New Jersey F1 race won’t happen in 2013
10/03/12 This rumor is downgraded to 'speculation' today. F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone recently said that the contract with New Jersey "has been terminated," which prompted New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to seek informing about the race's progress. He recently called Race Organizer Leo Hinderley. Christie said, "I called him, and he told me there aren't any problems. We are on plan." Nevertheless, in FIA's F1 race calendar for '13, the grand prix is listed as "to be confirmed." Christie added: "He told me, the race will definitely happen. No problem"
09/25/12
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| Vettel at the NJ circuit |
"Finding big money sponsors has proved to be a problem, as it is for all circuits attempting to stage F1 races at a time of global economic stringency." It is not unusual for Ecclestone to "use brinkmanship as a way to twist the unwilling arms of circuit promoters, but New Jersey is not a race F1 wants to lose as it promises to be a showpiece to rival Monaco for glamour and Singapore for influence and income." Cancelling New Jersey would come at an inauspicious time for F1, "which already has a major job repairing its image with a skeptical American public." LONDON TIMES
09/25/12 The contract for the F1 Grand Prix of America in New Jersey, which was scheduled to run for the first time in 2013, has been "torn up after the race organizers missed deadlines in their agreement," according to Christian Sylt of the GUARDIAN. The race was set for June "on a 3.2-mile street circuit which snakes alongside the Hudson river opposite Manhattan's historic skyline."
However, F1 Management Chair Bernie Ecclestone said race organizers "have not complied with the terms and conditions of the contract which is now gone anyway." Sylt notes the slot on the '13 race calendar "could be filled with another new race and Ecclestone is known to be in discussion about a Mexican Grand Prix." The New Jersey race has been "beset with problems since it was announced" last October, and Ecclestone "expressed doubts as recently as May that the organizers would be ready." Next year's calendar was released last week and included the New Jersey race, though it "was marked as subject to confirmation." GUARDIAN.co.uk
[Editor's Note: This is how Ecclestone uses the media when he does not get his money in time. He starts rumors in the media that the race is cancelled until the promoter pays up.]
09/25/12 (GMM) New Jersey might not host a grand prix as scheduled next year, Bernie Ecclestone said on Tuesday. The F1 chief executive said organizers of the street circuit opposite Manhattan's historic skyline "have not complied with the terms and conditions" of the agreed deal.
"They don't have a contract," Ecclestone told the Guardian.
However, New Jersey appeared as a conditional date on the draft 2013 calendar, which was leaked inside the Singapore paddock last weekend.
That schedule was set to be ratified by the FIA on Friday.
Ecclestone warned: "We are pretty close to the final deadline. We have got a World Council meeting coming up.
"I think if somebody got behind them it could happen in 2013 because they have come a long way with the circuit."