Bernie Ecclestone has moved to quash talk of the Austrian Grand Prix returning to the F1 calendar, suggesting that his focus is solely on securing a race in Istanbul.
Circuit owners
Red Bull had
had put the venue formally known as the A1 Ring forward as one option to become the 20th race on the schedule next year after the
FIA announced it was looking to run an extra European event in place of the race in New Jersey – which has been put back twelve months.
That move came following suggestions that the Turkish government wasn't prepared to help back a return for its own race but Ecclestone insisted that he hadn't spoken to anyone about Austria and that Istanbul was his focus.
"I have spoken to no one about it [Austria]," he told
Kleine Zeitung. "Right now I'm thinking about Turkey to return to Istanbul."
The commercial rights holder also didn't rule out the possibility that the 20th race might not take place and that the calendar could remain at 19 events for 2013.
"Right now I rather think that we will go in to next year with only 19 grands prix,” he said. “That would be no problem for Formula One."