Silverstone "has given the strongest indication yet it may cease hosting the British Grand Prix," putting the future of a Formula 1 race in the U.K. "in doubt," according to Giles Richards of the London GUARDIAN. Silverstone Circuits Sporting Dir Stuart Pringle "is again considering giving notice" of the circuit's "intent to instigate a break clause" that would allow it to leave its contract in '19 and will make its decision before this year's race on July 16. He said, "I sincerely hope it won't be the end of grand prix racing at Silverstone but we've made clear to the Formula One management we can't live with the present contract beyond 2019." The contract, set to run until '26, "includes an escalator clause that raises the hosting fee each year." It is understood to have been £12M in '10, rising to £27M ($35.1M) by the contract's conclusion. The grand prix is "hugely popular" and attracted 139,000 fans last year, a similar figure to that of '15, "but it is understood the circuit still made a loss" of £2M in '15 and £4M last year. Liberty Media has said that it "wants to help venues to attract more fans but for Silverstone this is not the problem, it is that rising fees cannot be met" by ticket revenues. Pringle: "Liberty have got some great ideas and we support their plans for a better show and fan experience. But they will likely take years to produce a significant benefit to the circuits and we haven't got the luxury of time. We need to deal in certainties and not possibilities." The circuit is the only one in the U.K. with the classification to host F1 (GUARDIAN, 5/19).
