The boss of Spanish grand prix venue Circuit de Catalunya has played down reports the event is endangered.
It is reported that Spain’s other F1 host, Valencia, as well as F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, are pushing Barcelona to agree a plan to annually alternate a single race date.

But amid the country’s troubled economic times, Catalunya track boss Salvador Servia said Barcelona remains fully focused on its current race contract.

“Only a disaster – say, an earthquake – is a problem. Forget all the rumours and headlines, we are still working as we were before,” he told Vuelta Rapida radio.

Ecclestone warned recently that, with F1′s calendar ever-globalising, there could be only five grands prix remaining in Europe within a few years.

“If there are five then we want to be one of them, and we will fight to be,” Servia insisted.

He said Barcelona’s current F1 contract guarantees the Spanish grand prix until 2016.

“We have had no communications, either verbal or written from him (Ecclestone) or his organisation regarding the issues of the rumours and headlines,” said Servia.

“We are here, working to fulfil our contract until 2016 and thinking about 2020 as well.”

 Bahrain’s formula one return in April is now looking unlikely.
Amid reports the situation inside the troubled island Kingdom is still not stable, the Sakhir circuit’s boss Zayed al-Zayeni last week insisted Bahrain and the world “has to move on”.

But not everyone agrees, including the US State Department which has warned Americans of political unrest.

“The department … strongly urges US citizens to avoid all demonstrations, as even peaceful ones can quickly become unruly, and a foreigner could become a target of harassment or worse,” the new alert about Bahrain reads.

The department also said US staff are being moved to safer locations.

“We expect that planned and spontaneous demonstrations will continue,” a US spokesman told the Gulf Daily News.

Valencia is waiting on fellow Spanish F1 host Barcelona to reply to talks about alternating a single annual race date.
Both venues have admitted to suffering economic difficulties at present, with the sport’s chief executive Bernie Ecclestone pushing for them to share a spot on the calendar in future.

Valencia’s regional president Alberto Fabra is quoted by the EP news agency as admitting he wants Ecclestone to agree to a new deal with “different conditions”.

Fabra met with the Briton last week.

“Now we are waiting for a response from him and, after contact with different organisations and also with Catalonia, he will tell us what are the alternatives.

“I’m waiting for what Ecclestone says, being aware of our economic situation, that allows us to continue with the grand prix,” he added.

Fabra said simply breaking Valencia’s existing race contract is not an option.

“There is a penalty of two years of fees and then a submission to the English courts for a possible (further) compensation,” he revealed.

“The only viable option is to renegotiate the contract,” added Fabra.

France is poised to return to the F1 calendar.
French-language RMC Sports reports that prime minister Francois Fillon has finally “given the green light” to the race at Paul Ricard to alternate annually with Belgium’s Spa Francorchamps, beginning in 2013.

“The negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone can begin,” read the report, adding that “informal meetings” with the F1 chief executive have already been held.

Fillon’s decision follows a minister’s meeting last Thursday, and RMC said the Var region has also agreed.

“There are still some loose ends to tie up with the department of Alpes-Maritimes,” said the report.

RMC said the French carmaker and F1 engine supplier Renault may also be closely involved with the French event.

“The eyes are now on the Belgian side, who must also validate the project.”

 Valencia and Barcelona – F1′s two Spanish race hosts – are now in “informal contact” about alternating a single annual date on future calendars.
According to the Spanish-language news agencies EP and EFE, it was the Valencian government’s vice-president Jose Ciscar who made the comment last Friday.

A day earlier, the president Alberto Fabra confirmed he had a meeting in London last week with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, asking to keep the Spanish port city on the calendar but with “different conditions”.

Ciscar said Fabra passed on to Ecclestone the “economic difficulties” being faced within Spain, and the need for “major events like formula one” to become “less burdensome” to the region’s coffers.

He said there would be “more news in the coming weeks”.

Ecclestone, meanwhile, admitted to Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper: “I have tried to get Barcelona and Valencia to alternate, but the Spaniards have not wanted to discuss it.

“We should not have two races there,” he added.

 Bernie Ecclestone sounds fully committed to formula one’s highly controversial return to Bahrain in April.
The 2011 pre-season test and race were cancelled due to unrest within the island Kingdom, and some insist those troubles are not yet over.

But the event’s return this year has been definitively scheduled, and F1 chief executive Ecclestone sounds committed.

“Lots of people are talking badly about that part of the world,” he told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper, whilst attending the Kitzbuhel downhill skiing event in Austria.

“But Bahrain is the country in the Arab world in which there are the fewest problems,” the 81-year-old insisted.

There are a cluttered 20 events scheduled on the 2012 calendar, but Bahrain is not the only one with a question mark hanging above its race date.

There are fears Korea’s organisers are already losing interest, doubts about construction of the new Austin venue, and European races in Spain, Germany and elsewhere facing economic problems.

Ecclestone does not seem worried.

“We could do deals today with five new promoters,” he revealed. “The demand is high — there is great interest from Mexico.

“But more races costs more, also for the teams who probably would have to increase their staff a lot. But we could find solutions,” said Ecclestone.

Valencia’s regional president has confirmed he wants F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone to lower the fee for the European grand prix street race.

We reported this week that Alberto Fabra, president of the Valencia Generalitat, had a “private” meeting on Tuesday with Ecclestone in London.

EFE news agency said Fabra wants to “negotiate down” its contracted race fee amid Spain’s economic crisis.

“We want to continue with the grand prix of Europe,” Fabra is quoted as saying by Spanish reports including the sports daily Marca, “but with different conditions.”

He confirmed during a press conference in Madrid on Thursday that the negotiations with Ecclestone are for staging the race with “lower costs” to “find the right balance”.

 The scene of November’s inaugural formula one race in Austin, Texas, should be ready for the US grand prix well ahead of time, according to media reports.
The Italiaracing website claims that, in the wake of recent speculation the event might collapse altogether, the Circuit of the Americas is now on track to be completed by August.

“The workers are working six days a week to complete the paddock buildings and grandstands,” read the report.

The Austin American Statesman newspaper says the actual track surface will be laid much closer to the race date.

That report said “tonnes of equipment and hundreds of workers” have been pouring into the site since organisers finally paid the race fee to F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone following a disagreement.

Insiders have said time is now preciously short to finish the track before its scheduled 18 November race date.

Backer Bobby Epstein said last week: “Our construction group said they can get it done.”

The Statesman said the main grandstand is about the size of “a good-size high school football stadium”, with the rest of the spectators to sit on “temporary scaffolding”.

 Bernie Ecclestone on Tuesday had a “private” meeting with Valencia’s government president Alberto Fabra.
That is the claim of the Spanish press, amid reports the Spanish port city might have to accept an annually alternating race date on the F1 calendar with Barcelona as Europe’s economic crisis deepens.

EFE news agency said Fabra requested the meeting in London as Valencia “seeks to negotiate down” its contract to host the street race every season.

“There is a willingness to negotiate,” confirmed vice president Jose Ciscar, “and we are on the right path”.

He predicted there will be “more meetings” to come.

Running the annual race at present is promoter Valmor’s Facundo Garcia de la Cuadra, who told Sportspro in an interview that Valencia wants F1 “forever”.

But he also acknowledged the possibility of an alternating date.

“That’s something we have been talking about in the last weeks,” he said. “We will see, that’s all I can say at the moment.”

“The race is on” to be the venue of France’s return to the formula one calendar.
That is the claim of French public television France 3, in the wake of reports suggesting the Paul Ricard circuit is poised to host the race in 2013.

But Magny Cours, the scene of the French grand prix for close to two decades until 2008, may also be in the running.

Le Journal du Centre quoted Patrice Joly, president of the conseil general of the Nievre department, as saying a theme park proposed for Magny Cours could raise enough money and develop the surrounding area in order to bring the grand prix back to the track.

Joly said the project, to cost EUR 50 million, would be completed by the summer.

Whether Paul Ricard or Magny Cours, Piero Ferrari – the only living son of the great Maranello marque’s founder Enzo Ferrari – hopes France will return to the calendar soon.

“We must protect its (F1′s) historic birthplace with certain grands prix such as the one in France or the races at Silverstone, Spa and Monza, where we always witness some fantastic racing,” he said.

 The scene of America’s return to the formula one calendar this year is starting to take shape.
The local Austin American Statesman reports that construction of the Circuit of the Americas is “moving along quickly” following the recent uncertainty over the 2012 US grand prix contract.

“Buildings are starting to take shape,” wrote Dave Doolittle after a tour of the Texas site.

He said there are more than 360 workers at the site, including those working on the three-story main pit and paddock building where the outline of the podium “is already visible”.

Work on the media building and main grandstand has also begun, added the journalist.

“Officials said they expect to be finished on time for the inaugural race,” said Doolittle, referring to the provisional mid November calendar date.

“They’ve got a lot of work to do, but all of the activity shows that they’re working to meet that goal.”

The Nurburgring’s chances of staying on the F1 calendar received a boost this week.
The German race, which until now has alternated a single annual grand prix date with Hockenheim, was thought endangered due to the withdrawal of the Green-influenced Rhineland-Palatinate government’s state support.

But parliamentary leader Hendrik Hering told the Rhein-Zeitung newspaper: “A race in 2013 is possible.

“There could be a small state subsidy but it needs to be much less than before,” he added.

Other German media reports said new talks have been held with F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone and those “initial discussions were positive”.

“If it (the agreement) is very financially favourable, there could be a formula one event in 2013 at the Nurburgring,” Hering added.

 Two prominent F1 figures have expressed disappointed at reports the Belgian grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps could become only a biennial event.
It is reported that France’s Paul Ricard is close to inking an agreement to share alternating race hosting rights from 2013 with the fabled Belgian track.

On Twitter, outspoken Red Bull driver Mark Webber denounced it as a “shit idea”.

And Pirelli’s motor sport director Paul Hembery reacted similarly: “Yuk.

“Agree (with Webber), leave Spa alone.”

Valencia reportedly turned down an opportunity to safeguard Spain’s presence on the F1 calendar by alternating an annual date with Barcelona.
Bernie Ecclestone confirmed last year that Spain’s two races could in the future share a single annual date.

But this week, it emerged that – amid the European economic crisis – both Valencia’s street circuit and the permanent Circuit de Catalunya could lose the support of their respected authorities and fall off the F1 calendar altogether.

On Tuesday, Catalonia government Francesco Homs was quoted by Marca sports newspaper as recalling that the idea of alternating a single race with Valencia was raised last April.

He said the proposal was rejected by Valencia.

Homs did, however, assure journalists that this year’s Spanish grand prix in Barcelona, scheduled for mid April, is safe.

The local Walloon government is seeking clarity about the future of the fabled Belgian grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps within “four or five weeks”.
Jean-Claude Marcourt, the government’s economics minister, was responding on Tuesday in a parliamentary committee, following media reports that France looks set to return to F1 in 2013.

Those reports suggested France’s Paul Ricard circuit will share a single alternating annual date with Spa, the fabled Belgian venue.

Marcourt explained that, in a bid to reduce costs, the government had last year begun to look into possibly alternating its grand prix with another European host.

A “non-binding document” with France was circulated, with an answer necessary by the end of 2011.

“On January 1 there was nothing,” Marcourt is quoted by RTL Sport Belgium. “Now the French seem to be catching up.

“In four or five weeks, we have to clarify everything. I do not want things drawing out so that we get to the end of the contract not knowing what is going to happen.

“We are awaiting the response from France,” he added.