Ecclestone casts doubt on 2017 Canadian GP

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In the round-up: Bernie Ecclestone casts doubt on next year’s Canadian Grand Prix after claiming planned improvements to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve haven’t been made.

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Rossi scored a shock win in Indianapolis
Can Alexander Rossi use his Indianapolis 500 victory as a springboard back into an F1 race seat?

Rossi’s deal with Andretti-Herta is one-year as is with Manor. The IndyCar season ends in the middle of September so he could be available for Malaysia onwards.

But at the same time, he raised his stock sending a message to the F1 paddock. He could possibly land with a mid-pack team in F1 unless IndyCar’s big two (Penske or Ganassi) decide to offer him a deal.

He is worthy for a Formula One drive for 2017. But as of 2016: well see if he can finish inside the top five.
@Placid

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Ten years ago today Fernando Alonso out-ran Michael Schumacher to win the British Grand Prix.

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70 comments on “Ecclestone casts doubt on 2017 Canadian GP”

  1. Wolff on Stroll is pretty funny considering how Verstappen is usually considered remarkably mature outside of the car whereas Stroll exasperated the entire F3 field last year with his inability to learn from his mistakes and his pigheaded attitude. But since he’s quite quick and his father’s a billionaire showering him with compliments seems a good idea.

    1. always wise to compliment the billionaire’s kid

    2. @hahostolze
      When he was in the FDA racing in F4, he used to arrive in the circuit in a Helicopter !!!

        1. I don’t profess to know what MV is like away from the car and the post quali and post race interviews during which he seems to have everything in perspective. Perhaps beyond the interviews we get to see/hear TW has reason for his comments, but anyway that doesn’t have to mean Stroll isn’t also extremely mature for his age too.

          Bottom line for me…Max on the track is all that really matters, and so far he has a top ride and a race win, and Stroll is miles away from that right now, until he is helicoptered in to a top seat as well.

  2. ColdFly F1 (@)
    11th June 2016, 0:22

    That Tom Dillmann tweet (whoever that person may be) is just plain stupid.
    It’s exactly what I want them to do during practice; find the limits. And the only way to ‘find the limit’ is to overshoot it at least once.

    I do have a problem though if they can make such mistakes during the race without any major consequences.
    IIRC it was Grosjean in Spain ending up in the sand trap and it took him quite a few seconds to get out of it. That’s exactly what I want to see when they ‘overshoot the limit’ during the race.

    1. Dillmann is a GP2 race-winner who’s leading the Formula V8 3.5 championship at the moment. He used to be on Red Bull’s junior team.

      1. That doesn’t make his tweet any more credible. It was still quite a stupid statement to make

    2. Completely agree, I don’t have a problem with them finding the limits. If a driver hasn’t overshot the chicane in practise then they aren’t pushing hard enough to see just how much speed they can take in before they have a problem. Qually, if they overshot they will ruin their own laps, it wont gain them an advantage and time will be deleted.

      Agree with the race, although I think the way they are now guided back on track around the bollard is tight enough to slow them right down giving them pain they will feel all the way down the main straight, if we remember Rosberg in 2014, who went deep in the chicane, flawed it and came back on the track without losing any margin to Hamilton, don’t think that’s possible anymore.

      To be honest I don’t see what is to be gained by putting gravel trap or similar there, all that will do it slow the drivers down into what is a mighty corner, especially in equally. It also means no driver will attempt an risky overtake on the breaks because of the risk of getting stuck in some gravel, which means less action. All we get in return is a car stuck in some gravel, would certainly be a safety car and a race suspended. The bollard does the job well enough.

      1. If there was gravel in the monaco chicane Ricciardo would have succeded with his risky overtake. How can you ever outbrake someone into a corner where there is no downside of overshooting?

        1. @rethla The move in Monaco wasn’t a risky overtake, it was even an overtake, the only reason Ric got on the radio saying what he did was because he was annoyed having lost a position to Hamilton. In that case why not add a gravel trap around every circuit just off the racing line? Ric would have got stuck in it twice in Monaco with this lockups. Really gravel traps give nothing back to the racing.

          “How can you ever outbrake someone into a corner where there is no downside of overshooting?”

          You can’t, but as I said that’s not the case here is it, if in the race you are begin chased and go deep and take to the run off and have to go around the bollard there is very good chance you will lose the position when rejoining or down the straight through lack of momentum. There is of course a downside to overshooting, this year at least.

    3. @coldfly So tarmac during practice that has to be changed between P3 and Q1 to gravel traps?

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        11th June 2016, 9:36

        Not sure why you conclude that @xtwl?
        Both can work as long as they ‘lose time’ when overshooting, without it always being race-ending.

    4. Drivers are supposed to find the limits – but there are meant to be consequences to overstepping them, and often the drivers aren’t even losing time nowadays, instead finding the “wrong route” to be faster, at least under certain non-intuitive conditions.

  3. Someone should tell Massa to concentrate on his job and his life and stop offering advice to a man who’s not only better than he is, but also more successful

    1. If Felipe spends more time reading Lewis’ interviews and articles about him, Felipe will understand Lewis better. Honestly, Felipe simply is not a man who is keen to hide his opinions.

      1. I think Felipe’s problem is quite the opposite. I think he reads too many articles about Hamilton.
        I think he it would be better for him if he stopped obsessing over him.

    2. sunny stivala
      11th June 2016, 9:45

      Agree, Lulu’s Private life should not concern Massa, his hamfosi does not like anybody commenting on his private life.

  4. Um Lewis, Massa had a car failure (DRS stuck open) on his new wing, not his fault at all. Well played, sir!

    1. He didn’t have a car failure in Monaco though did he. He still crashed out in FP1 there. Maybe if he was more focused that wouldn’t of happened…

      1. Maybe he was finding the limits in Monaco (re discussion above). Hehe. Not a focus thing that

  5. @woodyd91 An additional (And often unmentioned) issue with gravel at a place like the final chicane at Montreal is that when somebody does go off there & rejoin they throw gravel all over the track & that can potentially have additional consequences to others, Not just in terms of it causing them to lose grip & spin/crash on it but also the added risk of tyres getting damaged.

    Also looking at Montreal, The gravel was actually not removed primarily for F1 but was actually removed at the request of Nascar when they went there some years ago. Bigger Stock/GT/Touring cars tend to dig in really deep & get stuck to the point where they can be really hard to recover which ends up creating more safety car periods which tend to last longer. As a result gravel has been replaced with tarmac at all of the road circuits Nascar runs at to cut back on unnecessarily lengthy cautions to recover cars.

  6. Is there any other CEO of a similarly sized corporation (in terms of revenue) constantly threatening costumers in their prime markets like Bernie?

    He’s talked about pulling out of Italy, Germany, the US and Australia. Why do sponsors like Mumm, Rolex, Pirelli, Heineken, Santander and DHL allow for his threats?

    1. @faulty It’s the rap game, you’ve got to hussle to get better deals, you get exploited first then you get what you deserve.

      1. But how big is the TV audience for races in, say, Baku versus Lemans in those territories with enough people to buy the products the aforementioned brands are selling.

        1. Money talks louder than anything. CVC’s primary concern is how much money they can make from whoever wants to pay the highest fee for F1 to show up.

        2. @faulty, with regards to viewing figures, the ACO has claimed that the 2015 editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans was viewed by around 23 million viewers, though they were a little vague over whether that was a peak viewing figure or a cumulative figure from the entire race weekend (i.e. adding the viewers for the practise and qualifying rounds to the figures for the race itself). Those viewing figures would be about the same as the average viewing figures for an F1 race so, if you are focussing towards the international market, a race in Baku would still have its attractions.

          1. My understanding is that the 24H figure is across the race (not counting qualifying and practise, which have considerably lower viewing figures), though I’m not sure if it’s a peak or average (peak is more likely as some broadcast channels only show parts of the race). Further complicated as radio is a much more common way to “view” the 24H than F1, but in the case of the 24H it’s fairly common for TV and radio to be combined, so avoiding double-counting or missing viewers is tricky.

          2. @alianora-la-canta, thanks for explaining the situation – I suspect that it would be the peak viewing figure, since that is often the most commonly quoted statistic.

    2. @faulty The sponsors you mentioned probably prefer Bernie way because they already have big recognition in major countries. Azerbaijan, Russia, Korea, India, and all new countries Bernie tried to milk is providing them with new audience. Don’t forget, no matter how poor a country is, there always some rich people there (how they get their money is another topic) that can afford the sponsors products.

      1. Yeah, the one percent in India probably can afford as much as the one percent in Spain while being 20 times as numerous.

    3. ColdFly F1 (@)
      11th June 2016, 9:45

      @faulty, I believe one is running for President now.
      (the other is Martin Shkreli ,/a>- nice trio).

    4. @faulty I’m not sure that this “main market” is F1’s main source of revenue :(

    5. petebaldwin (@)
      11th June 2016, 13:43

      I’m so thankful that he is 85 and not 45…..

    6. This is pure business. They have made a deal and Canada has to hold up to their end. Bernie is simply putting the pressure on.

  7. The grandstands are usually packed for ever practice during the weekend plus sellout crowds in qualifying and the race. The whole city of Montreal turns into an F1 festival city for the weekend and all of Canada tunes in for the race….The racing has been great every year……What more does this little midget want? A safer track? How about robots driving because if a robot crashes he won’t get bruised up .helllllllooooo? Racing is dangerous and always will be. Ecclestone is a moron. End of story

    1. “What more does this little midget want?”

      Money. Actually, that’s the only thing he wants.

      1. This. The Canadian dollar struggles and the GP weekend disappears. See 2009.

    2. It’s not about the saftey of the drivers. It’s about his bobo friends being bathed in even more luxury. He doesn’t care if that costs some 25 million to get it done. He’s got plenty of rich friends that’ll happily build him a track with the facilities he wants AND cough up the ridiculously high GP fee. Just look at Baku.

      I think he’s come to a point where he feels he’s in control of everything. He probably believes he’s Alexander the Great at this point.

    3. Have you no regard for those in the Paddock club? Bernie has every right to stand up for those in need of lobster and champagne during a gruelling GP weekend.

      1. Cotd, right here.

  8. That PU components table is why Lewis has lost the championship already, usually having better competition would mean more people to ruffle Nico but it’s also harder competition for a penalty ridden Lewis and also guarantee of a more defensive team strategy that leads to compromise. I think Merc are only going to need to make a couple of pitlane starts to stock the parts yet it should be a big ask for Lewis, interesting championship though.

    1. @peartree Calm down, he’s had to start from the back several times in 2014 too. He still won it. For all we know Rosberg his engine is going to blow up in the coming three races and Hamilton gains 75 points. Stop making excuses and finding little reasons as to why possibly Hamilton might lose.

      1. No, we don’t know that Rosberg’s engine is going to blow up. That’s the beauty of evidence, it’s a record of past events; what you are coming up with is a hypothesis, how well grounded in reality it is we shall see.

  9. I am in Montreal for the GP at the moment, and it is my first time at an F1 GP. It would be sad if it left, but I don’t think anyone is taking Ecclestone’s comments seriously.

    1. Enjoy the race! Bernie making bernies “negotiations ongoing” noises – nothing new really. Then again, he might bring the canadian GP to Kamchatka if Putin offers a large bag of extra cash and a flashy track!

      1. In the article with quotes from LdM is the recent quote from BE…’F1 has never been worse. I wouldn’t buy a ticket’…and he wonders why Montreal doesn’t have a major sponsor for the race?

        Not saying that quote is the direct reason for no major Canadian GP sponsor, but you’d at least think BE, who can’t stand his own product and happily demotes it to the world, would at least understand why no sponsor.

        A more accurate comment from BE would have been…’I have created a product that sucks and that even I wouldn’t buy a ticket for, so no wonder Montreal doesn’t have a major sponsor.’

        How is this guy irreplaceable again?

        1. Also, FOM hoovering up sponsorship has meant less sponsorship for everyone else.

  10. MG421982 (@)
    11th June 2016, 5:16

    Tyrannosaurus Ecclestonus…

  11. Dear Bernie, please don’t put the squeeze on Canada GP. It’s one of the races F1 fans look forward to each year.

    Congrats to Clair Williams on the OBE award. She fully deserved it.
    Acknowledging the many capable hands at Williams I must say that Williams have definitely performed better and have largely managed themselves well through F1’s unending drama since she joined them.

  12. I think one of the main points Bernie is trying to make is that the pit buildings are looooong overdue and upgrade. They current structure is a ground story concrete she’ll built in the 1970s which gets a semi permanent ‘marquee’ structure placed on the roof to host corporate hospitality. I was under the impression that plans had been made by Montreal to upgrade, does anyone here have any news?

    1. Yeah the mayor of Montreal says no worries, it’ll be done, and reminds us that some of the reason for the delay is disagreements between the races promoter and BE as to what and how things should be done.

      This is just Business 101 from the BE book…run down your own product and threaten your customers at all times.

  13. I’m with Wolff, Stroll is a very hot prospect. Sure he was somewhat erratic during his time as a Ferrari junior, but since he has joined Williams those stupid mistakes have gradually ironed out. In addition, the kid is incredibly quick. He gets a lot of criticism for being the son of someone wealthy, but usually in F1 that is a requirement these days.

    As for Rossi, it’s also worth remembering that he has the required superlicence points to participate in F1. His 500 win will almost certainly raise his stock, not just from a driving standpoint but when it comes to sponsorship deals too. “100th Indianapolis 500 Winner Alexander Rossi” sounds significantly better than “IndyCar driver Alexander Rossi” after all…

  14. In fairness, many of the promoters are probably the same type of people as Bernie is: looking to make a maximum profit before anything else. So they’ll spend as little as they can on the facilities at a venue. Bernie weighs in on them to make sure the stands don’t fall apart.

    And to make more money himself, obviously :)

    1. @hanswes, Interlagos comes to mind in that respect – remember when part of a gantry once collapsed onto the track during a practise session? Thankfully most of the drivers were in the pits at the time, as that could have been a very nasty incident if it had happened during the race.

  15. Ricciardo, LOL.

  16. Mclaren should take some pride in the fact that they are on top of the engine components used table. Last year they absolutely dominated that table, with new colour grades invented for their top notch classification.

    This year it seems that Mercedes and Ferrari have closed the gap, but I still expect Mclaren to beat them to it by the end of the year. If there’s one thing Honda have deep experience in, it is making engines as slow as they are unreliable.

    1. Being Japanese all Honda need to do is get full details of someone else’s engine and copy it with improvements added. Their issue is they are having to work it out for themselves which is not the Japanese way.

      1. can you explain that a bit? what Japanese engines are copied? just curious, since i really have no clue.

      2. Wow, a comment from 1970. How did that get here?
        Also worth noting that nowadays Japan is consistently a top three country for technology patents…

  17. If there was any doubt about why the fortunes of F1 are in decline look no further than Bernie’s comments. Montreal is one of the only GPs where the stands are packed for every session and a good race is delivered, yet he insists on threatening the race every few years. If he was at all concerned with the success of F1 he would do everything in his power to make sure Montreal stays on the calendar even if that meant funding the upgrades himself. If the person in charge of the commercial rights of F1 cares more for dollars than the quality of the product then that product is eventually going to decline and possibly fail.

    1. you’re saying bernie doesnt have the right to demand track facility improvements and a race sponsor?

      1. He has the right but he should do it behind closed doors. Threats every week or so from him get old and meaningless when they rarely come to fruition.

        1. Jonathan Parkin
          11th June 2016, 18:35

          Well he needs a new whipping boy since Silverstone upgraded – although I preferred the layout as it was before

          Just another thought, how does the hosting fees compare between racing series and is it necessary for it to be so expensive

          1. I think everything coagulates together which is why he is wanting a big sponsor. A big sponsor cuts costs for F1 and generates revenue from the weekend. I’m not an expert but that makes sense to me but attracting a major host sponsor would be easier if the F1 dictator would keep his mouth shut in public and get things done with closed doors.

    2. I’m glad I’m not the only person who feels this way. Montreal is a special place as is Monza.

  18. Formula One should allow Special Gazoline…

  19. Interesting to seen that there’s comments from Bernie about upgrades.

    I noticed the that a lot if the signage appears to be faded with cracked peeling paint. Kerbs too seem to ge throwing up paint chips.

    Whilst I don’t agree with the Bernie way of threatening, I do think the overall presentation of the track is pretty poor.

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