F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has blamed promoters Jaypee Group of not fully fulfilling its contractual obligations to see through a five-year deal "in a sensational twist to the Indian Grand Prix controversy," according to IANS. Jaypee, "in a polite yet firm retort," refused to discuss the contractual terms in public and promised to sort them out with Formula One Management, "thus by inference confirming that the whole issue has now boiled down to financial matters." Ecclestone said that he and his organization were still committed to see through the five-year contract, provided what he calls some "surmountable obstacles" are sorted out. He said that the Indian GP promoters "have not fully complied with the race contract to put the 2015 race in jeopardy." It now transpires that the tax and bureaucratic hurdles for the uncertainty of the race returning to the Buddh Int'l Circuit "were only a facade and not the only reasons." Ecclestone "hastened to add" that "he was still hoping India to be back on F1 calendar next season." Ecclestone: "I was hoping that things would get better in India but they haven't unfortunately. The race promoters there have not been able to comply with parts of the contract and they are mostly money related" (IANS, 3/11).
