United States and Mexican GPs under financial threat

A dark cloud has moved over the financial health of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas. The Associated Press reports that race organisers have missed a paperwork deadline and as a result will lose $20 million of government backing.

The missing paperwork is reportedly a mandatory anti human trafficking plan.

A spokesman for Texas governor Greg Abbott said the state had no option but to not give the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) the funding.

Race promoter Bobby Epstein, and F1 owner Liberty Media, did not comment.

"The State of Texas and COTA have a productive partnership that has had a tremendous economic impact on the city of Austin and the state as a whole, and our office is already working with COTA on this year's race," the governor's spokesman said.

There are also doubts over the future of the Mexican Grand Prix after similar financial restraints were put on the event.

Although the Mexico City race is highly popular, mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has announced that government funding will stop after the event this October.

"By 2020, the federal government no longer has the resource because it is allocating most of the fund to the completion of the Mayan Train," she said.

In Barcelona for winter testing, Racing Point's Mexican driver Sergio Perez says he is hoping for "good news" in the near future.

"I think it's very important for our country to keep the grand prix. It's a great place for Formula 1," he told the Spanish daily Marca.

"There are many countries that want to have a grand prix and I think that once you lose the place, it's very difficult to recover."

When asked if the organisers can find the funding from elsewhere, Perez answered: "I have no idea. I am not in charge of that and I really do not know anything.

"I think it's difficult because all the investment is made by the government, so I do not know if it can be done any other way," he added.

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