Wednesday October 30th, 2002

Britain must fight to keep Silverstone on the Formula One calendar after the cancellation of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, former World Champion Jackie Stewart warned today.

"Everyone is in love with Spa-Francorchamps, and particularly with Eau Rouge, but the bottom line is that it has had its Grand Prix taken away," the Scot told the weekly Motorsport News.

"For whatever reasons, they struggled to get their venue in order and if one of the most historical events can be taken away it is a warning for everyone else. If we still want an F1 race in Britain, we must fight for it."

Spa, World Champion Michael Schumacher's favourite circuit, was axed from the 2003 calendar on Monday after teams decided not to attend the race due to new restrictions on tobacco advertising in Belgium.

The British Grand Prix has been on the calendar since Formula One's first season in 1950 and is one of two rounds of the Championship currently run without tobacco advertising.

France has introduced a legal ban while Britain has voluntary agreements negotiated with the industry. Tobacco branding has not appeared on cars or driver overalls at Silverstone for more than 20 years.

Stewart, president of the British Racing Drivers Club that owns the Northampton circuit, is also an outspoken campaigner for greater state investment in British motorsport.

"It is not a given that we will have the British Grand Prix in the long-term, so it is not a given that we will have a British motorsport industry," he said. "If the British GP goes, the industry will not survive as we know it."

Most of the Formula One teams are based in Britain.

The British Grand Prix was threatened with cancellation by the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) last year as a result of traffic chaos. The threat was taken seriously, with a line of other countries negotiating for races, and promoters Octagon paid a $5.0 million bond to guarantee improvements.

Despite the new measures, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone still branded the British round a "country fair masquerading as a world event" after he had problems in driving to the track on race day last July.

Published at 11:34:58 GMT