No F1 reprieve for Silverstone if Donington isn’t finished

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Donington is in the midst of a £100million revamp ahead of the start of a 10‑year contract to host the British round of the Formula One championship.

Amid reports that the work is facing delays Ecclestone met Simon Gillett, the chief executive of Donington Park Ventures, for an update on the project.

F1's commerical rights holder said the meeting was "very good" and insisted that if Donington was progressing well, he would give the circuit an extra year to prepare although he would not use Silverstone as a stop gap.

"If the work at Donington is not finished in time, we would be happy to skip a year," said Ecclestone.

"I don't want to lose the British Grand Prix — that's the last thing we want to do, but we aren't going to Silverstone for sure," he said.

Ecclestone is a long-term critic of Silverstone, which staged the first F1 British Grand Prix in 1950 and has hosted the race permanently since 1987. This year's race at the Northamptonshire circuit is on 21 June.

Ecclestone's backing for Donington comes three weeks after it emerged Gillett was being sued by the Leicestershire circuit's owners for £2.5million in rent arrears dating back to September last year.