'Business interests' could force F1 to leave Silverstone - Bratches

F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches says the British Grand Prix could leave Silverstone in the future if it would be in Liberty Media's best interest.

The historic venue's deal with F1 runs out at the end of next year, as a result of Silverstone's owners - the BRDC - triggering a break clause on their contract last year, citing their inability to support the event's massive cost.

Silverstone is eager to remain on the F1 calendar but only if it can secure a significant reduction in the annual franchise fee it pays to FOM.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix and just after F1 had announced the arrival on the 2020 docket of a street race in Vietnam, Bratches hinted that the British Grand Prix could remain on the calendar but at a different venue if "business interests" justified such an outcome.

"We’re a 68-year-old entity and the nature of grand prix racing is that it is dynamic," Bratches said.

"Silverstone was the first grand prix, but we haven’t raced at Silverstone all those 68 years. The race has been held at Brands Hatch and other venues.

"Nothing is immutable in this sport in terms of where we race. We do value certain races highly and we do what we can to preserve racing there, but we are a business.

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"We are a public company and we have a lot of stakeholders and shareholders and we’re trying to marry what’s best for fans with running a successful business."

The announcement of F1 racing in Vietnam, a country with absolutely no motorsport heritage, was greeted with a fair amount of negativity by many fans on social media, who wondered why the sport was not doing more to preserve its heritage.

But Bratches justified the addition of Vietnam's street race, insisting its presence would not come to the detriment of F1's core historical events.

"We look at it in three ways," Bratches said. "Firstly, we want to preserve the heritage races, they are very important to Formula 1 and they are very important to fans. I’m talking about the Silverstones, the Spas, the Monzas of this world.

"Then we have a set of street races and hybrid street races, where we race in parks and on city streets, such as Melbourne, Montreal and Mexico City.

"The third segment features purpose-built facilities such as Shanghai, Austin, Texas and Bahrain.

"Beyond that we are looking to identify further street races, so this race is a further step in terms of our vision."

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