Call us jaded but after the Doninton fiasco where a contract for the British Grand Prix was handed to someone who didn't have the financing in place and didn't have a suitable circuit, Pitpass was more than a little bit sceptical about the recent announcement that a US Grand Prix will take place in 2012 in Austin, the capital city of Texas. It seems that we aren't the only ones.

Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt recently spoke to a highly respected senior motorsport source who is based in the US and knows more than a thing or two about F1. What he said was worrying to say the least. His conversation with Sylt came a few days after he sent an email to our business editor saying that "I have placed a couple of phone calls to the US and I am not sure that this is project is real." The outlook hasn't become any clearer since then.

Referring to Tavo Hellmund, managing partner of the US GP race promoter Full Throttle Productions, the source told Sylt that "his father was involved in motor racing in quite a large way... now the son appears and the general view here is that there are many more questions than answers. This guy has never promoted a race, he doesn't have a race-track, he doesn't have property for a race-track. He does have a letter from the governor pledging $25m of support for the race... beyond that he has nothing quite frankly. The feeling is that this is... like Donington."

We all know that Silverstone ended up the beneficiary from the Donington debacle so who could be the eventual winner in the US? A clue could come from Fred Nation, spokesman for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway who said a few days ago "that F1 expressed any interest Austin was a surprise, especially to us... Austin is not particularly known as an auto racing market." This is no exaggeration. The Statesman, Austin's major daily newspaper wrote an extremely basic article entitled, 'What is Formula One?' the day after the deal was announced.

Perhaps crucially, Nation said that "Indianapolis is the right place for F1 in the United Sates and, if and when they express an interest here again, which could happen, we're ready to talk if we can find a business arrangement that makes sense for both parties."

What Sylt can say pretty much for sure is that Austin has had its eye on F1 for a long time so it is no flash in the pan.

In addition to his post as business editor of Pitpass, editor of The Paddock magazine and roles covering the business of F1 for numerous papers and commenting on it for TV stations including CNN, CNBC and ITN, Sylt also authors F1's industry monitor Formula Money. When promoters come up with the idea of hosting an F1 GP they tend to ask the state for money to cover the sport's huge fees which average £21.5m per race. The first thing that the state does is to research how much it will cost them and they soon arrive at Formula Money since it is the only all-in-one source of business data for F1.

Once the state has an idea of how much it will cost they return to the promoter with an answer and then contact is made with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone. Accordingly, the list of Formula Money buyers gives Sylt visibility which can be ahead of even Ecclestone himself in terms of countries interested in hosting F1.

So it is no coincidence that the state of Texas bought a copy of last year's edition in March 2009 and then bought the 2010 edition in March this year. Aryn White, Full Throttle's co-founder, bought it in May 2009 and February 2010, while the Monticello Motor Club, which was also in the running to host the US GP, also bought a copy in April this year.

Interestingly, Sylt says that one of the latest purchasers of Formula Money is a real estate company in Nevada which is of course home to Las Vegas. The race to host the US GP may well still be on.