NJ race back on 2014 F1 calendar? No! (7th Update)

UPDATE #7 The 2014 F1 schedule has been released and for the 2nd year in a row the NJ race has been dropped after having been added to the provisional calendar.

12/03/13 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has now confirmed reports that New Jersey will not be on next year's formula one calendar.

Asked about recent reports that said the scheduled race amid the Manhattan skyline would have to be delayed for a second consecutive year, the F1 chief executive said a week ago: "We will not have Mexico and India next year."

But Ecclestone, 83, has now told the Wall Street Journal that the New Jersey street race is off again.

He said the postponement, likely to be confirmed with the FIA's publication of the official 2014 calendar on Wednesday, is "for lots and lots and lots of reasons".

"We are not satisfied it's going to happen in time," said Ecclestone. "What we're aiming for is 2015."

The newspaper said race promoter Leo Hindery did not return a call seeking comment.

And the Bloomberg news agency quoted a spokesman as saying the organizers will comment after the publication of the calendar.

12/03/13 F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone said Tuesday that New Jersey's F1 debut "won't happen in 2014, as had been hoped," according to A.J. Baime of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Ecclestone said the New Jersey race "will be postponed 'for lots and lots and lots of reasons.'" He said, "We are not satisfied it's going to happen in time. What we're aiming for is 2015." Race promoter Leo Hindery Jr. "didn't immediately return a call seeking comment." Ecclestone's statement "comes on the eve of a Paris meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which controls F1." The official '14 schedule "is expected to be announced following the meeting Wednesday." WSJ

12/03/13 According to inside AR1.com sources, the New Jersey F1 race will happen in 2014 after all. However, it will be moved to later in June instead of the week after Monaco. So instead, the circuit will stay in Europe the week after Monaco and race in Austria on June 1st (instead of NJ), and in a swap, the NJ race will run on June 22nd (and back-to-back with the Canadian GP), the date the Austria race had on the tentative F1 schedule. With the final schedule set to be ratified later this week, this is what we believe it will now look like.

11/27/13

Ecclestone's playing the NJ race promoters like a fiddle until they cough up the necessary money to hold a race

Meanwhile on Tuesday, Bernie Ecclestone would not confirm reports that Korea and New Jersey will not be on next year's F1 calendar.

Asked about the reports, he answered: "We will not have Mexico and India next year."

11/17/13 At the United States Grand Prix on Saturday, Ecclestone told the Austin Statesman newspaper that both New Jersey and Mexico were likely to be set aside for at least another year.

“We're not getting too far with that at the moment," Ecclestone said of the New Jersey event. "We haven't given up. It will be 2015. Definitely not next year."

It was reported on Nov. 3 that both New Jersey nor Mexico would be dropped for 2014 because both events need more time to get their venues ready. At that time, a GP of America spokesperson said that the organization would make no statement on the matter until the FIA World Motor Sport Council announces the final 2014 calendar in December.

However, with no more room in the calendar the promoters in NJ and Mexico could pretty much kiss their chances goodbye.

11/16/13 (GMM) F1's controversial 22-race calendar for 2014 has shrunk by three races, it has emerged in the Austin paddock.

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport has seen the revised 19-race calendar and it does not feature previously-scheduled grands prix in New Jersey, Mexico and Korea.

The season finale, previously set to be held in Brazil late in 2014 as per the last few seasons, will now be held in Abu Dhabi, with the championship also to be wrapped up two weeks earlier than expected.

Korea and New Jersey have reportedly succumbed to financial troubles, while Mexico City has run out of time to guarantee that necessary money for improvements to the circuit – last used for F1 in 1992 – will flow.

"But the grand prix will be held in 2015," said correspondent Michael Schmidt.

"The (Mexican) government has had to delay its subsidy because of the recent flooding, which is more important than a grand prix," he added.

The revised calendar is set to be rubber-stamped by the governing FIA in early December.

11/15/13 The latest iteration of the 2014 F1 calendar is floating around in Austin and the word is that three of the races listed are gone: Korea, New Jersey and Mexico. In addition to that the races in Russia and Japan have been switched and a gap created to make sure that everything can be certain to get from one venue to the other without drama.

I am also hearing that the season will end in Abu Dhabi because of plan is to have a test immediately after the end of the season. The one thing that remains odd is that Australia is going to remain a stand alone race, which means that F1 folk will either have to go out and back or spend a month in the Asia Pacific region. The final calendar will be announced after the FIA meetings in the first week of December. Joe Saward