الرئيسية
Formula One commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone arrives
for the third practice session of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix at the
Marina Bay street circuit in Singapore September 24, 2011. REUTERS/Tim
Chong
By Alan Baldwin, Reuters
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Organisers of a planned U.S. Grand Prix
in Austin, Texas, have told Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone that
they will pay a sanctioning fee for next year's race if he revises an
"unrealistic and unfeasible" contract.
The 81-year-old Briton responded Thursday by casting further doubt on the event going ahead.
Ecclestone
has already made clear that he has lost patience and last week gave the
city's Circuit of the Americas a deadline of this weekend's Brazilian
Grand Prix to pay the required fees and sign a contract.
"We have
been ready to send Mr. Ecclestone a sanctioning fee check for some time
now," said Bobby Epstein, founding partner of Circuit of The Americas,
in a statement.
"He hasn't received it yet because the new contract presented to us two weeks ago contained unrealistic and unfeasible demands.
"We
have signed and returned a contract similar to what we anticipated
receiving. This race should be a reality, but if we are going to make
the 2012 race date, we must receive a counter-signature in the coming
few days."
Asked by Reuters at the Interlagos circuit whether he thought the Texas race might now happen, Ecclestone was dismissive.
"I doubt it," he said, with a copy of the Austin statement in his hands.
"The
truth is they're not complying with the terms and conditions of the
contract. And as we make the contract, we will award the event or not
award the event. They are not awarding anything to us.
"It's normal," he added.
"They
have been messing around now for four months, there's two partners
arguing and two different groups arguing with each other and in the end
none of them have got the money."
Asked whether his contract was
really "unrealistic and unfeasible," Ecclestone replied: "Yeah, well
they shouldn't sign it. My advice to them is don't sign it. And they
probably won't get the opportunity."
The race would have marked a return to the United States for Formula One, which last staged a race at Indianapolis in 2007.
Since
Austin was announced, Ecclestone has also done a deal for a race in New
Jersey against a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline for 2013.
Construction
was halted at the Austin circuit this month while the Texas Comptroller
of Public Accounts has ruled out the state paying any public funds in
advance of the race being held.
(editing by Ed Osmond; For Reuters sports blog Left Field go to: http://blogs.reuters.com/sport)