Stewart in Silverstone plea

He warned that thousands of jobs and future generations of British champions could be lost. And the three-time world champion, now a global ambassador for RBS, has urged Silverstone’s owners to do what it takes to secure the event’s long-term future.

Talks to extend the race beyond next year have stalled after FI supremo Bernie Ecclestone demanded improvements to Silverstone’s facilities. He’s now ready to drop the British Grand Prix in favour of new races in Valencia, Abu Dhabi and, potentially, India.

However, Sir Jackie insists that must never be allowed to happen. He said: “Silverstone, for me, is one of the best race tracks in the world. Not just from a driver’s point of view but as a fan, because more passing opportunities mean better racing.

“Britain is where Formula One started, so it would be a big sin if we were to lose our home Grand Prix.

“But if we were to lose it, a great many other things would go wrong. It would have a huge negative effect on a British motor sport industry that employs 50,000 people and has sales of £5bn a year.

“Some of the FI teams (currently seven of the 11 teams are based in the UK) would choose not to be based here and that would be a loss for the whole country.”

Sir Jackie was speaking at the launch of the London leg of the RBS Grand Prix Challenge – a contest in which fans test their skills in a Formula One simulator.

However, he said the state-of-the-art simulator could be the closest some rising stars would ever get to a Formula One car, if the British Grand Prix was lost.

The Scot, who won 27 Grand Prix added: “We would potentially lose young future Lewis Hamiltons or Nigel Mansells… or Jackie Stewarts.

“And we wouldn’t be getting the next generation of young people who want to be motor sport engineers, designers, mechanics or aerodynamicists.

“Why? Because they wouldn’t be feeling, touching or smelling the motor racing that I did; that Patrick Head, the creator of the Williams technology, did.

“All of us were smitten by the bug at Silverstone. The energy level was ignited by the British Grand Prix.”

• The RBS Grand Prix Challenge has previously visited Sydney and Singapore, and moves on to Hong Kong from October 3-8.