Silverstone concerns pre-date Liberty – BRDC

Silverstone's decision to end its contract to host the British Grand Prix was not accelerated by Liberty Media's takeover of Formula 1, according to British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) president Derek Warwick.

The BRDC activated a break clause in its race-hosting contract that means the 2019 edition of the British GP will be the last unless a new deal is agreed with Liberty. The deal was signed during Bernie Ecclestone's tenure in control of F1, which ended in January, and includes an annual 5% escalator fee.

Having told "The Grand Prix Show" on TalkSport that the break clause was triggered because the BRDC is "so far apart in terms of how to drive this forward" with Liberty, Warwick was asked if he felt closer to saving the grand prix when negotiating with Ecclestone, to which he replied: "No.

"What I meant to say there really was Bernie - before Liberty - knew that we were struggling financially. That came to a dead end as well, and now with Liberty we still can't seem to bridge that gap. We understand that Liberty can't just open their books up and cut the sanction fee, we know that's not possible because they'll have 19 or 20 other grands prix breathing down their necks straight away.

"But can I remind everybody that every grand prix that Bernie has put together over the last 20 or 30 years or whatever have all had their own individual sanction fee, ratchet, bonuses, sponsorship, TV rights, etc. So we're not all the same, we haven't been the same and therefore we shouldn't be treated the same.

"The fact that all – as far as I am aware – other grand prix countries have some kind of support from benefactors, sovereign wealth funds, local communes – i.e. Monaco – and governments. We don't have that luxury, so it has to stack up as a commercial venture and it doesn't."

With Silverstone often attracting around 350,000 fans over the race weekend, Warwick then explained why it was proving difficult to turn a profit for the race organisers.

"We can only sell so many seats, there are only so many fans that will come to the British Grand Prix. We outsell every grand prix around the world. We probably get more average ticket price than anywhere around the world. But of course they've always got this sponge sat in the background that will fund whatever the difference is.

"But as far as the British Grand Prix is concerned, we can't sell sponsorship, we can't have TV money, we can't have any merchandise rights - Formula 1 takes all of that. The only thing we can sell is grand prix tickets and a little bit of hospitality. If those figures don't add up to more than what the sanctioning fee is and the ratchet, you don't need to be a mathematician to say that it just does not work. If we're losing an average of £3million or £4million ($5.2m) a year, we're not making that up, they're facts."