Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has made it clear that Jaypee Group has little time left to decide on the return of the Indian Grand Prix in 2016.
Ecclestone said he is "waiting for the race promoters to come back to him" and will be "happy" to have the race back on the calendar despite the tax and bureaucratic hurdles that come with it.
The 84-year-old, speaking to PTI, has reached out to the promoters six months after he himself along with JPSI chief Sameer Gaur said that they were working on a 2016 return. Their positive comments had followed their meeting at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix.
In his latest comments on the race that was dropped after the first three editions from 2011-2013, Ecclestone said: "I hope we have a race in India next year. I am waiting for the promoters to come back to me."
While the 2015 season has 19 rounds, next year's calendar is likely to have up to 21 races with the expected return of the German Grand Prix and the inaugural race confirmed in Baku, Azerbaijan, pushing the teams to the limit.
Asked how he will accommodate India next season, the British businessman said: "We will do whatever is needed to make sure India is back. There are no added challenges to the event. We just need the Jaypee Group to say that 'we are happy to carry on' and we can revive the existing contract."
Sameer Gaur was not available for a comment but in an earlier chat with PTI, he had said that the company will honour its five-year contract with Formula One Management (FOM) but beyond that it would want to host the race in a more favourable environment.
"We have signed a contract with FOM for five years and we will honour it. Beyond that, we will have to wait and see how things change. We organised three races in full harmony, full collaboration with FOM, Government of India and the state government," Gaur had said.
The tax issues notwithstanding, there are substantial costs involved in staging a F1 race season after season. Jaypee is believed to have paid around USD 40 million each for the first three years as licensing fee to FOM. It remains to be seen whether the reputed conglomerate will cough up that kind of licensing fee at a time when it has accrued debts worth more than Rs 60,000 crore.
Ecclestone said the race promoters need to make up their mind quickly for the race next year.
"They need to be in a hurry. Within the next two months, we need to know," he said.
The provisional calendar is usually released in September before the FIA World Motor Sport Council ratifies the final one in December.
