NOVEMBER 24, 2011

Texas ready to pay?

Organisers of the proposed US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, have said that they are ready to pay the necessary sanctioning fee to secure a place on the 2012 F1 calendar.

Formula 1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone said last week that if a signed contract with guaranteed proof of funding is not in place by the end of this week, the race would not be on next year's calendar.

A spokesman for the Circuit of the Americas, Jeff Hahn, has claimed that the money is ready to be sent.

It seems, however, that there is some dispute over the contract, said to concern future payments and cost escalators due to be paid to Formula One Management.

Work on the circuit ceased recently as the dispute took hold, calling the future of the race into question and leading to suggestions that it faces being delayed until 2013 if the current hurdles are not quickly overcome.