Government opens Ecclestone talks to save Brit GP

The British government has reportedly opened talks with Bernie Ecclestone in a bid to save the nation's grand prix from the threat of the scrapheap.

According to The Guardian, Business Secretary Peter Mandelson telephoned Ecclestone this week in the wake of the race's future being plunged into fresh uncertainty when it was announced that the company contracted to host the grand prix at Donington Park from 2010 was being sued.

'A meeting had been due to take place for weeks but the business secretary made his first formal contact by telephone on Monday. The government has grown alarmed at Ecclestone's claims he will scrap the British grand prix if Donington fails to make the grade,' the newspaper reports.

Ecclestone repeated his calls last week for government funding to be provided to secure the race's future, either at Donington Park or Silverstone. The government has, so far, resisted those calls and it appears as if an agreement remains far away.

The Guardian claims that 'Mandelson pointed out that they had been willing to support infrastructure developments at Silverstone with the possibility of regional development agency cash. However, the discussions were inconclusive and Ecclestone, who has had a number of high-profile clashes with Silverstone's owners, the British Racing Drivers Club, is likely to have been unmoved by those pledges.'