British GP pricing announced – over a ton for Sunday alone

Hot on the heels of the announcement that Silverstone has signed a long term deal for the British Grand Prix, pricing has been announced on their website.

WIth general admission starting at £103, an uncovered grandstand at £157 and a covered grandstand at £220, it's one hell of a day out.  £880 for a family of four in a covered grandstand seems pretty extortionate to me.  

With little or no discount for children and the only real discount coming from a 3 day ticket, it's hardly a triumph for the fan who wants to visit in the flesh.  Looks like I'll be watching it on TV as usual.

The end of the road for Donington Park Circuit?

Simon Gillet could go down in history as the man that not only killed the British Grand Prix, but also killed Donington Park Circuit.

His firm, Donnington Ventures Leisure Ltd, seems to have gone the way of his previous venture, Innovate Motorsport and gone into administration.  With the circuit dug up and reportedly unusable, where will the money come from to get it going again.

Still, at least his salary of £250k will keep him warm over the winter.

Bernie talks a good game, but really is just greedy

Bernie's still trying to get Silverstone to fork out his extortionate fee for the British GP but really it's just greed.

According to The Guardian he says: "They say there is not much between us and them, so they should sign,"

This also begs the question, if there's so little between you and them, why don't you offer a contract for what they say is financially viable.  I know I'd much rather see a sustainable British than a few extra quid in Bernie's pocket.

He's trying to play the "oh look at the BRDC, aren't they being silly risking the future of the race" card and putting the onus on Silverstone to sign, but really he's still the problem.

http://www.planet-f1.com/story/0,18954,3213_5675273,00.html

Abu Dhabi impressive, but what about great racing? #f1

Yet again Bernie has managed to get a venue with very impressive facilities.  It looks spectacular at night with the lights (much like Singapore too) and the track is surely impressive to watch from the grandstands (much like the stadium section at Hockenheim.  

But where's the racing?  So far we've seen only a couple of overtakes, and those were as a result of low fuel vs high fuel differences.  Not exactly enthralling, and no-one's spun in the pit-tunnel-of-death either.

Still at least there's a chance for rain to spice things up.  Oh no wait! 

Donnington saga finally over?

With Bernie's announcement it's all over for Donnington, it looks like finally a line can be drawn under the hope for Donnington to host the British GP, but it's looking more like it's the same case for Silverstone too.

Pitpass have done a good article on the history of Simon Gillet which is well worth a read.

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=38020  

New twist to the Donington saga

What on earth is going on at Donnington? The will-they-won’t-they stories are starting to get tiring and it’s about time there was some certainty otherwise Bernie’s threat of no British GP next year will come to fruition throught ineptitude of others. It sounds like one of the current backers has now probably coughed up enough for Bernie’s deposit, so I guess they are back to treading water again until the next hiccup.

Whilst Simon Gillett should be applauded for his ambition, something just doesn’t sit right about drawing a massive salary from a technically insolvent company and he’s now playing with the future of the British GP.  By prolonging the affair, the race is sitting on a knife-edge.  If it falls one way he’ll be a hero, the man who safeguarded the British GP where Silverstone couldn’t make it pay.  If it falls the other then he’ll be the man who stopped Silverstone securing a new contract and doomed the race, possibly permanantly.

Spa circuit & Belgian F1 Race under threat

The Belgian GP is currently held at one of the best F1 circuits in the world.  Unfortunately the local population appear to be less enamoured with having a Formula 1 race once a year (and numerous lower formulae events) in their back yard.  Never mind the fact they probably moved to the region after the circuit was built so knew what they were getting into.  This has led to the local state suspending the licence and threatens the future of not only the Grand Prix, but the circuit itself.

However there is hope.  Another group of locals have decided to start a petition to show they like having the racing nearby and are hoping to get enough signatures to show the state how important the event and circuit are.

Get clicking now: http://www.defendonsfrancorchamps.be/sign-petition-track-circuit-racing-track-spa-francorchamps.html

All that remains is to get Bernie to stop trying to screw Silverstone and secure the British GP!

Abu Dhabi demo lap at night…

Although the race is scheduled for daytime (5pm local time) I guess the floodlights should at least head off the chance of a Malysia darkness farce

Abu Dhabi demo lap

Here's a lap of the new Abu Dhabi F1 circuit.  I'm looking forward to the pit tunnel death crash when someone inevitably spins doing out of the pits during a safety car period and blocks the lot.

Abu Dhabi GP a sellout!

Autosport reports that the season finale in Abu Dhabi is a sellout, which makes a change for new races.  Except only 50,000 tickets have been sold…

I guess that's one way for Bernie to sellout GP races after the humiliation of having races like the Turkish GP (36,000 in 155,000 capacity) or the Chinese GP (32,000 in 200,000 capacity) nearly empty – by only selling 40% of the number of tickets of a traditional circuit such as  Silverstone (120,000) , or Hockenheim (120,000) which are usually sold out when they host a race.

Still, having empty circuits doesn't seem to have stopped Bernie and CVC making loads of dosh last year.