PlanetF1

Indy boss confident of US GP's future

Tuesday 19-June-2007 09:20

Indianapolis Motor Speedway chief Tony George believes Bernie Ecclestone genuinely wants to keep the United States Grand Prix on the F1 calendar, and at his racetrack.

George and Formula One boss Ecclestone met twice at the circuit during the build-up to Sunday's US Grand Prix to discuss a new deal to continue the race at the legendary venue.

The original deal that brought the event back to Indy in 2000 expired in 2006, when a one-year extension was signed.

With that contract now up, IMS CEO George wants a long-term deal while Ecclestone, the Formula One Management CEO, last week told a British newspaper that the United States was not vital to the sport.

George dismissed those comments and remains optimistic a deal can be done by their mutually agreed deadline of July 12.

"We still don't know the future but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to announce soon that we'll be continuing," said George.

"I am positive about the discussions we've had. I just wish I could control all of the aspects of it, which I don't.

"I accept that and I genuinely think that Bernie and 90% of the people involved in Formula One would like to see it work out so that we can continue here.

"They're weighing all the opportunities and this has to be the right opportunity (for them)."

George thought moving the Grand Prix from Indianapolis would be a bad move.

"I'm not just talking about the economic impact but it would be a terrible thing to lose it. There's more to it than just that, more to it from our standpoint, from Formula One's standpoint.

"We want the community to embrace this race and we want to give it the kind of attention it deserves but we need to know where we are.

"We can't just keep going and we need to know what it is we're building on."

The IMS chief claimed the staging of the event at his circuit since 2000 had meant they were best placed to take it forward and reach out to the American public, who so far have not taken to Formula One.

"The United States is trying to understand Formula One more and Formula One is trying to understand the United States more.

"It's been a challenging seven years but a very worthwhile seven years. I think we've learned a lot and I think we know what we need to be successful and now we need just to pull all the pieces together so that we can be successful in the future."

George added that securing a long-term deal rather another 12-month extension would be in the best interests of both parties.

"They're working with us on that but again, with the dynamic and all that's been going on within Formula One in the last couple of years, it made sense to wait and see how it was all going to shake out.

"If they didn't want to work with us they wouldn't have had to.

"Everybody wants long-term because it's good for planning purposes but in this case we wanted to see where things were going and they recognised that.

"I'm happy to work with them and I think they're happy to work with us."