The key backer of the scheduled 2012 US grand prix insists he remains committed to the Circuit of the Americas project.

Construction in Austin, Texas, has continued amid raging local media speculation, as lawsuits are pending and questions are constantly asked about the viability of the project commenced by the now offside promoter Tavo Hellmund.

With 84-year-old billionaire Red McCombs now reportedly in the driving seat, he insisted it is “without question” he will continue to push the project forwards.

“Never has been any question,” McCombs is quoted by mysanantonio.com, after the authoritative Austin American Statesman newspaper had suggested he was on the verge of pulling out.

“I’m there for the full ticket,” McCombs insisted, although he admitted the row with Hellmund is proving a speed-bump.

“I will say we do expect to have some resolution to those issues in a timely fashion, but in dealing with the courts, I don’t know what a timely fashion is.”

He told reporters the circuit is now 60 per cent complete ahead of the inaugural November 18 race date.

Fernando Alonso has denied Ferrari is on the verge of giving up on the 2012 championship.

The Maranello based team has brought significant updates to its so far disappointing F2012 car for this weekend’s Spanish grand prix.

Imagining the single seater doesn’t make a major step forward in Barcelona, Alonso was asked whether Ferrari might start turning its focus to an all-new project for 2013.

“We’ll see, we’ll see after the race, because we don’t know what car we have (yet),” the Spaniard told reporters on Thursday. “I answer you on Sunday.”

Alonso said more updates for the F2012 are also scheduled for the forthcoming Monaco and Canadian grands prix.

But what if the Barcelona changes leave Ferrari with a midfield car? Would the time be right to get an early jump on the 2013 project?

“I don’t think so,” answered Alonso. “If the step is not good enough … we need to work harder, for Monaco and for Canada, and bring more new parts in a more aggressive approach.

“The championship is long and we will never give up in May,” he insisted.

F1 needs to resolve its dispute with Mercedes before the sport’s multi-billion dollar floatation plans can go ahead.

That is the warning of the German team’s chief executive Nick Fry, as Mercedes refuses to sign up to the new Concorde Agreement because rival top teams Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have been offered better deals.

Fry is quoted by The Times newspaper as admitting that the progress of talks with Bernie Ecclestone are “not as strong as I would like”.

But he warned: “If CVC wish to float F1, I think they need this resolved fairly quickly — possibly more than we need it resolved.”

At the same time, he played down speculation Mercedes is on the verge of quitting F1.

“The mindset is absolutely in capital letters: Mercedes-Benz wishes to be in F1,” Fry insisted. “I would add that F1 also needs Mercedes-Benz.

“I am completely convinced in my mind that if CVC wish to sell some or all of F1, the value they can derive from that would be severely diminished if Mercedes was not a participant.”

But a senior executive of Mercedes denied the spat is about money.

“It is about fairness,” the unnamed official told The Times’ Kevin Eason.

“We are facing a situation in which three teams will between them decide some of the biggest issues in formula one. That cannot be right.”

Norbert Haug has denied reports Mercedes is on the verge of quitting F1.

London newspaper The Times’ F1 correspondent Kevin Eason reported that the German carmaker has conducted a study into how the withdrawal could be effected.

He said the reason for Mercedes pulling out would be because, unlike Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, the Stuttgart marque has not been offered a place on F1′s post-floatation board.

When asked about Eason’s report, Mercedes’ competition vice-president Haug insisted to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport: “There is absolutely no truth to that.”

The report said negotiations between Mercedes and F1 bosses over the next Concorde Agreement are ongoing.

First as an engine supplier only, Mercedes has been in F1 in the modern era since 1993.

Mercedes is “on the verge” of quitting formula one.

That is the alarming claim of the London newspaper The Times, in an article written by its authoritative F1 correspondent Kevin Eason.

Eason wrote that while rival top teams Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull will get to appoint directors once F1 is floated on the Singapore exchange, Mercedes has not been extended the same offer.

“Why should Mercedes have the same deal as the others?” F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone is quoted as saying. “What have they done in formula one?

“They won a race and that is it.”

That attitude, Eason argues, has left Mercedes “on the verge of quitting formula one”, having apparently conducted a study into how its Brackley based works team could be withdrawn.

Eason also quoted Ecclestone as having “scoffed” at the suggestion Mercedes quitting could wipe 20 per cent off the value of F1′s stock market floatation.

A respected F1 correspondent is expecting F1′s 2012 calendar to shrink to eighteen races this year.

Livio Oricchio, who writes for Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo, thinks the sport is now on the verge of cancelling next weekend’s visit to Bahrain.

And he also thinks November’s US grand prix, scheduled to take place at the brand new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, is in doubt.

“The construction has fallen way behind,” said Oricchio, “and there are serious problems between the promoter and the Texas government.

“Each side is looking to the other on the obligation to pay the fee, estimated at $18 million, to FOM (Formula One Management).

“So the championship that should have 20 races will most likely have only 18,” he concluded.

At least publicly, however, the Circuit of the Americas is continuing to take shape.

This Thursday, a private ceremony is scheduled to take place as circuit contractor Austin Commercial celebrates the milestone of completing the full height of the main three-storey pit building.

The Austin Business Journal reports that “several business and civic leaders are scheduled to attend”.

 Valencia could be mere days from dropping off the formula one calendar.
El Pais newspaper claims the regional government is yet to pay Bernie Ecclestone the fee for June’s European grand prix street race.

“We are still negotiating,” a spokesman is quoted as saying.

The Spanish region’s president Alberto Fabra said recently his government, amid the worsening European economic crisis, was reviewing its commitment to F1.

The Diario AS newspaper said the contract demands the 2012 race fee be made by March 9.

“Formula one is not our primary concern,” Fabra is quoted as saying when asked about the risk of contract breach.

When asked specifically whether or not the fee has been paid to Ecclestone, he answered: “I don’t know, I cannot say.”

It is also an uncertain time for Spain’s other F1 host Barcelona, with the regional Catalonian government pushing to annually alternate its race with Valencia in future.

“For budgetary reasons, this (solution) would be best,” said a spokesman for Catalan president Artur Mas.

Second place improved Lewis Hamilton’s mood in Korea, but not much.
The unshaved 2008 world champion was strangely miserable as he started from pole in Sunday’s grand prix, but he at least managed some small smiles after finishing the race behind Sebastian Vettel.

His mood, however, had triggered some wild speculation, including that he has split with his girlfriend, joined the celebrity religion Scientology, or had a raging row with his McLaren bosses.

On the latter theory, Hamilton told reporters: “Whoever wrote that, it’s a load of rubbish; I am very happy.”

But he also admitted that a single second place was not going to completely brighten his misery after what he calls the “worst year” of his career.

“So if you expect me to be all happy-doolally after a race like that you’re not going to hear it,” said the 26-year-old.

On Monday, the British Mirror and Daily Mail tabloids are reporting that Hamilton is on the verge of splitting with his Pussycat Dolls girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.

But the British driver on Sunday indicated that it is the specialist motoring publications that worry him the most.

“Time will tell,” Hamilton said when asked if his performance had “redeemed” him after a run of bad races.

“It depends what you guys write. It depends how people perceive how the race went, how my attitude is, how I behaved. I am sure it is a few brownie points that I scored.

“It’s (about) positivity, positive stories, positive fans, it’s standing on the podium smiling. It’s that energy that you get that stays with you until the next race and then you do it again,” he added.

 Reports that Vijay Mallya is selling his formula one team Force India will not go away.
When the original reports emerged last week, the Indian billionaire issued two strident denials.

“No question of my getting out of Force India,” he said, when the Asian Age newspaper cited sources that said the buyer is Indian conglomerate Sahara, with a deal “on the verge of being finalised”.

And in a vehement media statement, Mallya later added: “I was shocked to read a media report that I am selling the Force India team. This is completely untrue and without any basis whatsoever.”

But on Wednesday more reports emerged, with CNBC saying the Sahaha deal “will be inked shortly”.

“Mallya is likely to address (the) media later on Wednesday”, the report added.

And the Press Trust of India added: “The two corporate honchos (Mallya and Sahara’s Subrata Roy) will sign an agreement today, which will be followed by an official announcement this evening, according to sources”.

Spokespeople for Force India and Sahara declined to comment.

Vijay Mallya on Friday denied reports he is close to selling his formula one team Force India.
Citing “sources”, the Asian Age said the buyer is Indian business conglomerate Sahara India, with the deal “on the verge of being finalised”.

The Deccan Chronicle said initially that as billionaire Mallya was travelling he could not be reached for comment.

But Reuters later quoted him as saying in a statement: “No question of my getting out of Force India.”

With his native India hosting its inaugural grand prix later this month, Mallya added: “I have even more reason to improve team performance when India comes on the formula one map.”

Red Bull has no plans to scale back its involvement in formula one, owner Dietrich Mateschitz insists.
Red Bull Racing’s Nascar equivalent is being wound up but it is a different story in F1, where Sebastian Vettel is on the verge of being crowned the youngest ever back to back champion.

Mateschitz told the Independent newspaper he is even happy with his second F1 team Toro Rosso.

“No,” he insisted when asked if the Faenza based team is for sale, “although partnerships would not be ruled out, as long as the partner is the right one.”

Also not being sold is the premier Red Bull team, even though “a forecast is difficult and a decision always depends on the wider picture, the politics, influence of F1 shareholders and many other factors”.

He played down the supposed cost-drain of being involved in F1.

“The total marketing investment for (the) Red Bull (brand) is 10 times as much as in F1,” said Mateschitz.

There is, however, no title sponsor as it is “difficult to find one due to the strength of the Red Bull brand”.

As Mark Webber prepares to commit to Red Bull for 2012, team consultant Dr Helmut Marko has given the strongest sign yet that his successor will be another Australian.
Marko reinvigorated the speculation about Webber’s future in Hungary by saying that the 34-year-old is likely to retire after racing one more season.

“Mark Webber will continue with us for another year, and then he will decide what to do in his career,” the outspoken Austrian is quoted by Italian publications including Tuttosport and Corriere dello Sport.

Marko reportedly added that “Red Bull will decide who takes his place, although it is likely it will be (Daniel) Ricciardo”.

He is referring to the 22-year-old Australian who recently made his grand prix debut at HRT with Red Bull backing.

“I thank the guys at Red Bull for the nice words, but it’s still too early to talk about the future,” said Ricciardo.

“I hope there is a chance to race with them, but first I need to beat my teammate Liuzzi, who is a few tenths ahead of me.”

As for Webber’s 2012 deal, he said he is on the verge of making his decision.

“I’ll decide about my future at Spa,” said Webber, referring to the forthcoming Belgian grand prix.

Asked if it is his decision alone, Webber simply answered “yes”, adding that the only thing he is weighing up is “purely my own motivation for racing”.

And as for Ricciardo, Webber told Austria’s laola1: “I think he has a great future ahead of him.”

Andy Soucek has revealed he could be on the verge of breaking back into formula one.
The Spaniard was Virgin’s test and reserve driver last year but he left the role complaining that “You don’t even get in the car”.

But now Spanish sports newspaper Marca quotes the 26-year-old as revealing he is “in negotiations” to return to F1 “and not just as a commentator”.

“I will say no more,” Soucek said in Spanish on his Twitter channel.

Soucek’s countryman Javier Villa has been linked with HRT, amid the team’s desire to become more Spanish with its new owners Thesan.

“We have not spoken with HRT yet. We will see how it evolves. You know how complex it is,” added the former F2 champion Soucek, who subsequently moved to the Superleague series.

Jerome d’Ambrosio will make his F1 debut in 2011 alongside Timo Glock, the Virgin team announced on Tuesday.

We reported earlier this month that the 24-year-old Belgian d’Ambrosio was on the verge of securing the second race cockpit, which in 2010 was occupied by fellow rookie Lucas di Grassi.

D’Ambrosio, reportedly bringing $5m to the new British team and managed by the Eric Boullier-led Gravity group, completed this season as Virgin’s Friday driver and was recently only awaiting the approval of team partner Marussia for the 2011 ride.

“He has secured this seat absolutely on merit and I think coupled with Timo we have the perfect blend of youth, experience, speed and potential and we can’t wait to see what they can achieve together next season,” said team boss John Booth.

Booth thanked the departing di Grassi, who last weekend won Felipe Massa’s annual charity kart event in Florianopolis and is now seeking a F1 role for 2011.

Virgin will launch its next car, the VR-02, prior to the first group test of the pre-season at the beginning of February.

Jerome d’Ambrosio is on the verge of securing his formula one race debut.

The 24-year-old completed the 2010 season as Virgin’s Friday morning driver in the place of Brazilian rookie Lucas di Grassi.

Timo Glock is staying with the British team next year, and the Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure and La Libre say d’Ambrosio will almost certainly be his teammate.

The reports said Virgin Racing approved the deal last week, and it must now be signed off by the team’s new Russian shareholder and title sponsor Marussia.

Confirmation is expected before Christmas, and d’Ambrosio admitted he is “confident”.

“I have done what I can, now I am waiting,” he added.

German Glock backed the delay in the confirmation of his 2011 teammate.

“I think it is right to take our time and make sure we have the best combination of youth and experience, plus the best information going back into the team at testing and races to ensure we can develop as quickly as we want to and keep moving forward,” he said.