Silverstone, the spiritual home of Formula One, has lost its battle to remain host of the British Grand Prix after Donington Park amazingly won the contract from 2010.

The news of the 10-year deal, announced just 48 hours before this year's event, shocked the motor racing community gathered at Silverstone for tomorrow's sell-out race.Donington Park will become the new home of the British Grand Prix from 2010 in news that shocked Silverstone ahead of Sunday's 60th running of the famous event.

FIA President Max Mosley

F1 Boss Bernie Ecclestone

It also prompted the serious question of how Donington, in Leicestershire, can transform itself from a rundown circuit into a world-class arena in the space of just two years - even with a promised injection of £100million from a mystery donor.

The move is a sign of Bernie Ecclestone's frustration with the failure of Silverstone's owners, the British Racing Drivers' Club, to find adequate funding to press ahead with their long-held desire to revamp the former airfield.

Ecclestone set this weekend's race as the deadline for the BRDC to prove the money was in place, but they asked for two weeks' grace while they went back to the Government to ask for a subsidy - and his patience finally snapped after years of wrangling. Ecclestone was scathing about the BRDC, saying: 'They don't know what they are doing.

'The problem is that they don't do anything in a business-like way. 'We have been talking about this for five years now and we are still talking.

'Then somebody comes to me with a proposition that looks like business, they have the money and they want it. I know Tom Wheatcroft (of Donington) and he would not bring people to me he doesn't know or trust.'

The BRDC were stunned that Silverstone has been overlooked - as many fans will be, given that the Northamptonshire circuit staged the world's first Formula One world championship grand prix in May, 1950.

It alternated with Aintree and Brands Hatch for much of the British Grand Prix's history before taking permanent residence here from 1987.

60 Years at Silverstone

BRDC President Damon Hill, the former world champion driver, said: 'The disappointment is huge. You cannot believe how much it hurts. It is a real blow to our efforts to see the grand prix retained at Silverstone.

'Bernie struggles with the concept that F1 is not like the Olympics, which is involved in the regeneration of large parts of the east end of London.

'Tax payers are happy in principle with that. F1 has to look at itself and say why do we not receive the welcome from the UK Government that we get elsewhere?

'There are reasons for that. Simply giving money to F1, nobody is going to buy that. F1 makes a lot of money, but it goes out of the sport.

'Nobody should stand in the way of a business making a profit. The problem with F1 is that the money made does not go back into developing the infrastructure of F1. This track is part of that infrastructure.

'It seems to me to be absurd to be constantly sucking the money out and not re-investing it. We could have had a fantastic venue here that F1 would have loved.'

The onus is now on Donington Ventures Leisure to deliver on their extensive plans, with a new track, paddock and pit facilities, grandstands and car parks drawn up by German designer Hermann Tilke, who was behind the new tracks at Bahrain, Malaysia, Turkey and China.

Ecclestone said: 'We don't want a Shanghai. We just want what we have been asking for here. We need great facilities for the spectators. 'We need room for the teams, and we need a really good television compound - all of those things Donington provide in their new plans.'

Even if Donington, which has staged MotoGP for two decades, is successfully reconstructed there are other issues to confront - mainly the road system. Donington, off the M1 and next to East Midlands airport, is mostly surrounded by single-track rural roads.

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It took years for Silverstone - through government funding - to conquer its infamous congestion trouble and Ecclestone admitted his concerns. He said: 'They will just have to make sure they build them. What has been put to me by Donington is potentially beautiful.'

Donington Ventures Leisure, whose bosses Simon Gillett and Lee Gill have the circuit on a 100- year lease from Wheatcroft, claim that planning permission for work inside the confines of the circuit walls is not required.

Of more interest is the identity of their money-man. Whoever it is, he is said to have shares in Donington Ventures Leisure and, according to Ecclestone, is an English businessman. However, the conspiracy theory aired at Silverstone yesterday was that Ecclestone himself is the clandestine figure. He denies it.

It should also be pointed out that in 1999 Brands Hatch announced that they would be staging the British Grand Prix from 2002. The plan foundered after missing out on planning permission and Silverstone kept its place.

The question, then, is whether the Donington scheme will reach fruition? Ecclestone was confident it will, saying: 'The importance of all this is that there is now definitely a British GP - 100 per cent.'