AS THE drivers line up on the grid for the British Grand Prix today, 80-odd miles to the south, the men’s final will take place at Wimbledon, which is being upgraded to make it the finest tennis venue in the world. Elsewhere, the cyclists of the Tour de France will race through east London, where the 2012 Olympics will be held at venues that are starting to take shape. The new Wembley and countless other new football stadiums stand proud.

Yet Silverstone is in a perennial stalemate, and there is every chance that Britain will lose its grand prix. Surely that couldn’t happen? We thought that about the French Grand Prix, too. It is especially ironic as we are surrounded by Hamilton fever. When Fernando Alonso secured his first world championship it generated such interest in Spain that from next year we will have two grands prix there. Silverstone heads up the strongest national motorsport industry in the world by some margin. Most Formula One teams are based within a 50-mile radius of the circuit, yet we keep hearing from the powers that be that the track is falling behind and the event’s future is in jeopardy.

This is deeply frustrating for me because I was chairman of the board of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), the members’ club that owns Silverstone, three years ago and we had arrived at the stage, after hundreds of thousands of pounds of investment in design and environmental studies, where all that was required to transform the pit complex was Bernie Ecclestone’s signature on a piece of A4. Unfortunately, this all became swamped in the negotiations to allow the giant American corporation Interpublic to leave its British GP contract. It left behind large amounts of money to be relieved of the responsibility of promoting the British Grand Prix. That kiss-off money, which did not go to Silverstone, allowed it to be excused when it came to completing the new facilities.

Damon Hill is now president of a more unified BRDC, but he is somewhere between a rock and a hard place – unless a large chunk of money is generated. Silverstone, unlike Wimbledon, doesn’t see any television or sponsorship revenue. The only income they get is from the fans. Yet they are liable for all the costs – the security, logistics, maintenance and promoters’ fees. It can never add up.

I watch with interest as Ecclestone is constantly courted by entourages from around the world trying to secure an F1 slot. Governments don’t think twice about signing off the investment needed for these gleaming new super venues. They do this because they look at the revenue from the visiting fans, tax income, global awareness and reputation, and opportunities for business-to-business and technology development.

Despite having no motorsport championships or industry, it is a no-brainer for them to pay Ecclestone’s sanction fee and put in half a billion dollars of infrastructure to create facilities that humble Silverstone even if they don’t have its character, history or heritage. Ecclestone rightly says British motorsport should be leading the way, not trailing.

Of course, the harsh reality is that the paddock is full of billionaires and multi-millionaires in a country that doesn’t have enough school places or books, and many cannot even find a dentist. Hospitals need more investment too. So how can we justify pumping, say, £30m into a grand prix venue?

That train of thought has to be broken because what the event brings the country far outweighs the £30m. Without the GP, Britain will be losing significant revenue anyway and there will be a real threat to the £7 billion British motorsport industry. Breaking that deadlock is going to involve the teams and the region too. The teams tell how important it is to their sponsors that we have a British GP. Many sponsors think of the UK as treasure island. Often spending more than $400m per annum, it wouldn’t be difficult for the UK-based teams to contribute too, so we can go to the government and say, “Right, the BRDC has sold tranches of land for cash, the teams have done this much, the sport’s governing body has finally helped too, and we can twist Bernie’s arm for this deal. So what can you the government bring in terms of tax holidays and other resources and value?”

It will need a person of great integrity and commercial skill to glue this together but, in reality, it should be achievable because everybody wins. But it won’t happen. I know that, as ever, on the grid today there will be politicians jumping on the Lewis bandwagon. They love the kudos, appreciate the platform. But together we may well throw it all away.