“We’ve done everything we bloody well can do to make this race happen,”
Ecclestone said.
Asked if the USGP was in danger of being dropped ahead of the final World
Motor Sport Council meeting in New Delhi on December 7 when the 2012
calendar is officially ratified, Ecclestone said: “Yes, it will be, for
sure, 100 per cent.”
COTA now has three weeks to resolve the crisis with Ecclestone, otherwise
there will be no return next year to the United States after what has
already been a four-year absence in a vital market for F1.
Explaining how the situation has spiralled, Ecclestone said: “We had an
agreement with Full Throttle Productions.
“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.
“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.”
With the clock ticking on the future of the USGP, Ecclestone is now simply
looking for “a guarantor”, to assure him if COTA fail to pay then
there is a reserve.
“It’s probably an old-fashioned way of going about things, needing
payment, but that’s business,” Ecclestone said.
“It’s like buying a house. Before you buy that house, and before you get
all the paperwork, you make sure you’ve got the money.”
When contacted, representatives for the Circuit of The Americas declined to
comment.
Last month’s announcement of a street race in New Jersey, featuring Manhattan
as a backdrop, which will take place in 2013 has further complicated matters
for all concerned with the GP in Austin.
That much was made clear yesterday by Texas state comptroller Susan Combs who
said New Jersey had the potential to affect the economic impact of their
race, adding that the annual $25m of public funding, which would effectively
cover the sanctioning fee collected by Ecclestone and which is deemed
crucial to the race’s success, was by no means guaranteed and would
certainly not been paid out in advance of the event.
“Additional races have the potential to reduce the number of attendees to a
Texas race, thereby decreasing the economic impact,” Combs said.
“The ongoing controversies are a concern and we will continue to monitor them.
“Let me state clearly: We have not paid out any money for the Formula One
event. The only dollars that can be spent on the United States Grand Prix
are tax revenues attributable to the successful running of a race.
“The state of Texas will not be paying any funds in advance of the
event.”