Formula One news

PM asked to bail out Brit GP

Sir Jackie Stewart has appealed directly to British Prime Minister Tony Blair in a last-gasp effort to save the country's embattled Formula One race. The Scot, who is president of the track-owning British Racing Drivers' Club, said in a letter that a modern F1 venue cannot survive without government support.

UK sport minister Richard Caborn has already ruled out direct government funding for the Formula One event in Northamptonshire. But Stewart said, in the letter addressed to Downing Street policy advisor William Perrin, that 'simply no money' comes back into the sport from 'Mr. Ecclestone's large rights fees and commercial contracts.' "Almost every other grand prix in the world," he continued to write, "is supplying the finances to build exciting, glamorous and expensive facilities."

Triple world champion Stewart's efforts are unlikely to be rewarded, though, particularly as Richard Caborn said 'some people would' label the BRDC's recent actions as resulting from 'gross stupidity. "It is unacceptable to me," he added.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, meanwhile, called on the local businesses in South Northamptonshire to make up the difference, which may be as little as $1.4 million.

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