Formula 1 Execs Want To Keep Silverstone Negotiations Private

Ross BrawnGETTY IMAGES

Formula 1 execs want Silverstone’s owners to "do their negotiating in private" as both sides "try to keep the British Grand Prix circuit on the calendar beyond next year," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. Some 140,500 fans turned up for Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton’s home race on Sunday, "a crowd unlikely to be beaten anywhere else this season." However, the threat of '19 "being a farewell" to the former World War II airfield that hosted the first world championship race in '50, and is a "home grand prix for most teams, remains real." F1 Managing Dir Ross Brawn said, "I’m sure we’re going to find a solution with Silverstone because we cannot leave this behind. The frustration is the negotiations are taking place in public. Every circuit we deal with, we do it quietly and get on with it, but for some reason Silverstone chooses to make everything public, which causes more difficulties. But we’ll find a solution" (REUTERS, 7/9).