Nico Rosberg is reportedly yet to receive a visa to enter India for the country’s inaugural formula one grand prix.
That is the claim of the Times of India, revealing that other F1 team members and journalists are experiencing simular difficulties whilst preparing to travel to Delhi next month.

The rumours had begun to emerge in the Monza paddock last weekend.

“I just came back from Monza where people have been complaining about how difficult it is to get visas for the trip to India,” said Team Lotus reserve driver Karun Chandhok, whose father Vicky is the head of India’s motor sport clubs.

Amid the recent tax and customs issue surrounding F1′s freight, the Indian government admitted this week that it does not regard the grand prix – organised by a fully private entity – as an “event of national importance”.

One figure who has had his visa application rejected, according to the Times of India, is Mercedes driver Rosberg.

The same is also true for “half” of the HRT team, the newspaper added.

Even the FIA’s head of communications is still waiting for his visa.

“If the government takes three weeks to process a visa application, almost 90 per cent of F1 people, me included, won’t attend the race,” Matteo Bonciani warned.

This weekend’s German grand prix will be the last race at the Nurburgring supported by the state, according to a government minister.
Earlier this year, it emerged that the new SPD/Green government alliance for the Rhineland-Palatinate state was only willing to support two more races at the Nurburgring until the current arrangements expire in 2016.

“Until 2016, there will be only one formula one grand prix sponsored financially by the land, and it’s 2011,” Eveline Lemke told business newspaper Handelsblatt. “That’s it.”

Historic Monza is more important to formula one than Rome, the Italian capital’s mayor Gianni Alemanno has admitted.
Rome came close to joining the sport’s annual calendar until Bernie Ecclestone ruled that each country should host only a single formula one race per year.

That scuppered the chances of a street event in the EUR district, and Alemanno confirmed to Italian LA7 news that he only wanted to bring F1 to Rome if it could have complemented the historic Italian grand prix at Monza.

“We proposed to have a formula one grand prix in Rome when it was practicably possible to have two grands prix in Italy; one at Monza and another in Rome,” he said.

“Then Ecclestone told us there could only be one grand prix in Italy and we said that the history is more important, so it (F1) was more important to Monza,” added Alemanno.

He added that Rome does not “steal things around Italy”.

“We respect the country just as we want respect for the role of Rome,” said Alemanno.

The Vietnamese government has played down the possibility of a formula one grand prix in the southeast Asian country.

It was reported last week that Hans Geist, linked in the past with F1 forays in Russia, Austria and Bahrain, has proposed a $150 million project to Vietnam’s ministry of planning and investment.

The proposal is for a formula one circuit to be built near Nha Trang Bay in central Khanh Hoa province in three years.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment subsequently confirmed that a working session with Geist took place.

But Dang Huy Dong, the deputy minister, stressed that the possibility of a grand prix should not be overstated.

“To date, the only thing the investor has done is meet with relevant Vietnamese authorities to find out about the feasibility of the project,” he told the Thoi bao Kinh te Viet Nam newspaper.

“It is too early to say if such a project will really take place in Vietnam,” he added.

The fact Belgium did not win its bid for the 2018 World Cup could be a blessing in disguise for fans of the historic F1 race at Spa-Francorchamps.

Spa’s grand prix contract expires in 2012, and it has been suggested that Bernie Ecclestone might drop one or two of the less lucrative European races to make way for new hosts.

Alain Courtois, a Belgian politician who was the front-man for the failed Benelux World Cup bid, thinks the region should now ensure that it does not lose its highest profile event.

“I think we need to be careful, because one of the conclusions to be drawn is that the sports world is heading towards southeast Asia and all these emerging countries,” he told RTBF television.

“So, we are not going to have the World Cup. Our other world event, the only one, is the formula one grand prix,” Courtois insisted.

“We need to try at least to keep this because you hear ‘it costs so much’. But the key is to position Belgium. We have a country that is dynamic, that is efficient, that has successful companies. We also need to have an image to the world.

“It (having the World Cup) was now or never. Let’s now continue with what we have, because it is not bad,” he insisted.

The addition of Bulgaria to the F1 calendar could mean the end of the sport’s Hungarian and Turkish rounds.

That is the claim of organiser and Bulgarian motor racing official Bogdan Nikolov, who said this week that a contract for a debut race in 2012 could be signed as soon as next month.

The news follows a scandal earlier this year, when Abu Dhabi investors reportedly reacted furiously to funding claims about the Bulgarian event.

But Nikolov insists the Arab investors are still interested in the project, suggesting that the scandal was more due to “competitive” interests.

“If there is formula one grand prix in Sofia, there won’t be races on Istanbul Park (in Turkey) and (the) Hungaroring. We will be the only grand prix in eastern Europe,” he told the Sofia news agency Novinite.

Talks between Bernie Ecclestone and the Spanish venue known as Motorland Aragon reportedly took place about a potential vacancy on the 2010 calendar.

Spanish reports last week said the Hermann Tilke-penned circuit is a potential replacement venue for the October 22-24 date on this year’s calendar.

Korea’s similarly Tilke-designed track has been dogged by persistent speculation about its readiness to host an inaugural grand prix on that date.

According to the El Peridico newspaper, actual talks between Aragon officials and Ecclestone have taken place.

Officially, the circuit’s chief executive Antonio Gasion denied the report’s claims.

But the report insisted that Ecclestone raised the possibility of a grand prix for Aragon in late October, demanding a EUR 22 million race promotion fee.

A circuit source told the newspaper that Aragon turned down the offer “because the possibility of recovering that level of investment is zero”.

“We have never ruled out being eligible for a formula one grand prix in the future,” added the source. “For now, we are delighted with the motorcycle (MotoGP) race that fell to us from the sky.”