I still can’t quite believe that I will be waking up this morning to watch the last British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone. In fact, it could possibly be the last British Grand Prix for some time.

Since the World Championship, as it was then known, began back in 1950 — with the very first round held at Silverstone — only Britain and Italy have staged a grand prix every year. Since that beginning, 42 British Grands Prix have been held at Silverstone, 12 at Brands Hatch and five at Aintree, which is why Silverstone justifiably wears the banner of the ‘‘home of British motor racing’’. Now, all that is set to be consigned to the history books — or is it?

First of all, I should declare a couple of interests. The chief one is that Silverstone will always hold a special place in my memory. When I was a child — and despite being dragged to Goodwood, Brands Hatch and Silverstone as soon as I could walk — my dad had somehow never taken me to the British Grand Prix. This was not helped by the fact that, back then, the races were still run on Saturdays, and boarding schools such as mine offered strictly limited days out — and they were on Sundays only.

So it wasn’t until I’d finished sitting my A-levels, in the summer of 1969, that I was permitted to borrow my mum’s Morris 1000, sit my girlfriend in the passenger seat and head to Silverstone to watch my first British Grand Prix.

And what a race. It was the Jochen Rindt vs Jackie Stewart classic. Eighty-four laps of the most breathtaking one-on-one motor racing I’ve witnessed. Rindt in his rather ageing Lotus 49B swapping the lead for lap after lap with the champion-elect Stewart’s Matra MS80. A broken wing mounting on the Lotus ended their duel but the pace had been so intense that the Scot had lapped the entire field by the time he took the chequered flag.

Ten years later, I should have been making my own British Grand Prix debut, had it not been for the French bureaucracy at the FIA refusing me a “superlicence”, as its new qualifying rules ignored my results in the British Formula Three championship.

Instead, I ruefully watched another take my place, and guess what. He was a Frenchman. Thirty years on, those are just two of so many reasons I still can’t quite believe the grand prix is moving from its home.

Of course, I am now a very proud life member of the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), which owns the circuit, so I am a very real part of Silverstone. The reason for the move is that Bernie Ecclestone, the man who all but controls Formula One, decided Silverstone was not investing enough money into upgrading the circuit and facilities. To many, there also appeared to be a personal side to the negotiations, a sense that the BRDC was seen as a bunch of “old farts in blazers” — something, naturally, I disagree with. I’ve never worn a blazer in my life.

Donington is a great circuit but even its proponents would admit it doesn’t quite have the history of Silverstone. Having said that, the new track layout at Donington looks superb, and Simon Gillett, its chief executive, has to be congratulated on the vision and drive he has brought to the effort to move the grand prix to the Leicestershire track. Earlier this month he was quoted as saying that Ecclestone had extended the agreement from 10 to 17 years, meaning that Donington will be hosting the race until 2027.

Even so, the future of the British Grand Prix is not assured. Ecclestone and his shareholders are reputed to want in the region of $25m (£15m) for the honour of staging a grand prix. If Donington, which has yet to find the financial backing, can’t come up with the cash, then F1 will move to a country that can. India has been mentioned. And South Korea.

Even if a U-turn were made and Silverstone were given back the grand prix, at that price the BRDC would make a loss it simply could not afford. But the club is the reason the British Grand Prix has been with us so long and why we are looking at the possibility of two British world champions back to back.

Perhaps a British driver winning today’s race is the best “thank you” we racing fans can give it.

Tiff Needell co-hosts Fifth Gear on Five