FOM chief Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that he is fully prepared to swiftly wield the axe on the proposed new United States GP in Austin, Texas, if the circuit organisers and race promoters do not quickly settle their dispute.
Earlier on Wednesday, hopes of the United States making a trouble-free return to the Formula One schedule next season were plunged into disarray, when workers downed tools at the site of the new Austin track over the dispute.Work stopped after the track organisers, Circuit of the Americas, claimed that they had not yet been passed a contract for the race from race promotors Full Throttle Productions.
And Ecclestone, who suggested earlier this month that the US track faced an "uphill struggle" to be on the schedule, has confirmed that the race is at risk of being cancelled.
Ecclestone has claimed that the original race contract with FTP has been cancelled, and that fresh negotiations with CotA have now stalled.
And he confirmed that there was a serious chance of the race being canned altogether, with the final 2012 calendar yet to be officially rubber-stamped by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council.
"We've done everything we bloody well can to make this race happen," Ecclestone snarled at the Press Association on Wednesday evening regarding the race.
Asked if there was a chance the race could be cancelled, he added: "Yes, it will be for sure, 100 per cent."
As far as the contractual wrangle was concerned, he explained: "We had an agreement with Full Throttle Productions [for the race].
"Everything was signed and sealed, but we kept putting things off like the dates, various letters of credit and things that should have been sent, but nothing ever happened."
He went on: "Then [circuit organisers] came on the scene, saying that they wanted to do things, but that they had problems with Tavo [Hellmund]. They said they had the circuit, and that they wanted an agreement with me.
"I told them they had to sort out the contract with Tavo, which they said they would. But that has gone away now because we've cancelled Tavo's contract as he was in breach."
Ecclestone added that the contract with CotA was on hold pending assurances over the finances of the project.
"We've waited six months for him to remedy the breach. He knows full well why we've cancelled. He's happy. But these other people haven't got a contract. All we've asked them to do is get us a letter of credit," he explained.
"We are looking for security for money they are going to have to pay us. That is via a letter of credit, normally from a bank. If people don't have the money they find it difficult to get the letter of credit, and so we don't issue a contract."
It is not clear if the financial hold-up is based on a piece of further bad news for the race on Wednesday, when the Texas state government confirmed they would not pay any public money to the track before constructions was complete.
The track had been due to receive $25 million from the Texan Major Events Trust Fund, but state comptroller Susan Combs confirmed that the combination of the second US F1 event in New Jersey from 2013 and the current dispute meant that the track was no longer eligible.
Work had been progressing well with the new Tilkedrome, which is currently scheduled to make its F1 debut on November 18th next year.
However, the race could be scrapped as early as next month, when the WMSC meets to finalise the 2012 calendar.
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