F1 supremo hits back at claims by Circuit of the Americas
Last Updated: November 16, 2011 6:57pm
Bernie Ecclestone: Says the United States Grand Prix could be cancelled
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has stated that next year's United States Grand Prix in Austin is on the verge of being cancelled.
Construction work was recently halted at the proposed circuit due to a contract dispute between the track owners and Tavo Hellmund's Full Throttle Productions.
The owners said they would not resume work until they received the race contract from Full Throttle Productions but, in a new twist, Ecclestone has revealed that the contract with Hellmund has already been cancelled after he was found to be in breach.
This has left Ecclestone negotiating with track developers, Circuit of The Americas (COTA), who claim that "the contract between Formula One and Circuit of The Americas has not been conveyed to Circuit of The Americas per a previously agreed upon timetable".
Ecclestone has been left angered by those claims and says the reason why no contract has been issued is because he has yet to receive a guarantee or a letter of credit that he will be paid.
"We've done everything we bloody well can do to make this race happen," Ecclestone said.
In danger
Asked if the USGP was in danger of being when the 2012 calendar is officially ratified in December, he added: "Yes, it will be, for sure, 100 per cent."
COTA now has three weeks to resolve the issue with Ecclestone or the proposed race - the first in America since 2007 - will not go ahead.
"We had an agreement with Full Throttle Productions," Ecclestone said.
"Everything was signed and sealed, but we kept putting things off like the dates, various letters of credit and things that should have been sent, but nothing ever happened.
"Then these other people (COTA) came on the scene, saying that they wanted to do things, but that they had problems with Tavo.
"They said they had the circuit, and that they wanted an agreement with me. I told them they had to sort out the contract with Tavo, which they said they would.
Contract
"But that has gone away now because we've cancelled Tavo's contract as he was in breach.
"We've waited six months for him to remedy the breach. He knows full well why we've cancelled. He's happy.
"But these other people haven't got a contract. All we've asked them to do is get us a letter of credit.
"We are looking for security for money they are going to have to pay us. That is via a letter of credit, normally from a bank.
"If people don't have the money they find it difficult to get the letter of credit, and so we don't issue a contract."
It is thought that the recent announcement of an F1 street race in New Jersey for 2013 has further complicated matters with the event in Austin.
Credit: Sky Sports (www.skysports.com)
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