Mexican officials claim they struck a deal with F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone

A new 5km track, designed by veteran race course architect Hermann Tilke and costing �44m, will be built just south of Cancun's international airport.

"This track offers some very, very high speeds with sharp curves that make cars brake at speed," said Tilke's representative Dirk Schneider.

Mexico last hosted an F1 race at the Hermanos Rodriguez Autodrome in 1992.

The news that Mexico has been handed the chance to stage an F1 race will no doubt increase speculation about the future of the British Grand Prix.

The race has been listed provisionally on the 2005 calendar, but F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said it would be axed after a breakdown in negotiations with the circuit's owners.

Luis Silveira, whose company Grupo Promotor Inversiones Caribenos is involved in the Cancun deal, said the site was not being viewed as an alternative to the British GP.

"That is not the intention," he said. "The issue was not even raised of taking the place of existing dates.

"What was discussed and what came out was a new date, a new commitment, not a substitution."