Now that he'll be forced into resuming talks with Damon Hill and the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), the 78-year old Brit admitted that the prospect of changing the venue of the British Grand Prix was commendable to begin with, but the fact that Donington failed to secure the funding of the F1 race will not attract any legal actions from his behalf.
“No I don't regret it,” Ecclestone told the Times, regarding the signing of the multi-year contract with Donington Ventures Leisure Limited (DVLL). “If they could have done what they said they were going to do, and what the contract said they had to do, it would have been good.”
“No, there are no penalties – not at all,” insisted the Formula One supremo, after several reports showed that he could claim as much as 18M pounds sterling in "liquidated damages" if the grand prix bid falls through, as revealed by the GMM news agency.
After repeatedly granted new deadlines to secure the funding of their Formula One operations – development of their F1 track at FIA standards – Donington Park last week revealed that their financial scheme for the 2010 British Grand Prix has failed. Consequently, DVLL went in breach of contract with Ecclestone and lost all hopes to secure the next year's British race.
Under the circumstances, Ecclestone will now turn to Silverstone for an “F1 return”. As announced several times in the past, in case the Donington Park scenario wasn't to become successful, he would not let the British Grand Prix die. Silverstone is currently the only circuit in the UK able to host Formula One races, and may seize this opportunity to ink a multi-year deal with Ecclestone for the future.
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