Barcelona circuit needs new deal to keep F1 Spanish GP

The director of the track that hosts the Spanish Grand Prix says the circuit’s owners are seeking to strike a new deal with Formula One management amid speculation that the race’s days are numbered.

Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit director Joan Fontserè tells The Associated Press that negotiations have been ongoing since regional government authorities met with Formula One Group CEO and Chairman Chase Carey in March.

“Since then we have been working with a team from (FI management) to identify their needs and ours,” Fontserè said.

The previous contract agreed to by ownership led by the government for Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region and former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone runs out this year. Attendance has also fallen from 140,000 spectators attending the 2007 Spanish GP to 90,000 last year.

Those factors have sparked rumours that another race could replace the Spanish GP. Media reports point to the possibility of F1 adding a Dutch GP to the calendar.

Fontserè denied that the owners had wanted to close the new deal before this weekend’s Spanish GP. “It is a deal that must be done well, not with haste,” he said. Today’s race is the 29th Spanish GP run at the track, where Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost are former winners. Previously, it had been held at Jerez in southern Spain and other sites.

Lewis Hamilton has won here three times, including the past two years, en route to claiming five world titles.

Preseason testing has also been held at the track for several years.