F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone said that a "grand prix in austerity-hit Greece could be on the horizon," according to Christian Sylt for CNN. He said, "The Greeks are keen." Referring to Antonis Samaras and Georgios Kaminis, respectively, Ecclestone added, "They want me to go and see the Prime Minister or the mayor. We will have to find out if they have got any money." Total investment of around $1B is required to "build a track from scratch and cover the F1 hosting fee, which typically runs for 10 years." Private investors are "looking at the construction of a track in the
Keratsini-Drapetsona municipality, which is six miles to the west of
Athens." It would be "hard for Greece to justify a publicly funded investment." Greece F1 journalist Dimitris Papadopoulos said, "Greece has experienced, and still is in the middle of, a massive crisis, but is now on the verge of stabilization and turning things around very slowly." Prospective race promoter Dielpis track architect Athanasios Papatheodorou said that "the Prime Minister himself has supported
fully the initiative for organizing F1 races and is looking forward to
the instruction from the relevant international federations to realize
the Dielpis Formula 1 project" (CNN, 8/27).
