Max Mosley vs Silverstone

[Gerard]

Max Mosley, boss of motorsport's governing body the FIA, struck a further blow against Silverstone's hopes of retaining the British Grand Prix after 2001.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Mosley labelled the track 'shaming' to Britain.

According to Mosley, Silverstone is 'Probably the least impressive of all the venues for the World Championship' - and on a calendar including Interlagos in Brazil, that amounts to a particularly damning indictment.

The FIA president added: 'I find that rather shaming. It is like saying we would like to run the Olympic Games in England, but there is only one little stadium and it is down the end of a track and you can't really get there, it takes six hours. They would be laughed at, yet we are expected to have Formula 1 World Championship events there.'

At this year’s Grand Prix, staged on an unusually early date over the Easter weekend, the organisers were forced to close the gates for qualifying because of the state of the grass car parks. Raceday, too, was complete chaos as queues stretched back for almost 15 miles and many fans were forced to abandon their cars in the jam and walk to the circuit.

Williams boss Frank Williams has defended the circuit as 'The heart of British motor racing' and said it was being used as a 'whipping boy' by the FIA, caught in the political crossfire.

Mosley's comments come just days after Brands Hatch, which has the contract to run the British GP from 2002, came under further fire over environmental issues.
Environmental group the Woodland Trust has petitioned the government to refuse the Kent track the necessary planning permission to upgrade the site to FIA standards.

Officials have refused to react to the latest criticisms by FIA president Max Mosley, in which he described Silverstone as one of the least attractive venues in the Formula 1 championship. But the track will strike back by unveiling radical revisions of the parking and road systems in the next few days.

Silverstone circuit is poised to launch the fightback to save its bid to retain the British Grand Prix.

The event is provisionally on next year’s calendar pending approval of a raft of changes by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, following April's chaotic, rain-lashed event.
The race was blighted by 15-mile tail-backs, road chaos, flooded car parks and questions over track procedures.
Car parks were closed for Saturday qualifying and on raceday, thousands of cars were bogged down in the mud.

Until now the circuit has ruled out alternatives, such as a park-and-ride system, claiming it could actually increase road chaos because they would be forced to implement a two-way traffic system. Work is expected to start in the autumn on the Silverstone by-pass, which is effectively a dual carriageway linking the M1 and M40 motorways.

Construction will take 18 months to two years and is unlikely to be finished for the races in 2001 or 2002. But there are suggestions the semi-constructed road could be used for parking.

[Danielsun]

I'm going to sound like one of two things here when I say this - either an ar5e or a conspiracy theorist: It's his own bloody fault.

There. I said it. Is Max Mosley not the boss of the FIA? All decisions go through him, right? Why then did he move the British Grand Prix to a time of year that he - being English - should know that rain is most likely?

And calling the event more of a letdown than the Brazilian GP is absolutely absurd. At least the sponsors' boards didn't fall onto the track at Silverstone...

Could always bring back Adelaide, though, couldn't they?