BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — When Bernie Ecclestone and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George failed to reach an agreement to stage the 2008 United States Grand Prix, George said at the time IMS definitely wanted the race to return.
IMS President Joie Chitwood affirmed last week that the track wants to reinstate the event.
“I think that F-1 will come back, I really do,” Chitwood said in an interview with the Bloomberg news service. “There’s nothing definitive but I think there has been some dialogue. It’s coming up with the right plan so everybody can benefit from it.”
IMS Executive Vice President of Communications Fred Nation said that there is ongoing regret with sponsors and teams about not being in the United States.
“The door is not closed,” Nation told the Indianapolis Business Journal. “We want F-1 back, and there is interest from F-1 in coming back.”
Although the track will host a round of the MotoGP championship on Sept. 14 next year, the motorcycle race is not intended as a replacement for the F-1 race. The plan all along was for IMS to host four prestigious international events: the Indianapolis 500, NASCAR’s Brickyard 400, F-1 and MotoGP.
“We’ve made a lot of investment in the property,” Chitwood said, referring to the road course and new pit and hospitality complex. “We were disappointed when it (F-1) went away. For us, the goal is to see if we can get them to come back at some point.”
It’s estimated that the Grand Prix generated $100 million annually in tourism revenue for the city.

• The last major F-1 test of the year was scheduled to take place at Spain’s Jerez circuit from Tuesday through Friday.

• Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz has ruled out the team hiring McLaren refugee Fernando Alonso in 2008, thus confirming that Mark Webber and David Coulthard’s seats are safe for next season.
“From what I hear, Alonso is speaking to other teams about a one-year-only deal,” Mateschitz told Motorsport Aktuell, a respected Swiss racing publication. “Such a deal is out of question for us.”

• Ron Dennis told a Colombian newspaper that McLaren has plenty of options for Lewis Hamilton’s teammate next year, including test driver Pedro de la Rosa. Dennis said the team is in no hurry to sign somebody.

• Michael Schumacher resumed his winning ways by taking the overall victory in Felipe Massa’s charity kart race. Schumacher was back in Brazil 13 months after he drove his last F-1 race (and finished fourth) in the same country, but this time he was competing in his first love — go-karts.
Schumacher won the first heat and finished sixth in the second. Based on the points, Schumacher won overall ahead of former F-1 driver Luciano Burti, Lucas di Grassi, Rubens Barrichello, Massa, Marcos Gomes, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Tony Kanaan.

• Alan Jones, the 1979 world champion, reckons Schumacher will race in F-1 again. “After nearly a year out of the saddle, I can image him thinking, ‘Maybe I’d like to have another go,’” the Aussie said in an interview with Autosport magazine. Jones made a F-1 comeback after retiring at the end of 1981 but did not have the equipment to achieve his former glory.

• BMW Sauber has released Timo Glock from the remainder of his contract so that he can begin testing with his new team, Toyota, in December.

• Honda has affirmed that Jenson Button and Barrichello will be its drivers in 2008, and the team denied that Alonso paid a visit to the Honda F-1 factory. Along with Red Bull saying it’s not interested in Alonso next year, the Spaniard perhaps has only one option: Renault. Ecclestone thinks Alonso could bring Renault back to its winning ways.
“I think they (Renault) missed Fernando Alonso,” Ecclestone told Auto Motor und Sport. “He was like Michael for Ferrari — a big driving force for the team. The top drivers do motivate the team for sure, and they give the engineers better information.”
Heikki Kovalainen insists he wants an equal No. 1 driver contract. But Flavio Briatore maintains it’s best for a team to concentrate on one driver. The result of all this is that Kovalainen may well end up at McLaren while Alonso and Nelson Piquet, Jr. drive for Renault. But it’s speculated that Alonso wants to wait until after Renault’s spy hearing this week before making a decision.

• Some 30 members of the Super Aguri workforce in England have been laid off as the team cut costs and restructures for 2008.

• No less than seven drivers are testing in Spain this week as Force India evaluates who should be Adrian Sutil’s teammate next year. Such is the case of supply and demand in F-1 at the moment, that drivers ranging from grand prix winners to newcomers are all hoping to fill one of the few remaining open seats.
Giancarlo Fisichella, Ralf Schumacher, Tonio Liuzzi, Christian Klien, Franck Montagny, Giedo van der Garde and Roldan Rodriguez will all test for the former Spyker team.

• The fact that Renault allowed Fisichella to test for Force India reinforces rumors that the Italian won’t be invited back to Renault in 2008.

• Estonia’s Marko Asmer, who won the 2007 British F3 championship, and Spain’s Javier Villa, who competed in GP2 this year, will test for BMW Sauber at Jerez as the team begins its search for a replacement for Timo Glock.

• As F-1’s various spy sagas continue to unfold, Ecclestone has added his own views to the mix.
The FIA is investigating the 2008 McLaren to see if any of the Ferrari data former McLaren engineer Mike Coughlan obtained in 2007 was used in next year’s car. That could lead to further scandals in 2008, Ecclestone said. Renault was due to face an FIA hearing this week on charges that the team used McLaren intellectual property in the design of its cars.
“I do not know the extent of what they have done and what they have not done,” Ecclestone said of Renault. “I think the difference between them and McLaren is that McLaren were getting information over a period of time, rather than somebody stealing a lot of drawings in one go.”
Ecclestone was speaking to Auto Motor und Sport, and the interview was reprinted on F-1’s official website F1.com.
Ecclestone said that as soon as McLaren boss Ron Dennis learned that Ferrari data had permeated McLaren, he should have contacted Jean Todt at Ferrari. The matter then should have been turned over to the police who would have treated it as a case of stolen goods.