Silverstone's financial health has taken a dramatic turnaround after the circuit's latest figures show an improvement in earnings.

A report in the Independent on Sunday newspaper says the British Grand Prix venue's latest accounts show it made £13.6m in gross profits and earnings after tax of £1.3m for the 18-month period to the end of 2006.

This is in comparison to a £2.6m loss recorded the previous year.

Silverstone's latest accounts, which cover both the '05 and '06 grands prix, show turnover hit £52.6m and the circuit's owner, the BRDC, has built up cash reserves of £12m.

And these figures could be beaten next year when the first two seasons of 'Lewis Hamilton mania', which has seen ticket sales soar, are taken into account.

The encouraging figures come as Silverstone looks to secure its position on the Formula 1 calendar beyond the end of its current contract in 2009 via a major redevelopment of the venue.

The plans, which include a new pit and paddock complex, business and educational park and hotels, recently received a major boost when local council chiefs gave their approval to the scheme.

However F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, a long-time critic of the Northamptonshire track's facilities, recently warned that even a successful redevelopment didn't guarantee the British GP would stay on the calendar if a new commercial agreement couldn't be reached.

Fernando Alonso has broken his silence on the racism storm that hit last month's test at Barcelona - and has echoed Bernie Ecclestone view that the launching of an anti-racism campaign is not needed.

McLaren was subjected to hostile taunts from sections of spectators venting their anger at the team following their hero Alonso's turbulent year at Woking, with the Spaniard's rival Lewis Hamilton on the receiving end of vile racist abuse.

F1's governing body the FIA reacted by demanding Spanish authorities put measures in place to ensure there is no repeat of the scenes in future, while also announcing the planned launch of the 'Racing against Racism' initiative

However Alonso has defended his country's image, insisting the Barcelona incident was a one-off and wasn't reflective of the vast majority of the record crowd that attended that test.

"I don't think this is a racist country, and the fans aren't either," he was quoted as saying by Spain's AS newspaper.

"Anyone who says that there is racism in Spain is talking about isolated cases.

"The less we talk about what happened a fortnight ago the better, because it was a completely isolated case from someone who was celebrating [the] carnival.

"I haven't seen any video or recording of the alleged insults."

F1 supremo Ecclestone provoked some controversy last weekend, when he called the launch of the anti-racism campaign as unnecessary following what he saw as a 'one-off' incident.

When asked if the drive was necessary, Alonso said it wasn't and that it painted the Spanish people in the wrong light: "No. It was an isolated incident and if the FIA or anyone are saying that the Spanish fans are racist, it's laughable."

He added that he hadn't spoken to Hamilton about the incident and that he himself hadn't received any support after being called a "dog" at some races last year.

Nico Rosberg says he is happy with Williams' progress after the team's promising pre-season continued during the penultimate winter test at Barcelona.

Although wet weather at the Spanish circuit affected teams' running on two of the three days, the Grove squad's FW30 still topped the times in both dry and damp track conditions.

Rosberg declared himself satisfied with the team's form in the test and is confident that both the pace and reliability of its new car is improving.

"We've had plenty of running in the wet this week and we looked pretty good, which was positive," he said.

"It wasn't that easy to drive in the conditions, it's hard to keep the tyres in the working window, especially without traction control, so you're always quite on the limit.

"The last day was dry and so we managed to cover a lot of laps with no problems at all.

"Over the three days, we got some important reliability issues sorted out.

"We seem to be progressing well with the new car and I am happy with the improvements we're making."

While Rosberg topped the times in the opening damp session, team-mate Kazuki Nakajima set the week's benchmark dry time on Thursday.

The Japanese rookie admits the weather conditions throughout the three days were hardly ideal, but was nevertheless pleased with his week.

"Initially it was a bit of a difficult test because of the weather but it was good for me to get some experience in wet conditions," he said.

"The car is feeling good, but we couldn't do as much work with it as we wanted to because of the bad weather.

"It was still a good week for us though overall."

Source: ITV.com/f1

Lewis seems to have a odd face when he laughs. :P

Alonso: Ahhhhh i've always wanted a world champion to give me a champange shower.

Mosley: I hate you all, F1 needs to fail!!!!

S'ok mate, nice to have an old memeber back in the frame :)

Welcome back. :)

I actually believe we can pull ourselves out of this rut :) so lets just hope the goit doesn't log in till Feb 17 XD

Being tuned to this place needs hard work, i'm sure they've all changed channel now, or lost signal.

HAHAHHAHAH!!