No Donington in 2010

It's looking increasingly unlikely that Donington will be able to hold the British F1 Grand Prix from next summer.


I have wanted Donington to succeed but I'm sure everyone was painfully aware that it would always take a superhuman effort from the management team at the circuit to be able to pull it off.

There have been questions over the suitability of the circuit and its infrastructure, criticisms over the architecture of the new developments and scepticism over the circuit's debenture schemes and ability to pay for everything.


Seeing as the infrastructure will not matter / would not have mattered until the race weekend, and construction on the circuit's new building has still not started, it would therefore be fair to argue that Donington has fallen at the first hurdle.


In the current climate, if Donington don't have an absolutely rock solid business plan, they will find investment hard to come by - as they have done already.


In truth, I didn't believe that Donington should have been awarded the contract in the first place. Silverstone's continued reluctance to spend big on bringing their facilities up to the standard of modern F1 has frustrated me, but the actual ribbon of tarmac at the Northamptonshire circuit is arguably better than Donington and the infrastructure and future potential is massively superior.


I can't help thinking that Bernie Ecclestone has been using Donington as a bargaining chip to kick start the BRDC - who effectively own Silverstone - into action. If that is the case, it is a very disappointing state of affairs for Donington.


I just hope they haven't spent massive amounts of money on the project so far as they could well be deemed unfit to hold the Grand Prix as early as Monday.