EXCLUSIVE Q&A: Chris Pook on the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey

CP: First of all, this is an extremely complicated temporary circuit, by far the most complicated temporary circuit that I have ever seen. It involves two different cities two towns, if you will, plus a private sector landowner Roseland Property Company. Then you have to deal with the environmental issues with the Hudson River because you are using a portion of that to mount platforms for seating.

All of these bits and pieces take a huge amount of time to get sorted out and they are also very expensive. As you move forward with the planning process of putting it together, it's as if you turn over another stone every day and underneath that stone is another financial requirement, not to mention the regulatory requirements. Actually, it's a regulatory requirement that, in turn, has financial requirements attached to it.

So it is very complicated to put together and therefore it is very complicated to fund. The challenge that Mr.. Hindery has had is moving forward with this process of getting it to a point where it is fundable. He is now at that point. The problem with that is that it just eats up time. You have to post your race date with certainty with the FIA and you cannot miss that date, so rather than put themselves in a situation where they would be running at 150mph to get to the 2014 date, the sensible thing to do, bearing in mind the importance of this race, was to step back and say, "Let's do it in 2015."

There have been lots of bullets fired at Mr. Hindery from various members of the press. Unfortunately, they have not taken the time to stop and understand the complexity of the project. They heaved a rock at him, but not thought it through.

Where it stands right now is that everybody agrees that this is a very important race for the Formula 1 calendar and for the Formula 1 teams. It's the largest entertainment market in the world. It will be an enormous success, but you have got to do it right because the standards and expectations in that market are very, very high.

CP: We haven't gone over the projections as quantified in last April/May, but they were projections. They have now been qualified and we are still within the original budget. This is not an inexpensive venue to put together.

CP: It is really silly to rush these things. We are all much more comfortable for '15 and that gives us breathing room to complete the financial restructuring. And we can do it all within a sensible operational timeframe.

CP: The best way to phrase it is how Mr. Ecclestone phrased it back in Montreal [in June] when he was speaking to the principals behind the race. He said: "Pook has made more mistakes in his career of temporary circuits than you have ever thought about making!"

CP: Everything is completely under control in those fields now. They are very cooperative. I'd be remiss not to tell you just how cooperative they are; the landowners, the City of West New York, the City of Weehawken, the state of New Jersey, the local county, everybody is very cooperative and very supportive because they have everything to gain.

CP: That is not my department, but there are some very qualified people working on it, an internationally-known banker is working on it and I am told it is moving forward. We are in good shape 18 months out from the race operationally. I can only speak for that issue, it's not for me to speak for all the other [financial] stuff.

CP: That is actually going ahead quite well. There has been a lot of work done, a lot of paving done. All of the engineering is done for that, the drawings are all ready to go, the contract is in place, everybody knows what they have got to do and when they have got to do it. That's all been done very well. [Hermann] Tilke has done a good job of the design. The top contractors are already in place and some paving work has already been done.

CP: Yes. It would be silly to battle the winter elements of the North East United States to build the circuit. You are better to wait for the spring and the summer.

The base infrastructure work for about 35-40 percent of the circuit is done. More importantly, the engineering has been done, the plans, construction drawings and all that stuff.

CP: Absolutely. They have got the whole summer of 2014 to do that.

This is the first temporary circuit that Tilke has done. It has been a bit of a learning curve for them but they are very capable. All of the stuff is pretty logical. This is not rocket science, it's being able to see what needs to be done.

There are three different pictures that you have to look at when dealing with a temporary circuit. The first picture is the streets, the parking lots and all the bits and pieces as they are today, just regular day-to-day life. The second picture is what it looks like as a race circuit. The third picture is what it looks like as a race circuit with 85,000 people in it. Those are the pictures that you have to put in your mind when you are putting together a temporary circuit and you have to walk yourself through every phase of it to identify all the things you need to do and pay for.

It's not like building a permanent circuit. As you transfer the streets in normal conditions into a race circuit, you have to recognize that while you are doing that, the streets, the people, the cities have to be able to go about their normal, everyday business.

CP: That's the goal. The bar is set very high by the standards of Singapore, Monte Carlo. You have got to match them. And Melbourne as well, although it's a little bit different as it's in a park, so it's a little bit more like Montreal. But Singapore is an absolute street circuit, as is Monaco, so that's the challenge.

CP: From a race management point of view there are four people full-time on it right now. And there are a host of other consultants and engineers, I don't know exactly how many there are. But behind-the-scenes there are probably 25-30 people. You have Tilke staff, the construction engineering staff, the contractor staff. You have a lot of people with their nose to the grindstone.

CP: I believe that is the plan, but that is something outside of my brief and decided by Mr. Ecclestone and the FIA.

CP: Yes. Everybody wants to see this event happen. If you went down the pitlane and asked every team, they would agree that they want to see it happen. Mr. Ecclestone clearly wants to see it happen, Governor [Chris] Christie wants to see it happen, Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg in New York and the Mayor elect [Bill de Blasio] in New York want to see it happen because they are going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of people coming to the race.

Both of the mayors in Weehawken [Richard F. Turner] and West New York [Felix Roque] want to see it happen. And Roseland wants to see it happen. Hopefully and presumably, the Formula 1 fans throughout North America and the world want to see this happen. Everybody wants to see this happen, it's just a question of putting the nuts and bolts together.