Derek Warwick wants more government and lottery funding for British motorsport

British Racing Drivers' Club President Derek Warwick has called on the government and the National Lottery to give British motorsport some of the support and funding it provides to Team GB.

Warwick helped launch the new British F4 Championship at the start of January, a series he hopes will remain affordable for up-and-coming drivers and help more British talent reach the pinnacle of motorsport. The new championship is the brainchild of MSV boss Jonathan Palmer and with the car costing just £29,000 to buy, Warwick is sure a season in a 'slicks and wings' car will cost less than some karting series. "I think it is going to have a massive impact," Warwick said. "I think we have all got carried away over the years with the affluent lifestyle, the amount of money that everyone was earning over the last ten years - we were in a society where whatever you were doing you were making money. "That has now changed over the last three or four years - we know we are in a recession - and I think the stepping stone to Formula 1 is very complicated. And I think it needs a grassroots Formula in which 'lads and dads' can still run and run competitively and they can win in this championship off the back of a transit van and that is something I felt was important. "The reason the BRDC have put their name to it is because Jonathan Palmer does not do things by half measures. He has invested a lot of money, over £1m in this car, it has got all the modern tricks -it has got paddle shift, it has got wings, it conforms with all FIA crash tests and it is affordable. "It is no more expensive to run this F4 car than it is to run in the European Kart Championship, so it is affordable now for a kart guy not to stay in karts too long and to move up to grassroots racing and I think that's really, really important."