Warwick calls for government funding

20/01/2013

With an eye on the money given to the British Olympic team, British Racing Drivers' Club President Derek Warwick has called on the government to give funding to British motorsport.

While Britain basks in the afterglow of an Olympics that was a success in terms of 'the show' and the performances of the home team, preparations are already in progress for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Consequently, it's believed that over the next four years, almost £300m will be pumped into the British team, cycling and rowing alone both thought to be receiving more than £30m each.

As Europe loses out to the rising economies which can afford to build new circuits and pay the excessive hosting fees, at grassroots level up and coming drivers are struggling to find the necessary funding to get that all-important first step on the ladder. At the same time, British drivers that have somehow scraped together enough to get on the ladder find themselves losing drives to better funded foreign rivals.

It's a situation that clearly exacerbates the BRDC president, who points out that Silverstone is in a similar situation, under-funded and up against some very wealthy competition.

"With Bernie Ecclestone you can never be sure about anything," he told the Sky Sports F1 website, "but we do have a 17-year contract so we are pretty secure for another 14 years. But I have to say our business is pretty marginal, we don't make a lot of money, in fact we will lose money in 2012, so it galls me a bit when I see the amount of lottery and government funding there is in our Great British athletes.

"Rowers get £27,000 each but our young drivers and Silverstone get no money at all from the lottery or the government and it is about time the government and the lottery fund stop viewing motor racing people as all multi-millionaires.

"Yes, there are a lot of people in F1 that are very wealthy," he admitted, "but our young drivers need help, they need help from the government and they need help from the lottery, as does Silverstone. We are struggling, we are really struggling and we could do with some help."