £ to fill Bernie's pockets once a year any more.

[jens]

There are rumours suggesting that Silverstone may not be hosting Grand Prix for much longer, but are there any real alternatives?

Donnington
Oulton Park
Whatever the new Welsh track is...

Are any of these truly suitable? If Silverstone goes, does the British GP?

In all seriousness it doesn't seem like there is a strong alternative to Silverstone. Back in 2009 there were rumours (and even contracts!) that British GP should take place in Donington in 2010, but it never happened. Brands Hatch is probably not up to F1 standards in terms of facilities, but probably also safety (?!).

[Stan Reid]

Well, they had the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy and the Swiss Grand Prix in France so I suppose you can have the British Grand Prix here at Indy.

[zako85]

F1 without the British GP is unthinkable. It's actually more unthinkable than F1 without Monaco. F1 is basically a national sport in UK, along with tennis and football, and Britain is a pretty damn big country. A lot of F1 racing is defined by Britons and factories based in Britain. 7 out of 10 current F1 team factories are based in UK. Many of their supplies are also in the UK. The dominant Mercedes engine factory is in UK. The British are driven mad by the success of another Briton who is now a three time WDC. So I don't think that Bernie, another Briton, is stupid enough to actually leave UK without a GP.

[Jag_Warrior]

F1 without the British GP is unthinkable. It's actually more unthinkable than F1 without Monaco. F1 is basically a national sport in UK, along with tennis and football, and Britain is a pretty damn big country. A lot of F1 racing is defined by Britons and factories based in Britain. 7 out of 10 current F1 team factories are based in UK. Many of their supplies are also in the UK. The dominant Mercedes engine factory is in UK. The British are driven mad by the success of another Briton who is now a three time WDC. So I don't think that Bernie, another Briton, is stupid enough to actually leave UK without a GP.

^^^This. While F1 is an international series, it (the teams and suppliers) is basically based in Britain. So to not race there would seem especially unthinkable.

[Nitrodaze]

F1 without the British GP is unthinkable. It's actually more unthinkable than F1 without Monaco. F1 is basically a national sport in UK, along with tennis and football, and Britain is a pretty damn big country. A lot of F1 racing is defined by Britons and factories based in Britain. 7 out of 10 current F1 team factories are based in UK. Many of their supplies are also in the UK. The dominant Mercedes engine factory is in UK. The British are driven mad by the success of another Briton who is now a three time WDC. So I don't think that Bernie, another Briton, is stupid enough to actually leave UK without a GP.

Nationalism has nothing to do with it buddy. it is simply business. The stakes are higher and the classic tracks are feeling the pinch of competing with state sponsored tracks flooding into F1. Mexico was damn spectacular and a huge threat to Austin. Brasil only just survived the money bags of Abu Dhabi. The German GP wobbled soon after the Austrian GP returned to the calendar. Tracks relying on fans from neighboring countries to make up for the shortfall in their countries are finding they are at risk if a close by country puts one of their tracks on the calendar. The reality of the matter is track sponsorship is becoming a state investment to drive up tourism and woo foreign investment to their country.

With the recent investment into Silverstone, it is unlikely that the British GP would drop out of the F1 Calendar, but that is by no means guaranteed. The ugly truth of the matter is, while the actual circuit of Silverstone remains one of the most challenging and exciting F1 race tracks, the facility still is behind the standard of the newer tracks. That said, Silverstone has the advantage of being one to the tracks that attain full capacity attendance compared to most tracks on the calendar.

The disadvantage of Silverstone is that the coverage of the race is mainly by the BBC which does not have advertising during the broadcast, hence offers limited revenue opportunities to the right holders. This is the juncture where the interest of the fans is in diametrical opposition to that of the right holders. We want uninterrupted race coverage, the right holders do not make money from not interrupting your viewing with commercials.

I think Silverstone is relatively safe in the near term, assuming they can continue to fill all the seats come race weekend.