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Formula One promoter Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed Donington's hopes of hosting the British Grand Prix next year are over.

Ahead of this weekend's inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Ecclestone confirmed that Donington's bosses had failed to raise the funds to complete its redevelopment plans.

"There's no Donington. They've missed the deadline which we kept extending for them," Ecclestone said.

"It's unfortunate for them, to be honest with you. It was the credit crunch that cau...Read the full article

Oh how apt is the picture!! 

TegTypeR:

Oh how apt is the picture!!

 Welcome to the REAL Bernie Ecclestone!

TegTypeR:

Oh how apt is the picture!! 

Don't get me wrong, I definitely don't like the man, but I also object to this picture being the main picture on the autocar homepage right now - given that this site can be accessed by anyone of any age I don't think its exactly setting the best example.

 Also - is this picture a stock/gallery photo or was it actually taken when he was informing the press? If it is a stock/gallery photo from another time/event then it's obvious where autocar's bias lies. I have no issue with people tearing Ecclestone apart with reasoned argument, but this picture seems like a bit of a cheap shot.

crazyal:

TegTypeR:

Oh how apt is the picture!!

 Welcome to the REAL Bernie Ecclestone!

Agreed. All he thinks about is money, it's time the 'poisoned dwaf' retired

I'm on Bernie's side here. 

The British do not have a God-given right to host a Grand Prix, despite what Britons seem to think.  Either put up or shut up.

There are plenty of countries in the world who would love to hold a GP and are prepared to pay for it, so why does the BRDC seem to think they should have it for tuppence?

 

disco.stu:

There are plenty of countries in the world who would love to hold a GP and are prepared to pay for it

 

Yes and most of the new GP's are pretty bloody boring. If we lose the likes of the British GP and gain more like Valencia, I and I'll bet many others will just switch off.

disco.stu:

There are plenty of countries in the world who would love to hold a GP and are prepared to pay for it, so why does the BRDC seem to think they should have it for tuppence?

Possibly because an awful lot of the teams are based in the UK. Possibly because there is no great support for F1 in many of the countries which can/would pay to hold an F1 race. Possibly because the list of F1 World Champions contains a lot of British names.

As for the tuppence issue, I believe that the BRDC usually loses a couple of million quid hosting at Silverstone, because the fee to Bernie Inc is so large. If Damon Hill & co hold their nerve, the boot could possibly be on the other foot.

 Have you heard about the word?

CUP200:

Bernie must be the greediest man in the world ,He will not support his own country even though he could,

He's asking for £12 million to host the race with a 7% yearly increase.

On top of that

He takes the TV money

He takes the hospitality money

He takes the fees for the advertising hoardings around the tracks

There is only ticket revenue left, it's not viable for any track to make any profit, he bleeds them dry, like he did Hockenheim

He gives a discount to Monaco and Monza, no one else, all other countries have to go cap in hand to the government

It's pure greed, on behalf of CVC

The Formula One teams are not at all happy with it, and the FIA have washed their hands.

The FIA keep saying that its time to cut costs, when is Bernie going to cut his?

 Is this Bernies' own hair , or is it a rug ?