Ecclestone Confident of US GP Future

The 2005 race was held without seven of the 10 Formula One teams, after the Michelin teams declined to take the start due to tyre safety concerns. The fiasco was followed by harsh criticism of the event among the local public, subsequently leading Michelin to announce it would refund all ticket holders.

But with the US Grand Prix contract set to expire next year, Indianapolis Motor Speedway has yet to confirm whether the circuit will continue to hold the race beyond 2006, with even next year's race put into doubt.

Ecclestone, however, said he fully expected the race to be held next year and stated the events of the June race were unavoidable.

"Unless something comes up drastic which is going to preclude [IMS president] Tony [George] from putting the event on, I don't see any problems," Ecclestone told the Associated Press.

"I hope everybody understands...why it all happened," Ecclestone continued. "It wasn't the fault of Formula One management, it wasn't the fault of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it wasn't the fault basically of the teams. It was the fact that Michelin supplied the wrong tires for that circuit and it would have been dangerous to run.

"If somebody would have been killed it would have been more or less murder because we knew it was dangerous, so to send people out like that would have been totally irresponsible."