British Grand Prix: Caborn in New Talks to Save Grand Prix

The gloom over the threatened British grand prix started to lift yesterday when Sir Jackie Stewart confirmed that the minister for sport, Richard Caborn, is working with local authorities on ways of closing the gap between the fee demanded by Bernie Ecclestone for the right to hold the race and the offer from the British Racing Drivers' Club, the owners of Silverstone.

"There is no solution yet," Stewart, the president of the BRDC, said last night, "but I spoke to Richard Caborn this afternoon, and he feels that the position is considerably better than it was a week ago."

The government has refused to use public money to provide Ecclestone with the full £9m he has told the BRDC to pay to stage the race. Other methods, however, may yet produce the cash - said by Caborn to be £800,000 but estimated by Stewart to be twice that sum - after negotiations between the government, the East Midlands development agency and the South Northamptonshire county council before Ecclestone's October 13 deadline.

"It's not a question of getting Bernie to reduce his demands or of the government taking out its chequebook," Stewart said. "A possible solution may involve use of accounting practices that are perfectly legal in order to identify concessions and tax benefits that haven't been recognised before."

Another problem with any new contract is its length, as Ecclestone is demanding a seven-year deal with an annual fee increase of 10%.

"Richard Caborn wants a two-year deal," Stewart said. "I want three years. What Bernie wants is simply unaffordable. But I have a feeling in my tummy that there will be a grand prix at Silverstone in 2005."