Amid ongoing speculation that the new venue will not be ready in time for October's inaugural event, the FIA has confirmed that it will wait until a month before the scheduled date to give the Korean Grand Prix circuit its sign-off. The final track inspection is scheduled for Sept. 21.
Although FIA regulations state that inspections are supposed to be not later than 90 days before grands prix, the wording of the rule only states that this cutoff point "should" happen rather than is mandatory.
More news about the state of readiness of the Korean venue will be forthcoming this weekend, when Karun Chandhok is scheduled to demonstrate a Red Bull Racing car on the new track. F1 track architect Hermann Tilke told AUTOSPORT that he had no doubts that Korea would be ready in time, although he admitted the timetable was tight.
"The track is not finished yet, but it will be," Tilke said. "It will be ready.
"Of course [the timing] is tight. But every circuit is tight. With every F1 circuit, the problem is always that the race date is there, and if there is bad weather or other circumstances then we cannot delay.
"With a normal building, they can say that it will be finished now one week or two weeks later. We cannot do that with an F1 track. We cannot have it one week later."