Looking ahead to 2005, the question is whether there will be a British Grand Prix on the calendar.
It very much hinges on this agreement between the teams and if Ferrari sign up, we can have a 19-race series and the British and French GPs may come back.
There is a huge movement from the teams, the drivers and the FIA themselves to have a race in Britain.
I see there was a note in The Times newspaper from the FIA president himself who said if you take away too many of the traditional races, you lose the fabric of the F1 championship.
You have to have a mixture of the old and the new.
I think the appeal that Bernie has got to understand is outside of his business and outside of making the money from the new races, who want to join the calendar, he also has a responsibility as the promoter of the sport to keep in the traditional venues.
They have always provided good racing like Monza, like Spa and Silverstone.
These older tracks need a lot renovation like Silverstone does but the drivers love these tracks and they produce great races.
There are not a lot of people who want them to disappear.
I spoke to Mercedes and they very much wanted there to be a British Grand Prix next year.
So the teams have said if they cut the costs and cut out a lot of testing, they can go to 19 GPs and Britain might be saved.
But as a board member of the BRDC, though I am not negotiating, I'm part of the process and trying in a patriotic sort of way, to keep the British GP on the calendar.
For the sake of the British motorsport and our sporting heritage, we need to keep it on the calendar.
We have moved heaven and earth to meet Bernie's costs but now it's length of the contract.
Now if you are asking for a seven-year contract, which Bernie is, which is one year then a six-year option it's very difficult.
Because 2007 when the concord agreement is up is watershed time and everything could be up in the air.
But Bernie wants to lock up most of the tracks so if GPWC does become a reality, they will have to deal with him because he has all the circuits locked out.
It doesn't make financial sense at the moment but the BRDC have said that we will be the promoter for the next two years with a five-year option and we'll take it on the chin.
Potentially we will be in a loss situation but Bernie wants seven years or nothing.
So all the BRDC can do at the moment is explore all the other avenues and hope that pressure comes to bear from other quarters, the teams themselves saying they want the British GP.
When the calendar goes before the FIA delegates on the World Council on December 10, they get to vote as well.
They might well decide they want the British GP in there.
The great thing about the FIA is that the commerical side is kept separate from the sporting side with the rules and regulations.
Bernie runs the financial side because he is the promoter because he bought that from the FIA but he still have to abide by the FIA rules and regulations.
It's fingers crossed and if it's not on the calendar in December, one would still campaign to get it back in a year's time.
We lead the world in this sport but it's being taken away from us.
If you lose your shop window, you lose your competitive and we'll lose a lot of business.
That's software, technical design, chassis manufacture, young drivers and young engineers, that's a huge business for this country and I think the government are well aware of that.
You don't want to be losing major events when you are pitching for an Olympics.
Tony Jardine was talking to Stephen Joyce.
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