British GP dilemma

Sunday's inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix took place on the 67th circuit to feature on the World Championship calendar. Ironically much of the paddock talk focused on the track which hosted the birth of modern Grand Prix racing in April 1950: Silverstone in Britain.

The simple question of whether there will be a British Grand Prix next year widened into a debate about the merits of the traditional circuits on which the sport was founded versus the state-financed tracks which F1's Bernie Ecclestone has inspired in recent years, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

As governments recognized the prestige and global exposure a Grand Prix brings to their country, so the pressure increased on circuits to pay increasingly high fees to secure a round of the championship. Furthermore the new national stadium style circuits have raised the bar for the facilities considered necessary. For the past decade Silverstone's owner, the BRDC (British Racing Drivers' Club), has seemed almost always to be in conflict with Ecclestone on both counts.