Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that a decision is due “within a couple of weeks” about whether the Mexican Grand Prix will take place next year.

The race would fill a void in the F1 calendar which has been left by the exit of several races, including the planned Grand Prix of America in New Jersey which Ecclestone has said will not go ahead in 2014 because the organizers have not raised enough money to fund it.

The 2014 calendar will be finalized in December by F1's governing body, the FIA, but new races need financing in place by now to ensure their plans are on track. “I should know within a couple of weeks about Mexico,” Ecclestone told Autoweek, adding “I'm going to try to make it happen.”

The Grand Prix is due to be held at Mexico City's Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which last hosted an F1 race in 1992. The plan to revive the Mexican Grand Prix has the backing of an all-star management team which is driven by two key figures.

The first is Tavo Hellmund, the creator and mastermind of the F1 USGP and the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. His counterpart in Mexico is Alejandro Soberon, chief executive of the world's third-largest live entertainment company, CIE. The team members include Carlos Slim Domit, who sits on the FIA's decision-making body, the Senate, and is son of the world's richest man, Carlos Slim. Also backing the F1 effort in Mexico are George Gonzalez chief executive of CIE subsidiary Ocesa, and Federico Alaman, president of motorsports for Ocesa. And, they aren't the only driving forces behind the race.

This year there are two talented Mexican drivers on the F1 grid in the form of Esteban Gutierrez at Sauber and McLaren's Sergio Perez. They have both been bankrolled by Slim as they moved through the ranks of motorsport. There has also been recent change in Mexico as the country got a dynamic new president in December last year when 47-year-old Enrique Pena Nieto took office. With this kind of support, it is a matter of when, and not if, the race takes place.

The Mexican Grand Prix is understood to be fully funded but, according to Ecclestone, the same cannot be said of the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey. Its organizers appointed investment bank UBS in June to raise $100 million which is required for the race to go ahead. It seems they have run out of time.

“It's not on the cards for next year,” said Ecclestone, adding that the problem is “they haven't got any money.”

The race was planned to be run on 3.2 miles of public roads in Port Imperial, a district in the New Jersey towns of West New York and Weehawken. It snakes alongside the Hudson river and would give the race a spectacular backdrop of Manhattan's historic skyline.

It was originally set for June this year but was postponed after the organizers missed payment deadlines in their contract with the F1 Group. Ecclestone said he signed the deal despite the funding not being in place because he understood the organizers would be able to raise it. The promoter is Leo Hindery Jr., a sometime racer and managing partner of private equity fund InterMedia Partners. “The guy is a multibillionaire and is well-known in New York,” said Ecclestone.

In 2011 Hindery provided the initial $10.3 million investment in race organizing company Port Imperial Racing Associates (PIRA) and obtained an additional $10.1 million loan. In April this year, the F1 Group itself provided the company with a credit facility personally guaranteed by Hindery, but the Grand Prix still needs $100 million to get the green light. It isn't the only race that has hit a roadblock.

Last month it was announced that the Indian Grand Prix will skip 2014 but this was balanced out by the news that the Austrian Grand Prix will return to the calendar after an 11-year hiatus. It would keep the number of races stable at 19 in 2014 if it wasn't for the addition of the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.

F1's contracts with the teams stipulate that majority consent from Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull Racing is required if there are more than 20 races in a season. If Mexico joins but the brakes stay on New Jersey, it seems there would be 21 races in 2014. However, there have been widespread reports that the loss-making Korean Grand Prix may be dropped next year which means that Mexico would take the total just to the limit of 20. Ecclestone couldn't have planned it much better.

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