Bernie threatens Silverstone

Formula One supreme Bernie Ecclestone has ramped up the pressure on Silverstone to do a long-term deal on the British Grand Prix by threatening to take the race to Donington Park instead.Silverstone’s owner, the British Racing Drivers’ Club, has a deal with Ecclestone to hold the race at the Northamptonshire circuit until 2009. But F1’s commercial boss and the club have become stuck in negotiations about the price of the race and required improvements to the track’s facilities.Ecclestone told The Times, “We are discussing the possibility of reaching an agreement with Donington to host the British Grand Prix. We are trying to save the British GP and we want it to be staged at a venue which befits an event of its stature.”Donington, which hosted F1’s European GP in 1993, recently lost the deal to host Britain’s round of the MotoGP motorcycling series (to Silverstone, ironically). Sources claim that F1 track guru Hermann Tilke has already been commissioned to create a revised layout at the Leicestershire venue for the four-wheeled category.