How Donington's F1 Bid Came Unstuck

In 2008, it was announced that Donington Park would take over the hosting for the British Grand Prix. But just 12 months later, Bernie announced it was going back to Silverstone.

But Donington hosting Formula One again after the epic 1993 race there was soemthing that came and went super quick. So let's look at how Donington came to be, and how the whole F1 hosting dream came unstuck.

Enjoy! And remember to like and subscribe for more!

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[AidanMillward]

Fun fact- That picture of the track with all the construction work going on was during the period they were trying to get the track ready for the F1, but they ran out of cash and it was sat like it for some time, so no racing could go ahead. Almost ended the track for good.

[sullybiker]

It was a stitch up. It was all about leverage. Bernie knew he could screw more money out of Silverstone, and used Donington as the stick. I firmly believe there was no intention to ever actually go there, and it was regrettable Donington's ownership was led on as such.

[skraegorn]

The only "what if" circuit i've actually liked in sin racing is the Lime Rock Mountain circuit. What a beautiful track, it's a shame it was never built.

[ElliottShackled]

Need to get the Dunlop bridge and the spitfire back. They were iconic parts of the circuits character

[jctheU.G.SafariBigGamecat]

I always felt Bernie just used the situation to get Silverstone to move towards what he wanted and Donnington was never going to get full F1 status.

[CookRacingUK]

Whilst Silverstone and Brands Hatch get all the attention, as a driver's circuit I think Donny is the best circuit we have.

[markfarebrother]

Biggest shame was the loss of the museum, I was lucky enough to get there before it closed, but didn't get to see everything so always wanted to go back again

[camillaquelladegliaggettiv]

Donington is an all time favorite track of mine. Amazing flow

[skippy]

You're spot on about the public transport not working. Imagine having 150, 000 fans there and busing them in each day to the circuit. It's chaos when BTCC is there with 10-20k fans and takes 2-3 hours to get out of the circuit. There would've had to have been a massive upgrade of the road infrastructure round there too for this to even stand a chance of working, which to my knowledge was never in the pipeline.

[jayd]

I've been to Donington a few times and MSV are doing a good job running the place.

[amaccama]

Tom Wheatcroft is one of my business heroes. I once read a quote of his that went, "Always leave a bit in the deal for the other bloke. Then he'll always come back and do business with you. "

[stevewilson]

Donington will always have a place in my heart, had a day with the Jim Russell school back in '91. Was also stood by the Old Hairpin when Nige binned it into the bridge in '93, what a day that was! There's some excellent footage of the pre-war circuit on BBC's "The Power and the Glory" series though I suspect that's only on VHS (I still have a copy).

And yes, I too miss Bridge corner..

[jackcasey]

I’m pissed about 130 r. One of the scariest most exhilarating to watch corners in motorsport originally but it’s now a shell of what it was

[KaminoCloningOperations]

I often think about the what if video you did on Watkins Glen. God I’d love to see F1 return there someday..

[_stitch]

It was an interesting proposal and back in the day I was really quite keen - I've never loved Silverstone as I have most of our other UK circuits. With the benefit of real life experience I would have real concerns about modifying Coppice as it may be one of the trickiest corners in UK motorsport. I have never, ever driven through Coppice and thought "yes, that's as good as can be done" - fantastic, old school corner.

The loss of F1 at Donington I do not care about either way. I am profoundly glad that Donington was saved after this failed redesign - it would have been a tragedy for no one to step forward and Donington Park be turned into another industrial estate. I don't think people realise just how close we were to losing such a fantastic, iconic circuit, and I do not think we will ever see another purpose-built race circuit built in the UK in our lifetimes. We need to take care of the ones we have, and UK motorsport is incalculably better for it still being on our calendars. Superb circuit.

[eamonahern]

As I said in my comment on the Senna video, I liked this proposed layout. I don't miss bridge corner for f1 in the current Silverstone layout. I do think they could have kept it as a short circuit/lower formulas/testing/track day circuit though.

[TheHoldenmcgroin]

2009... Best thing that happened at Donnington that year, was the return of Faith No More at the Download Festival. ;)

[crazykittenvideos]

My mate Lee Coombs helped raise the plight of Donington Park into the media at that time through his ‘Save Donington’ campaign. What started out as a small Facebook group grew into something really amazing!

[terryjacob]

They had some crazy ideas about how a British GP at Donington would be organised. Craziest of these was the proposal that East Midlands Airport would close over the GP period and be used to provide a car park for spectators, who would then be ferried to and from the circuit by a fleet of buses. Thankfully, Kevin Wheatcroft rescued the circuit from such lunacy and repaired the physical damage these 'entrepreneurs' did with their half-ar*ed excavations for F1 'improvements'. More recently Kevin has placed the day to day running of Donington in the capable hands of Jonathan Palmer's Motor Sport Vision company

[pear]

video about the circuit of wales could be an interesting topic