Mexico misses initial deadline to stay in F1

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The Mexican Grand Prix is under increased risk of crashing out of the Formula 1 world championship in 2020 after missing a major deadline.

The future of the event has been in doubt ever since a new federal government indicated that it would not continue to provide public funds to support the race, despite the money it brings into the region.

“I do not know how the F1 contracts are. If they are not signed, we will not be able to," President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said last month. "We are going to review them."

He indicated that funds previously earmarked to support the event are now being diverted into the flagship Mayan train civil construction project.

Perez: Loss of Mexican GP would be major blow to country

It means that promoters were not able to give Formula 1 the necessary assurances about the event's financial future by the end of February, as formally required by the current contract.

That was the deadline they were given if they wanted to be automatically assured of keeping Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on the F1 calendar beyond this year's Grand Prix.

However the missed deadline does not necessarily mean that the 2019 Mexican Grand Prix will be the last to be held in the country, providing a deal can still be reached between all parties.

Both the local promoters and F1 bosses have pledged to do everything they can to see the race continue. It's been consistently rated as one of the most popular with fans since it returned to the F1 schedule in 2015 after a break of more than two decades.

A statement from the promoters admitted that as a result of missing the deadline, "the organisation of the event has lost the perennial right to keep that date within the 2020 championship.

"[However] the negotiations with both F1 and the authorities of our country continue with the best spirit of finding viable alternatives for the remainder of this competition in Mexico."

The statement continued: "When we’ll have news about the negotiations we are maintaining with the authorities, we’ll make it public, only through official channels and spokespersons.”

Racing Point driver Sergio Perez has expressed his concern that if his home race was to disappear from the calendar then it could take a whole generation to secure its return.

The contracts for races in Spain, Britain, Germany and Italy also lapse after this season, leaving those events in doubt as well if no agreement on extensions can be agreed.

On the plus side Vietnam has already confirmed it will join the F1 calendar for the first time in 2020, while a Dutch Grand Prix at either Zandvoort and Assen is considered a strong possibility.

Even so, it's possible that the number of races in 2020 might fall from the current level of 21, which is very much not what the sport's new owners Liberty Media were aiming for when they took over.

The World Motor Sport Council could discuss the uncertainty regarding the F1 calendar earlier than usual when it convenes next week.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.