It was nearly 11 months ago Simon Gillett adamantly told me he had not risked the future of the British Grand Prix, but rather he was its saviour.

Gillett's comments came from an interview I conducted with him in Monte Carlo in early December last year when he was in typically bullish mood.

Five months previously, Gillett had wrenched a sporting institution from the grasp of Silverstone's owners who had taken far too long to sign a new contract for Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone's liking.

Gillett, the chief executive of Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd - the company that leases Donington Park from the owning Wheatcroft family - had convinced Ecclestone he could stage "the best grand prix in the world".

Ecclestone, being a businessman, agreed a deal with Gillett that would - on paper at least - generate money for them both.

But what looks good on paper often does not translate to the real world, as we have seen with Gillett's over-ambitious plans.

Few appeared to truly believe he could turn Donington Park into a £100million-plus state-of-the-art facility resplendent with hotels, leisure and shopping complex and housing development.

In comparison to some of F1's newest venues, the figure sounded an unrealistic sum for grandiose ideas.

Perhaps Gillett would be best served boarding a plane to Abu Dhabi and witnessing at first hand exactly what £800million can buy.

The figure is akin to the redevelopment of Wembley and on a par with the magnificent new splendour that is home to the New York Yankees baseball team.

That is the kind of money that has to be spent these days if you are to become the best.

Initially it was hoped the funds Gillett needed would come via a debenture scheme that never saw the light of day, although in fairness the global credit crisis was his undoing.

It led to desperate times calling for desperate measures as Gillett effectively held out a begging bowl to the world's major financial institutions and asked them for £135million via high-yield bonds.

Hardly any circuit can survive in today's climate without some form of state assistance.

That is why Silverstone, privately owned and run by the British Racing Drivers' Club, has stalled to build the new pit and paddock complex they know is required.

When you make a profit of just £662,000 after staging a successful grand prix - as Silverstone did last year - and that on a healthy turnover of £38.2million, you are left with precious little with which to deliver.

So here we are again, having come full circle from the position we were faced with 18 months ago - with the British Grand Prix under serious threat.

Ecclestone has laid his cards on the table, saying we do not need the race, but is he calling Silverstone's bluff?

In front of Neil England, the chairman of Silverstone Holdings, is exactly the same contract from Ecclestone he stalled on signing last year.

The fee is £12million per annum - but with the major stumbling block then as now, a seven per cent yearly increase.

That would leave Silverstone facing a bill after just five years of £16.8million, and after 10 years a staggering £23.5million.

It would be financial suicide, and the reason why they are holding on to their principles in the face of such hard bargaining.

Surely Ecclestone does not really mean it when he says F1 can do without a race previously seen as protected under FIA statutes - not when Britain has produced the last two world champions, when eight of the 13 teams on next year's grid will have a base of some description in England.

Perhaps we should go back to Gillett's words of December 11 last year: "I've not risked the British Grand Prix, I was the only person prepared to save it".

Should there be no race in Britain for the first time in F1 history next year, Gillett may still have to accept some of the blame.

After all the Donington affair has set the negotiating process back 18 months to a time when, so we are led to believe, the BRDC were chipping away at Ecclestone's resolve.

Seventy-nine-year-old Ecclestone is adamant he will not relent on this occasion, that there is no sentimental attachment, that business is business - while the BRDC are not prepared to sign a deal they know will ruin them.

This is a case of the immovable object coming up against the irresistible force - and for the sake of British motor sport, common ground has to be found.