The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) has issued a statement dismissing suggestions that Silverstone will definitely stop hosting Formula 1's British Grand Prix after 2019.
Doubts were raised about the future of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone following the leak of a letter sent to BRDC members from chairman John Grant, written in the build-up to Christmas last year.
Grant revealed that the BRDC was considering triggering an escape clause in Silverstone's F1 contract that would allow the track to break away from its hosting commitments after the 2019 race. The clause must be exercised by the 2017 British Grand Prix in July.
Following speculation that a final call to drop the race had already been made, the BRDC issued a statement on Friday dismissing such suggestions, stressing that nothing would be decided until July.
"The British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) wishes to make clear that recent press reports suggesting that talks have been unsuccessful and that the British Grand Prix will definitely be dropped after 2019 are speculative and wrong," read a statement.
"Our objective is to preserve the British Grand Prix at Silverstone for many years to come but, of course, we can only do this if it makes economic sense," Grant added.
"As I have said before, we will be considering over the next six months if we should give notice of our intention to exercise the break clause in our Grand Prix contract at the end of 2019. No decision has been made, or will be made, until mid-July.
"In the meantime, we will be using this period to explore with all interested parties, hopefully in private, various ways in which we might work out a more sustainable proposition."
Discussion about this post