Battles on track and off as F1 comes home

Silverstone - Home of The British Grand Prix after 2019?

The Formula 1 motor racing circus pitches up at Silverstone this weekend for the British Grand Prix, and the battles aren’t just between the drivers.

Just as the tension of the most exciting season for years reaches a peak, the international, multi-million pound, fast car spectacle rocks up in the UK. It’s a good job F1 doesn’t use a starter’s pistol to get the races underway – The people behind the British GP would have repeatedly shot themselves in the foot by now.

The hallowed tarmac of Northamptonshire’s Silverstone circuit will play host to 20 cars and drivers and everything that goes with it, just as the circuit’s owners announce that they’re taking up a get-out clause in their contract after the 2019 race.

Despite the staggering amounts of cash sloshing around the sport, the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) say they have “reached the tipping point”, and won’t be able to continue losing millions of pounds every time they host the race.

With many other events around the world heavily subsidised by their governments, the deal made with then-F1-boss, Bernie Ecclestone, back in 2009 started out at a cool £12m that the BRDC has to fund by itself. Factor in a 5% annual escalator, and it’s easy to see why they are exercising the option to call the deal off before the wheels fall off their finances.

All is not lost, though. If you had a £1 for every time the British Grand Prix has been in jeopardy, you would be a sizeable way towards buying one of the jolly expensive tickets for a grandstand seat.

F1’s new owners, Liberty Media, have spoken regularly about their desire to maintain the historic races – and you don’t get any more historic than this one, Silverstone having held the first F1 race of all, back in 1950.

The BRDC want to have the race at their circuit, the fans do too, the drivers and teams love it, and the sport’s owners want it to continue. Time to sit down on some highly engineered carbon fibre chairs, thrash out a new deal and seal it with an oily handshake.

True, a London GP, through the streets of the capital, would be an amazing event, but not even F1 can afford to buy the quantity of scissors needed to cut through all the red tape that would stand in the way of that ever happening.

And the race itself? British hero, Lewis Hamilton, is now nearly a race win’s worth of points behind his rival and championship leader, Sebastian Vettel. Even Hamilton’s Mercedes team mate, Valtteri Bottas, could surge past him in the title race if Lewis has another off weekend.

Silverstone could be a pivotal race for the eventual outcome of the 2017 championship. A win for the 3-times Champion home hero, and/or a bad race for Vettel could turn things around nicely. The opposite could well set Seb on course for his 5th Championship.

No pressure then – for Hamilton or Silverstone.

This post first appeared as my "Thank grumpy it's Friday" column, in The Mail, on the 14th of July 2017. You can take a gander at the version they used on their website here The print version was re-titled as "F1 must face home truths" and - Hurrah!" the new column header has been sorted out, with my picture in proportion and the text no longer randomly bold. For the first time since the original column header, the image isn't flipped, either. True, they do have a newer version, but hey - who doesn't want to look 5 years younger.

Of course, the other big story this week was the F1 Live event in and around Trafalgar Square, in London. A fantastic spectacle of noise and cars current and vintage, all things Formula 1 and live music to boot, it was attended by every team and all the drivers... except Lewis Hamilton, who decided to go on holiday instead.

Whilst many Hamilton fans are defending his decision, it does look spectacularly arrogant, in my opinion. Once a year, there's a race in your country. You're rich and famous because of the support of your fans at home, and around the world. There's a great event laid on to give something back to the those who support F1 through thick and thin... and you pop off on a jolly to Greece instead, and post video clips on social media of you at a club?

F**k my old boots, Lewis - if you're trying to look even more like a spoilt brat who thinks he's above this sort of thing, you're going the right way about it. Why not come out and say "I really can't be arsed - I'd rather spend the time having myself photographed hanging with my private jet or buying another massively bling gold chain" to really rub it in. Bell end.

(CD A-Z: Interrupted once more for a new compilation - "Top of the Pops '83". 3 CDs of goodies from one of the best years of pop ever. Schweet!)