Montreal appears poised to return to the Formula One scene in 2010 after the sport's commercial rights-holder Bernie Ecclestone stated that an agreement in principle has been reached for the Canadian Grand Prix.
The event was dropped from the 2009 Formula One calendar following disagreement over rights fees between Ecclestone and the race's promoters, but the F1 chief told Swiss magazine Motorsport Aktuell on Tuesday that a potential deal would keep F1 in Montreal for at least the next seven years.
He added that a formal agreement has to be reached in the next few weeks in order to make the deadline for the 2010 calendar.
‘We have an in-principle agreement of how we're going to make the race happen,’ Ecclestone later told CBC Radio.
However, the waters have been muddied somewhat after Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay told RDS that negotiations are still ongoing and that Ecclestone has not altered his previous offer - the major reason why the race was dropped from this year's calendar.
‘We've got the very funny, old-fashioned idea that when we go somewhere we'd like to be paid,’ Ecclestone added.
F1 officials reportedly sought C 175million to keep the race in Montreal for five years, a figure that the city's government declared was too much.
In June, Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand stated that the federal and provincial governments were ready to provide £5million in financing while the City of Montreal is offering up another 5million from a hotel tax to get the race back to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
