Silverstone talks still ongoing

The fate of the British Grand Prix is still hanging in the balance but Sir Jackie Stewart, President of the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) hopes a solution is getting closer. The BRDC put in a bid to promote the GP but it fell short of Bernie Ecclestone's demands and he rejected the offer. Silverstone was then dropped from the provisional 2005 calendar.

The BRDC is now in negotiations with other parties to make up the £1.5 million deficit in finances needed to complete the contract to promote the race. "We're getting closer," Stewart told BBC radio. "We're not home and dry but we're heading in the right direction."

He said that the BRDC had done all it could as a "small private club" and was now looking at alternative resources to find the money. "It would be presumptuous to think the government will write a cheque but we are in conversations with all the right people," he added. "But for us at the very best it's going to be a break-even situation."

The Press Association quoted a source as saying that the UK's Sports Minister, Richard Caborn, "is now much more confident that a deal can be delivered than he was last week." It is hoped that there will be some kind of announcement before the end of this week.

Ecclestone recently said that if the BRDC could sign the contract Silverstone may be reinstated, although the teams must agree to 18 races on the calendar next year. If the British GP is absent in 2005 it could return in the future, provided improvements are made to the circuit.