Comments on: Provisional 2009 F1 calendar has good news for France, bad for America

By: Britalian Stallion

Britalian Stallion — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:04:40 +0000

I like this calender!

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:44:21 +0000

What picture?

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:24:18 +0000

I think that the “European” Grand Prix should only go to countries that do not already stage a Grand Prix. Also other countries in Europe have 2 Grand Prix; Italy and San Marino, France and Monaco.

I think the French Grand Prix is off the calendar for the moment, but Monaco will NEVER be dropped. The Valencia street circuit is a much more interesting race than the boring track outside Barcelona.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:19:13 +0000

How recent is that Google Maps satellite pic? The circuit doesnt look very finished

By: andrew

andrew — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:28:12 +0000

mind u i suppose this all depends on some extent to how big the calendar should (or could) be, then there would be n need for races to be dropped, isnt it the case tht if the season lasts longer than 17 races or something Bernie has to compemsate the teams for moving cars etc around the place?

By: Gman

Gman — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:30:31 +0000

Andrew, I don’t think those nations are at the top of the F1 scale in terms of attendance. But since the organisers of both GPs are in Bernie’s back pocket, there’s absolutley 0% chance of them ever going off the schedule. I’m not saying those races should not be there- people in every part of the world should be able to enjoy the world championship. But it makes me frustrated when Bernie holds a privately-owner venue like Silversote/Indy/Magny-Cours to the same standard as the Tilke-designed superspeedways that are simply paid for by national funds. Business is business and FOM dose need to make money, but there are much better ways to work than the way they’ve treated the more traditional venues in recent years.

By: Keith Collantine

Keith Collantine — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:41:03 +0000

Andrew – Funny you should mention about Spain having two Grands Prix, apparently it was a point of discussion at the World Motor Sports Council on Wednesday. Some people aren’t happy about it. The unofficial rule has been “one country, one Grand Prix” but until last year I think you have to go back to 1975 to find the last occasion where that was actually practised.

By: andrew

andrew — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:33:58 +0000

i’d be quite happy if the Malaysian and Bahrain grand prixs were dropped, (especially considering AbuDhabi and Singapore are on the way), also why is no-one else raising the issue of the Spanish Grand Prix, making the Valencia round the Spanish GP would kill two birds with one stone- getting rid of Catalyuna and the issue of 2 GP’s per country, what does everyone think?

By: Gman

Gman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:59:34 +0000

And one last point on this issue…it’s an obvious one but I haden’t thought of it, and perhaps one of you have previously mentioned it. The car manufacturers are upset about not having a USGP, and rightfully so. But of all the people who should be upset…how about the bunch at Red Bull? The U.S. is a HUGE market for the drink, and I’d absolutley love for some brave journalist to ask Dietrich Mateschitz what he thinks of his team not being given a shot to race in the U.S.

By: Gman

Gman — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 03:55:09 +0000

the limit, I could be wrong, but I believe the attendence figures for the two races after 2005 at Indy were in the 100,000 or so range. If that’s the case, then F1 should consider Indy 2005 DEAD AND BURIED(No anger or bad feelings- I just want to stress my point.) With an annual event like a GP, you know it’s a failure after a bad event (like Indy 2005) if the attendence plummets the next season. In this case, it was still strong. In terms of the empty seats, Indy can hold over 200,000 spectators- so even with a huge number of fans like 100,000- you’ll still see alot of empty seats because the place is huge.

F1 viewing figures are naturally going to be higher in China than the US- what other major motorsports are there to see in China/India/etc.? No NASCAR/IndyCar/NHRA as the main motor sports, as there is here in America. If FOM thinks they can waltz right into the U.S and have everyone fall all over F1, they were mistaken. The sport can become popular here, but it would take some simple steps in terms of marketing and PR in order to give it a boost in this, a developed country with a strong series of domestic motorsports.

Lastly, some positive comments from Bernie would help more than people realise, instead of stuff like “America is not vital to F1.”