No New Jersey Formula One Race In 2014
New Jersey's on-again, off-again Formula One race appears to be off again.
Formula One's Bernie Ecclestone spoke briefly with the media at the Circuit of the Americas, host of the United States Grand Prix in Austin Texas and said New Jersey's Grand Prix race will not happen until at least 2015.
“We’re not getting too far with that at the moment. We haven’t given up. It will be 2015. Definitely not next year," Ecclestone told the Austin American-Statesman.
In September the race, which is to run through Port Imperial in Weehawken and West New York, was put on a provisional calendar with a date of June 1, 2014. Financing for the race has always been in question and the date changed several times. Weehawken has been improving roads along the race course in anticipation with FIA picking up the tab.
The initial announcement was part of a series of high profile sporting events in New Jersey including last March’s Wrestlemania at MetLife Stadium and Super Bowl XLVIII, the first cold-weather outdoor NFL championship game in February.
Formula One will not race in Mexico either. Ecclestone said he still hopes both races will eventually be run, but neither will happen before 2015.
"At the moment, we more or less have an agreement with (Mexico)," Ecclestone said at the U.S. Grand Prix. "They have to provide the circuit. It's causing a bit of a problem. It needs to be rebuilt, their circuit."
Mexico hasn't hosted a grand prix since 1992. Officials knew the existing track at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at Mexico City needed major upgrades, but gave the race a tentative time slot for next November. That would have put it back-to-back with the U.S. Grand Prix near the end of the season.
MORE COVERAGE:
- Ecclestone says New Jersey out for 2014 / Austin American-Statesman
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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