BRDC president Damon Hill is not confident of winning promised government funding for the upgrade of Silverstone and admits he doubts whether Formula 1 has a case in asking for support.
Hill’s predecessor Sir Jackie Stewart used his exit from the role in April to criticise the government for failing to invest more in the Northamptonshire circuit to help secure the long-term future of the British Grand Prix. Stewart said that little of the £16 million promised by sports minister Richard Caborn in July 2003 had materialised, putting the future of Britain's motorsport and motor industry at risk.
But in an interview in the July issue of F1 Racing magazine, Hill says he understands why the government is reluctant to hand out subsidies to Silverstone when it has more important challenges to tackle and fund.
“You must remember that this isn’t a big priority in the overall scheme of things [for the government],” the 1996 world champion told the magazine. “Having a grand prix is a big status symbol for an emergent country, but although it would obviously be devastating if we lost the British Grand Prix, it’s difficult to imagine how somebody in government could write out a cheque to keep the race against a backdrop of more pressing issues.” 
Stewart also questioned why the government could pour millions of pounds of money into other sports throughout the UK ahead of the 2012 Olympics while refusing to support British motorsport.
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However Hill admits this is not a valid argument, as F1 is internationally regarded as a multi-billion dollar industry, and unlike athletics is not accessible to the majority of people.
“This is my question about how one can argue the case for putting a lot of money into a sport that already looks extremely wealthy,” he said. “Saying they [the government] are funding the Olympics is not a fair argument because, at the end of the day, anyone with a burning ambition can train to be an athlete. Motorsport is still a very costly and elitist sport relying on huge sums of money, even at its lowest level.”
Hill also reiterated his desire to see Formula 1 become more environmentally and socially responsible in the future. The 45-year-old supports FIA president Max Mosley’s vision for a ‘greener’ sport and says that F1’s future will have to fall in line with an increasingly environmentally conscious society.
“We don’t know what the future holds, but we know this for certain: Nothing stays the same forever,” he said. “We may not even have motorsport in the future. Okay, so the argument is that the whole of global motorsport doesn’t generate as much pollution as one jumbo jet crossing the Atlantic, but that’s not the point. The point is the message it sends out. Incredibly serious issues may face our children 30 years from now, to do with the environment, to do largely with the motor industry – so what is the future for motorsport?
“These are the things that will become more serious. But whether they’re powered by biofuels, hydrogen, or whatever, there will always be people who love machines and love to compete, but it will have to be done in harmony with the rest of the world."
Source: ITV-F1
