FE close to securing new Berlin venue

The championship is negotiating with Berlin officials but has yet to receive final confirmation of the event.

It was forced to pursue an alternative venue when the German government announced the Tempelhof would be used to house refugees.

The Norisring was initially under consideration, as was a race in Munich, but remaining the German capital is the championship's favoured solution.

Series CEO Alejandro Agag told Autosport: "We are still very optimistic the race will take place on the streets of Berlin, but we don't have the green light.

"Tempelhof was fantastic but if as a result we end up racing in the streets it's a fantastic result.

"All our team is working 24/7 to have everything that's necessary and the city is working with us on details of the track, traffic management and so on. We have a number of dossiers we are working on to present.

"We both want to have the event and hopefully we can make an announcement soon."

The original Berlin ePrix was scheduled for May 21 but Agag is not concerned by the short timeline.

"All the infrastructure, walls, fences, kerbs, it's all there," he continued. "For us Berlin is a very quick production.

"It's been a dramatic improvement in the way we produce the races.

"Before every race was like climbing Everest and now it's just going up a hill and coming back down."