India GP may face delay

(GMM) India might not be ready to start hosting formula one in 2009.

That is the admission of one of the Delhi race's key financial backers, following the Indian Olympic Association's declaration last month that it had sealed a provisional deal for 2009 with formula one chiefs.

Vijay Mallya, whose Kingfisher Airlines is also a sponsor of the Toyota team, has pledged to assist the sponsorship of the project but he hints that it will be tight to get it ready for 2009.

"I am pushing all I can to make sure that if not in 2009 that India can host a race in 2010," he said this week.

But he insists that, given the sheer size of India and its booming economy, "it should be on the formula one calendar".