Valencia will not be on next year’s F1 calendar, Bernie Ecclestone said on Saturday.

He confirmed that, starting in 2013, an annually alternating deal between the Spanish port city and Barcelona will begin.

Barcelona, the scene of this weekend’s Spanish grand prix, will host the race in 2013, before Valencia returns to the schedule in 2014, the F1 chief executive told Reuters.

Less secure, meanwhile, is France’s touted spot on the 2013 calendar, particularly with the country’s new anti-F1 president Francois Hollande now taking power.

Until recently, the F1 chief executive was saying Paul Ricard was set to join the 2013 calendar, annually alternating a race date with Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps.

As for the state of the deal now, the 81-year-old admitted: “I have no idea. No idea what they (France) are doing.

“It’s a funny arrangement they were making anyway. So I just don’t know.”

Ecclestone is also working on a new deal for the popular Canadian grand prix, having told promoter Francois Dumontier that the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve needs to be upgraded.

“There are two ways of looking at it,” Dumontier, in the paddock of the Circuit de Catalunya, is quoted by La Presse newspaper.

“Either Bernie requires an annual fee windfall, or he will charge a reasonable fee and ask in return for investment in the infrastructure.”

He said the contract on the table is for 10 more years, taking Montreal’s existing deal through 2024.

Ecclestone said on Saturday that he is sure an agreement will be reached, because Canada is one of F1′s most loved destinations.

“I remember saying to Bernie, ‘New York, Austin, I don’t know why you want to go there. Your sure bet is Montreal’. He knows that.

“He’s been in Montreal for 34 years. And in the 22 years of the grands prix in the United States, they’ve had eight different cities.

“He said ‘You’re right’,” added Dumontier.

Another rumour, repeated by The Times’ Kevin Eason on Saturday, is that the planned 2014 Russian grand prix in Sochi “is doomed”.

Magny Cours is still in the race to host France’s return to formula one.

But according to RMC, the race’s former host – having run the French grand prix between 1991 and 2008 – has been handed a much higher price-tag than Paul Ricard.

Just before Nicolas Sarkozy lost the recent presidential election, the basis of an agreement to annually alternate a French GP with Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps was agreed.

The 2013 host would be Paul Ricard, the Bernie Ecclestone-owned circuit, and the race fee EUR 22 million.

Politics, it seems, have intervened.

Francois Hollande, France’s new president, is not a supporter of the grand prix, and vowed to re-evaluate the sport’s return to the country.

RMC reports that officials at Magny Cours have used the opportunity to “repeatedly” contact F1 chief executive Ecclestone in recent days.

The Nievre region is politically aligned with the new administration, but Ecclestone is reportedly “asking EUR 10 million more” for a race at Magny Cours.

Politics, however, could also be on Paul Ricard’s side, with Citroen’s former world rally boss Olivier Quesnel reportedly lined up to lead the F1 project.

Quesnel is reportedly close to FIA president Jean Todt, and the pair apparently met earlier this week.

The French government is dashing to seal the lid on the country’s return to F1.

Bernie Ecclestone has said a deal has been reached to annually alternate a race between Paul Ricard in France and Belgium’s fabled Spa-Francorchamps.

But the final signature and official announcement are still missing.

David Douillet, the French sports minister, told Le Journal du Dimanche that the chance France will be on the 2013 calendar is “90 per cent”.

“The contract is going back and forth between the lawyers. I hope I get to London to meet with Bernie Ecclestone between Wednesday and Friday,” he added.

The newspaper said Douillet is dashing to complete the deal by this weekend’s presidential election, because socialist frontrunner Francois Hollande has hinted the grand prix project would be reviewed if he is elected.

Douillet admitted that it is “very likely” Hollande would “bury” the race.

Le JDD newspaper said organisers and Ecclestone have agreed the race sanctioning fee, EUR 22 million, which is still a few million short of guaranteeing a balanced budget.

And “without a balanced budget, we do not sign,” he warned. “The state, which does not participate financially, is still the guarantor of any debt.”

There also remains an odd silence from the Belgian side, who have not confirmed that Spa is the circuit that will alternate with France.

Bernie Ecclestone on Sunday confirmed reports France is definitely heading back to the F1 calendar.

Reports earlier this weekend said authorities had “finally agreed” a figure for the sanctioning fee with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.

It is expected that the Ecclestone-owned Paul Ricard will share an annually alternating grand prix date with Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps, beginning in 2013.

“Yes,” the 81-year-old Briton told French daily L’Equipe in the Bahrain paddock on Sunday.

“The deal is done,” said Ecclestone.

“We agreed the financial terms with the sports minister David Douillet, in my office on Tuesday.

“We are still discussing a few things about money: ‘You give me this, I want that’,” he added.

“But, for me, there is no doubt, we will sign it now,” said Ecclestone.

He said the outcome of the forthcoming presidential elections in France will not spoil the deal.

“Whatever happens, I don’t care,” said Ecclestone. “That’s a local issue that doesn’t concern me.”

Bernie Ecclestone has met yet again in London with David Douillet, the French sports minister.

The F1 chief executive confirmed this week that a deal to alternate an annual calendar spot between France and Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps beginning next year is now close.

“Spa have agreed; apparently they’re going to do it in (Paul) Ricard,” Ecclestone told the BBC.

The French sports daily L’Equipe reports that the 81-year-old’s latest meeting with Douillet is “another step towards the return of the grand prix de France”.

The meeting, reportedly confirmed by “several sources including those in Belgium”, is Ecclestone’s second with Douillet in 2012.

France’s return to the 2013 formula one calendar is not quite at the finish-line.

Many expected prime minister Francois Fillon’s visit to the Paul Ricard circuit last Friday to coincide with an announcement about the revival of the French grand prix next year.

Some think that was indeed the intention, but ultimately a couple of details were missing at the last hurdle.

The first was the identity of the host circuit that will annually alternate the race date, amid reports Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps is not yet ready or able to agree.

“The formula one management has approved the plan without indicating who would be the other country,” Fillon is quoted as saying in local reports.

Another problem is on the financial side, with Fillon admitting that – politically – there can be no direct government subsidy other than a mere “bond”.

The difference between a deal and no deal between Bernie Ecclestone and the Le Castellet organisers, then, is “about two million euros”, Fillon revealed.

“The formula one organisers’ proposal is reasonable enough,” he said, “but we have to make them remove the ‘enough’,” he added.

“Symbolically it would not be acceptable (for the government) to subsidise a grand prix,” he insisted, “as was the case in the past with Magny Cours.”

Magny Cours, the former French GP venue, reacted with shock and anger, accusing the prime minister of “bias in favour of Le Castellet”, where temporary grandstands will have to be erected to host spectators.

On the other hand, Magny Cours has “all the facilities, infrastructure and expertise needed to organise such an event”, insisted Patrice Joly, president of the conseil general of the Nievre department.

“Contrary to what you would expect from the head of government, the prime minister strives to implement a solution based on partisan considerations and personal issues away from the general interest,” he added.

New media reports have contradicted claims French PM Francois Fillon will on Friday announce the country’s 2013 return to the formula one calendar.

Le Parisien newspaper on Thursday said Fillon’s visit to the Paul Ricard circuit on Friday is to confirm the successful end to long negotiations to revive the French grand prix.

Those negotiations were for Paul Ricard to annually alternate a race date with Belgium’s fabled Spa Francorchamps.

But the French-language RMC insists that Belgium is “not ready for the alternation”.

“If France has received a contract to organise a grand prix every other year, this is not the case for the Belgian promoters, who are still waiting for the document to send to the government of Wallonia,” the report read.

RMC said the hold-up could be because Spa is having trouble paying its sanctioning fee for this year’s race date in September.

The French magazine Sport-Auto agrees, insisting that Fillon “will not announce the return of the grand prix de France on Friday”.

“The prime minister will travel to the (Paul Ricard) circuit,” an official close to Fillon is quoted as saying by AFP news agency, but Fillon “will not announce the return of the grand prix to the calendar in 2013″.

The official, however, said Bernie Ecclestone as approved “in principle” France’s presence on the calendar every other year, beginning in 2013.

But “It (the alternation) will not necessarily be with Belgium,” the report added.

In an interview to be published by the Nice-Matin newspaper on Friday, Fillon is quoted as saying a grand prix is crucial to France.

“Bernie Ecclestone has just sent us a draft contract,” said the prime minister, “which is the result of negotiations that began several months ago.

“We now have a concrete basis for discussions,” he added.

The race to put the French grand prix back on track will be over in three weeks.
That is the claim of Nicolas Deschaux, the president of the country’s motor sport federation who admitted concern the deal to put Paul Ricard on the 2013 calendar is not yet done.

France has been missing from the calendar since Magny-Cours last held a grand prix in 2008, but efforts have been made to annually alternate a race between Paul Ricard – a track in Le Castellet, near Marseille – and Belgium’s fabled Spa Francorchamps.

Deschaux told RMC the project needs to reach the finish-line within three weeks.

“We have always been working very hard,” he said. “We have arrived in the home stretch, where either we come to finalise within three weeks, or we will go on a path that forces us to postpone.”

Bernie Ecclestone is leading the negotiations as France tries to return to the formula one calendar.
The country’s government is pushing hard to include Paul Ricard on the 2013 calendar, with a deal to alternate annually a single race date with Belgum’s Spa Francorchamps.

RMC Sport reports that Paris has formally requested Ecclestone, F1′s chief executive, send them the contract.

But the report said a crucial detail is missing: the necessary race fee.

As those negotiations begin, it is revealed that Eric Boullier – the Lotus team’s French team principal – met with Ecclestone in London on Wednesday to talk about it.

Boullier had tried to “speed things up”, the French language report said.

RMC added that Spa-Francorchamps’ Belgian promoters currently spend EUR 22.5 million per race on the grand prix, a figure neither they nor France are willing to pay in 2013 and beyond.

“Both have set a maximum of EUR 15 million per race,” said the report.

The responsible Belgian minister, Jean-Claude Marcourt, declined to comment.

 Alain Prost has backed France’s touted return in 2013 to the formula one calendar.
Recently, the four time world champion was involved in a project to bring the sport to Paris.

“That’s a closed chapter,” he rued, according to the Russian website F1News.

“I really regret that, because – believe me – it was the best project I had seen in a long time.”

The latest proposal is for France’s Paul Ricard to share an annually alternating grand prix date with Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium’s fabled and much loved circuit.

Prost said: “Obviously the best thing would be for France and Belgium to have their own grands prix each year.

“But unfortunately you have to admit that Europe is facing great difficulties, so if this is the only way for the race to happen, then why not?

“It’s better than nothing,” he said.

France’s sports minister insists the country is still on course to return to the formula one calendar.
Recently, a deal to see the Paul Ricard circuit annually share a grand prix date with Belgium’s fabled Spa-Francorchamps seemed imminent.

But although the key meeting with Bernie Ecclestone took place nearly a month ago now, sports minister David Douillet said the 2013 French grand prix “is not dead”.

“We have three new French drivers in F1 and so we have to have a grand prix de France,” he is quoted by TF1 television. “That’s my job.

“France is the land of the grand prix,” added Douillet. “I met with Bernie Ecclestone and he is totally willing to share it between Belgium and France.

“He has mobilised and motivated local governments for the financing of the event, even if we are yet to have all the details from our Belgian friends.

“There are also some details to go with one or two of the close cities. We are almost there,” he insisted.

Michael Schumacher’s home town is not planning an official celebration this weekend.
At Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the seven time world champion will mark the 20th anniversary of his meteoric formula one debut.

But 70 kilometres away in Kerpen, Germany, Schumacher’s home town will be quiet as usual, mayor Marlies Seiburg told the DAPD news agency.

“We have not planned any events because we have found that the interest of the spectators is no longer on the same scale,” she said, comparing Schumacher’s return to F1 with his ultra-successful initial career until 2006.

Schumacher’s first F1 boss Eddie Jordan has featured prominently in the German media this week; not only revealing Renault’s apparent plans to drop Nick Heidfeld but also calling 42-year-old Schumacher an “old fart”.

The Irishman also contradicted Schumacher’s claim that his manager Willi Weber only accidentally lied about the fact he had never raced at Spa prior to his 1991 debut.

“I asked him (Schumacher) and Weber if Michael had ever been to Spa. Both said yes. Taken literally it might be true but actually it was an outright lie,” said Jordan.

“Had they told the truth, I would not have let him race,” he added.

Jordan also admitted that he only signed Schumacher as jailed Bertrand Gachot’s one-off replacement because “I just needed the money”, referring to the $150,000 paid by Schumacher’s Sauber-Mercedes sports car team.

Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm told Bild newspaper: “It is good if Eddie keeps Michael in the media constantly.”

Jerome d’Ambrosio’s F1 mechanics have given the Belgian rookie a flavoursome new nickname.
In the Virgin garage, the 25-year-old is now affectionately known as ‘Custard’, with the word pasted on his cockpit when he began testing for the 2011 season at Valencia last week.

Ambrosia is a well-known UK brand of custard and rice pudding.

“It just shows I fit in the team pretty well straight way, so I’m happy,” d’Ambrosio is quoted as saying by The Sun.

He is the first Belgian to race in F1 since Bertrand Gachot in 1995, even though Gachot was actually born in Luxembourg and carried a French passport.

But d’Ambrosio is not so bold as to predict that his presence will now help to secure the future of the Belgian grand prix at famous Spa-Francorchamps.

“I won’t have the arrogance to say that I will bring back Spa to the old days by myself,” he insisted.

“But for sure it will be something positive and hopefully we will be able to build on that.”

A Belgian politician has played down fears Spa-Francorchamps is set to lose its grand prix, but admitted that no European venue is completely safe.

Bernie Ecclestone said this week it is “absolutely” possible the famous and popular venue, which is reportedly struggling to pay the F1 chief executive’s annual race fees, will be axed to make room on the calendar for the sport’s expansion.

Jean-Claude Marcourt, economics minister of the local Walloon government, reacted cautiously to the 79-year-old Briton’s comments.

“Formula one is becoming more globalised,” he is quoted by the Belga news agency, “and some countries are sparing no expense to join in.

“But we should not dramatise the situation; negotiations are still gong on,” added Marcourt.

Sam Michael is amazed any formula one team is considering removing its F-duct system for this weekend’s Italian grand prix.

It first emerged that McLaren, the pioneer of the rear wing-stalling concept, was contemplating running a non-F-duct layout for the high speed circuit.

Reports said that while the device would seem to be ideally suited to the famous venue, the unique low-downforce configuration might mean that weight-saving and drag-reduction is the better solution.

It then emerged that Renault is also considering removing F-duct for Monza, amid rumours Ferrari could also trial a conventional wing solution in Friday practice.

“Like several other teams, we too are evaluating whether we can make the device work at Monza,” admitted Renault’s James Allison on Monday.

But at Spa-Francorchamps recently, Williams’ technical director Michael was amazed some teams were contemplating not running an F-duct at Monza.

“I don’t really understand that.  I don’t know where that story came from to be honest.  I think someone was just playing around,” the Australian told reporters.

Michael said using an F-duct at the Autodromo Nazionale is a “no-brainer”.

“On the Monza (F-duct) wing that we’ve got, it’s a massive drag difference.  So I don’t know why you wouldn’t do it.

“It’s a stalled wing, so if the wing stalls then it stalls.  I think everyone will run it,” he added.