Will F1 return to Austria?

Reports and rumours regarding Formula One’s 20th race in the 2013 Formula One World Championship pointed towards Austria over the weekend.

Initially when the FIA tweaked the 2013 race calendar to create a window for a 20th race in July all the talk was regarding a return to Turkey.

The gap of course was created following the cancellation of the New York/New Jersey race which will now not take place until 2014.

It has been widely reported that the favourite destination for this additional European race, would be the Turkish Grand Prix which disappeared from the calendar in 2012 for financial reasons.

However it didn’t take long for the country’s sports minister to deny claims that the government was set to provide funds to stage the race, which of course would mean that with no government backing, the race would require a private backer to go ahead.

Other possibilities were then muted over a French Grand Prix or an Austrian Grand Prix.

Austria’s A1-Ring, owned by Red Bull, hasn’t hosted Formula One since 2003 but has been refurbished.

‘We have made the FIA aware that the Red Bull Ring has a fully updated Formula 1 licence.’ Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko told an Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten as quoted by the BBC.

But while Red Bull claim to have been in touch with the FIA, Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has told the media that he has only read about the speculation like the rest of us.

‘I have as of today spoken to no one about it, At the moment I’m thinking more on Turkey and a return to Istanbul.’ Bernie told Kleine Zeitung as quoted by Sky Sports.

But he also said that if F1 would also be happy if the calendar didn’t include any additions: ‘Right now I’m thinking that next year we will go with only 19 races. That wouldn’t be a big problem for Formula 1,’