18/11/2015
NEWS STORY
Following a shortfall in its state subsidy, Bernie Ecclestone is allowing COTA to pay race hosting fees late.
The shortfall is due to changes to the way in which the benefits of hosting the race in Austin are calculated, this in turn following control of such matters coming under the jurisdiction of Governor Greg Abbott’s office, the original deal having been agreed by (then) Governor Rick Perry and state Comptroller Susan Combs.
In 2012, 2103 and 2014, the state paid $25m, but this year, just weeks before the race was to be held it was announced that the subsidy would drop to $19.5m, leading to Circuit of the Americas Chairman Bobby Epstein to famously admit "we're screwed".
Meanwhile, of course, as is the norm, the race hosting fees increase by 10% each year.
Keen to keep Austin, and thereby the United States on the calendar, Ecclestone has done the same as he did with Silverstone, allowing organisers to pay the fees in arrears.
"We said they can pay late this year," he told the Austin American-Statesman. "They get money from the state, and the money from the state is late, so that’s why they are late."
Nonetheless, this doesn't entirely satisfy Epstein who insists the state has gone back on its original deal.
"It’s OK paying after the race, but if they don’t give you enough to pay the sanction fee, you still can’t do it," he said.
"The person who dealt with this in the first place is no longer there," said Ecclestone. "The governor is no longer there. So they have got new people, but they should pay what was agreed.
"I think we will get the funding back on track again," he added.
With New Jersey effectively dead and buried, at least as we knew it, Ecclestone is keen to see more than one race in the US and recently hinted that he's eyeing a venue in California.