Silverstone warned over washout

Car parks were closed and drivers turned away

Organisers of the British Grand Prix have avoided being punished for the rain-hit debacle at Silverstone last Easter.

But the FIA, Formula One's governing body, instead insisted that a list of conditions are met before next year's race can be staged.

Failure to satisfy all the above conditions ... will results in the exclusion of the British Grand Prix for the 2001 season

  FIA statement

Failure to meet those conditions could result in the British event being cancelled.

"Failure to satisfy all the above conditions ... will results in the exclusion of the British Grand Prix for the 2001 season," the FIA said in a statement.

In a move that will help reduce the chaos caused by heavy downpours before and during the 2000 event, next year's British Grand Prix has been moved back to 13 May in the hope of better weather.

The Easter washout meant many of the circuit's car parks were unusable, or became quagmires of churned mud.

It forced organisers to turn away ticket-holding fans on race day due to overwhelming traffic problems.

Traffic jams stretching up to 15 miles lined the roads to Silverstone which is situated in rural Northamptonshire.

Queues were said at one point to be growing at a pace of one mile a minute, reaching back to the M40 and the M1 motorways.

The decision to move the date of the British event back to Easter, rather than its traditional date in spring or early summer, was seen as a major contributing factor to the chaos.

Provisional 2001 Formula One calendar
Published Wednesday by the FIA

4 March - Australian GP, Melbourne
18 March - Malaysian GP, Kuala Lumpur
1 April - Brazilian GP, Sao Paulo
15 April - San Marino GP, Imola
29 April - Spanish GP, Barcelona
13 May - British GB, Silverstone
27 May - Monaco GP, Monte Carlo
10 June - Canadian GP, Montreal
24 June - European GP, Nurburgring
8 July - French GP, Magny-Cours
22 July - Austrian GP, Spielberg
5 Aug - German GP, Hockenheim
19 Aug - Hungarian GP, Budapest
2 Sept - Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps
16 Sept - Italian GP, Monza
30 Sept - United States GP, Indianapolis
14 Oct - Japanese GP, Suzuka