FIA Senate president Nick Craw is optimistic the US Grand Prix will return to the calendar in the near future – although he says the event is almost certain to be held on a street circuit rather than a permanent facility like Indianapolis.
Formula 1 has been without a race in the United States since 2007 after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – which revived the event after a nine-year absence at the turn of the century – failed to agree terms on a new deal with Bernie Ecclestone.
The Formula One Teams’ Association made it clear in June that, with the future of the sport now secured, re-establishing a race in the world’s largest car market was a key priority for the teams, in particular the manufacturers.
American Craw is also head of his country’s ACCUS body, which acts as the interface between national member clubs and the FIA, and acknowledges that F1’s return to the US is important for all the sport’s stakeholders.
However with Indianapolis unlikely to stage the event again, and no new purpose-built venue on the horizon, Craw reckons a race on the city streets is most likely – with several possibilities currently in the pipeline.
“I think everybody from the commercial rights holder, to the teams, to the sponsors, to all the drivers see the absence of a US Grand Prix as being a huge liability,” he said in an interview with US cable channel Speedtv
“It’s the number one market in the world – everyone wants to be there and needs to be there.
“Having said that, there is only one circuit in the United States that has a grade one licence which is what you need for Formula 1 and that’s Indianapolis and there’s probably no deal forthcoming there.
“That leads us to the probability…if you’ve seen some of the Taj Mahals that are being built for the Formula 1 circuit these days I don’t see any budget for that in the United States.
“So I think the likelihood is much higher that we will see a temporary street circuit in, around, a major Metropolitan area and there are two or three right now that are looking at that possibility.
“So I’m reasonably optimistic that that can be brought to bear in the fairly near future.”
Although the US GP will remain absent from next year’s F1 schedule, the country’s presence in the sport is set to be boosted by the new US F1 team.
And despite continued speculation about the state of the team’s preparations ahead of its debut season, Craw – who has visited its Charlotte base on two occasions – says the outfit has already paid its entry fee and he has every confidence US F1 will do America proud in 2010.
“There are probably some people who would like to see the US team fall by the wayside so they can have their spot on the grid,” Craw said.
“I was there, I took a complete tour on two occasions…they have got an enormous autoclave, they have got an army of engineers beavering away.
“In the old days at SCCA [Sports Car Club of America], we never used to count an entry as being real until the cheque had arrived and it had cleared – and of course entry fees were non-refundable.
“If you want any proof as to whether US F1 is going to be there or not, they sent their entry fee in 10 days ago and the number is close to $440,000.
“So they’re going to be there and they’re going to do us proud.”
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