New Delhi: After all the hype around Hyderabad, it might turn out that Mumbai walks away with the F-1 (Formula One) car racing cake!

Or so thinks Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who is gearing up to host Formula One bosses next week.

"Representatives of the Formula One car racing have informed that they will be coming to Mumbai next week for discussions with me," Shinde told reporters last night (Jan 24, 2004).

According to Shinde, F-1 is no longer in favour of Hyderabad, the city widely billed to host the premier motor racing event in 2006.

"Earlier, the F-1 had plans to conduct the race near Hyderabad but now they want it to be shifted to Mumbai and have estimated an investment of over Rs 500 crore for the venture," he said.

Last September, Andhra Pradesh C M Chandrababu Naidu travelled to Italy to convince Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone to hold a race in Hyderabad.

India aspires to be the fourth Asian country to host a multi-million Dollar Formula One Grand Prix in 2006.

Japan and Malaysia are already on the F-1 calendar, while China has been allotted one race in the year 2005. The F-1 World Championships consists of 17 races a year.