Long Beach to consider opening door to Formula 1 return

Long Beach officials are scheduled to make a decision on Tuesday over whether the contract for the race will be opened for bids, with a potential Formula 1 return on the cards

The move will decide whether the famed Californian street venue remains an IndyCar weekend, or is opened up for a return by Formula 1.

The current deal expires in 2015.

Long Beach City Council's discussions revolve around an approach made to its mayor Bob Foster by Bernie Ecclestone last year about the prospect of an F1 event put together by Chris Pook, who founded the Long Beach race in 1975.

Complete Long Beach F1 race results and stats on FORIX

The current contract is held by the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, which is in the process of preparing for the 40th race on the streets of the southern Californian city next month.

Long Beach hosted seven F1 grands prix before the event was switched to CART, and later IndyCar.

Key to any possible F1 return is finances, with F1's sanction fee expected to be far in excess of the approximately $2 million demanded by IndyCar.

The venue would also require upgrades to both the track and surrounding facilities in order to reach F1 standard.

LONG BEACH F1 WINNERS

Year  Driver              Team
1976  Clay Regazzoni      Ferrari
1977  Mario Andretti      Lotus
1978  Carlos Reutemann    Ferrari
1979  Gilles Villeneuve   Ferrari
1980  Nelson Piquet       Brabham
1981  Alan Jones          Williams
1982  Niki Lauda          McLaren
1983  John Watson         McLaren