FIA confirms December 11th date for Indian GP

2011 Indian Grand Prix

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Buddh International Circuit track map

The FIA has set a date of December 11th for this year’s Indian Grand Prix.

The FIA’s website has already been updated to reflect the new schedule.

An FIA spokesperson told F1 Fanatic “let’s say that for the moment, it’s official”.

The new date increases the length of the calendar by two weeks. The Indian Grand Prix takes over from the Brazilian round as the season finale.

The race, to be held at the Buddh International Circuit, was moved to the end of the calendar to make way for the reinstated Bahrain Grand Prix.

The FIA announced on Friday that Bahrian would take the date given to India, and moved the Indian round to an unspecified date at the end of the season.

However there is serious doubt over whether this arrangement will hold as F1 teams have told the FIA they will not accept an extension of the calendar.

According to the FIA’s International Sporting Code, changes to the calendar must have the support of all the teams.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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87 comments on “FIA confirms December 11th date for Indian GP”

  1. “let’s say that for the moment, it’s official”

    Nice!

    It would be nice to hear from a doctor: “Let’s say that for the moment, you are dead”

    1. HounslowBusGarage
      9th June 2011, 10:26

      Nice, very nice.
      This announcement is about as watertight as a sieve and shows the FIA in pretty poor light yet again.

      1. I think I can see Jean ‘King Cnut’ Todt sitting on the beach shouting at the sea from my house…

      2. This whole matter is a bit of a farce, isn’t it???

        1. Why don’t they first ask the teams, then move the races? They will only make a lot of fuss.

          1. The governing body surely can’t be taking orders from little Formula 1 teams?!

          2. The governing body’s own rules demand it for occasions like this one…

        2. Bigbadderboom
          9th June 2011, 13:38

          The FIA are quickly becoming a farce, reflects badly on Mr Todt, I’m sure he will suffer in Keiths next approval ratings. After the last few weeks I wouldn’t trust him to run me a bath, let alone the FIA.

          1. COTD! :D

          2. FIAsco is the word.

          3. You’d be sitting in Bahrain if Todt had his way.

            Which is a bit of a problem as I don’t think they are very good with the whole, public nudity thing…

  2. There’s stubbornness, and then there’s the FIA :/

    1. if there’s one thing i really despise in life, it’s stubborn people.

      1. Captain Sorbet
        9th June 2011, 10:57

        I hate stubborn people too – and there’s nothing you can do to change my mind.

        1. ha! very good

    2. It’s like Mosley never left!

  3. Astounding. Unless FOTA’s letter isn’t what we’ve been led to believe, what on earth are they playing at? Scratch that, what are they playing at anyway? It’s not official until approved. Since we haven’t heard of any approval, it can’t be official, not even ‘for the moment’.

    The FIA just never learns, does it?

    1. waiting for the Silverstone meeting to sign off the fact it was stupid to begin with? Making this even more embaressing for the FIA?

    2. Unless FOTA’s letter isn’t what we’ve been led to believe, what on earth are they playing at?

      Because FOTA’s letter does not count as a vote. It’s simply an expression of their intentions. FOTA won’t vote until the next meeting – and they can’t vote until the FIA put forward a formal proposition, which they have now done.

      1. Well a formal proposal means nothing. If they don’t want to go to Bahrain, then the Bahrain GP can’t be rescheduled – regardless of what the proposal contains.

        1. Well a formal proposal means nothing.

          Actually, it means everything. The teams can’t vote if there is nothing to vote for. Because there are so many possible combinations (ie, cancel Bahrain outright, have Bahrain in Ocotber and India in December, have India in October and Bahrain in December, etc.), the FIA need to approach the teams and say “this is what we think the best solution it”, and the teams vote on it from there. Rule 66 was never ignored, it simply hadn’t been carried out yet, but everyone jumped on it. FOTA won’t vote on Bahrain until they have an actual meeting.

          1. But you’re missing my point. All words coming out of FOTA say no to Bahrain. If thats the case then India is still in October, no Bahrain in 2011.

            You can’t vote on a proposal if nothing has changed, bearing in mind that nothing can be changed without the teams consent. Given the teams haven’t approved anything, nothing has changed. As at right now, Bahrain isn’t on the 2011 calender and India is in October.

          2. All words coming out of FOTA say no to Bahrain.

            And FOTA’s don’t have any weight until they officially declare their position by voting.

            As at right now, Bahrain isn’t on the 2011 calender and India is in October.

            The calendar produced by the FIA shows that Bahrain is on it. The FIA control the calendar, not FOTA. FOTA have the power to influence it, and if they officially vote no to restoring the race, it will be removed again.

            You’re acting as if FOTA have absolute power over everything. They do not. They only have conditional power – they can influence things under certain conditions, but those conditions have not been met until they cast their votes.

          3. PM, I have been following this discusion for a while. Now let me ask you: with whom or when will FOTA vote to make it a “real” vote?

            Their official statement on this matter was already sent to FIA, FOM and BIC. If 11 out of 12 teams have now clearly stated they do not agree, what vote would be needed?

            If anything (and based on that article 66), the FIA would need to ask the teams to agree with a proposal unanimously before they can have any meaningfull vote on it.

          4. Now let me ask you: with whom or when will FOTA vote to make it a “real” vote?

            At their next meeting. When they actually vote. The letter was their intentions.

          5. Okay:

            Until and unless FOTA votes yes at their next meeting, there is nothing official about the proposals.

            Happy?

          6. Well, apart from PM showing us how the FIA can be so equally pedantic…..

            Guys I wouldn’t be so sure on FOTA saying no, I just wouldn’t. How do we know this issue isn’t just being used for political capital?

            None of the teams directly have come out and said no to Bahrain. no, they are hiding behind FOTA to do it, so I suspect, they will fold if the right deal is made. And it sounds like the FIA wants to make that deal.

      2. It might have been clearer if the FIA had announced that they ‘propose’ the Indian GP is held on the 11th of December. When they keep ‘confirming’ things it gives the impression it is settled, rather than being subject to agreement.

        When someone in a meeting puts forward an suggestion for a course of action, they don’t just say “I have confirmed this will happen” until everyone that needs to has agreed to it.

        It’s as if they are worried about being seen as not important so they march around announcing what is going to happen, and then look stupid when everyone else tells them where to go.

      3. That’s right. FOTA as a body are barely recognised by the FIA I think.

      4. Guilherme (@the_philosopher)
        9th June 2011, 15:15

        You seem to be falling in some pretty bad contradictions here PM (in fact, that has been the case since this whole Bahrain subject started back in february).

        The FIA can’t change the calendar midway through a season without the unanimous agreement of all teams. The teams weren’t consulted (and as it turned out to be, most of them were against the reinstatement), therefore the FIA couldn’t have confirmed the reschedule. They should have proposed it to them and then voted with all teams. It seems pretty clear to me.

        They were clearly breeching their own regulations, but anyway, I’m sure you’re going to find a way to distort I’ve said and what the regulations state.

    3. To Icthyes, the letters are on the FIA website now.

  4. The FIA is going to bite the dust here or should I say “the sand”.

  5. Now now… Stop that, it’s getting far too silly!

  6. Why ???? If Bahrain isnt happening, wats the need of postponing the Indian GP…. Insane people.. Just foolish

    1. Bahrain is on the calendar as well. No-one from the FIA has said that Bahrain won’t go through.

        1. That’s Ecclestone’s opinion. He has no ability to influence this because it’s a matter for the teams and the FIA to discuss.

          1. “That’s Ecclestone’s opinion. He has no ability to influence this”

            Haha, yeah right!

          2. It’s a calender change. Therefore under the same regulation (66) that affects India, the teams would have to unanimously agree before Bahrain could go ahead.

          3. Eh?

            He’s a member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council, or do you not know this PM?

      1. might be a while to wait for the next scheduled WMSC meeting then?

        Prepostorous, what about travel plans for people actually wanting to go to a race, planned concerts etc.
        What are the FIA trying to do, do they think the hole dug up is not yet big enough?

        1. Some kind of scorched earth tactic to get rid of visitors for India (knowing Bahrain won’t happen?) – India has already found unfixable (within a year) faults of the grandstand buckling variety, so better to not have any visitors at the race and have it all VIPs and the television?

          Weird stuff – we had a period of seeming sanity under Todt, but now we are back to the normal inconsistent and seemingly arbitrary FIA we knew was still there, behind the facade?

          1. HounslowBusGarage
            9th June 2011, 14:55

            Bosyber, where did you read about the grandstand problems? And when were JayPee aware of the problem?

        2. An extraordinary WMSC meeting would take 5 weeks to convene; I’m not sure if there’s a scheduled one before then.

        3. Didn’t they announce that Metallica were headlining the Indian GP afterconcert?

          They wouldn’t be a cheap band to cancel on…

  7. The last line,

    “According to the FIA’s International Sporting Code, changes to the calendar must have the support of all the teams.”

    may cause issues, Ross Brawn has already said he doesn’t want it running into December, saying that it’s not unlike for anybody to change their minds in F1.

    1. And Autosport has an interview with Adam Parr stating that Williams will not support a change to the calendar on the basis of logistics – not just for the teams, but for fans who, as he says, have booked a 2 week holiday in India to coincide with the GP on 30th October only to be told actually the race will be a month and a half later.

      1. I was about to post the same interview, its understandable, on a lot of F1 websites i’ve seen many comments of people who have spent (a lot) of money travelling to India for the Grand Prix which they cannot refund.

  8. why Bahrain just can’t wait till next year or maybe Buddh international circuit not really ready for 30th oct?

    1. i seriously doubt that the indian gp will be ready for october, just think about was a debacle the commonwealth games were http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/jennymccartney/8025052/This-Commonwealth-Games-debacle-wounds-the-pride-of-India.html

      1. Its been said time and again. I will repeat. organizers of the CWG are not the same as the Buddh circuit. They are far more competent. Judging by yesterday’s pics from the circuit, the track is almost complete just needs a bit of tidying up. May be, just may be the roof won’t be on time. But, we Indians don’t mind a bit of sun…

        1. To be honest.. I got a little insider info from a friend working for the Jaypee group (company responsible for the construction and hosting of the event), and they had serious doubts about getting the circuit ready in time for the race anyways.

          To people living in India it comes as no surprise that the circuit isn’t ready. If they have the circuit ready and running for the race in 2014, I think they would have done a pretty good job by Indian standards.

        2. @Sijs – Can you give a link to these new photos? I have been working in construction for 8 years so would like to see for myself how much is left to be done.

          1. skyscrapercity thread And the 10 pages before that one. Keith mentioned them in yesterday’s round-up too.

            Sadly, at the moment, the guys (free?) photobucket bandwith seems to have been exhausted by people looking at the pics, see the last few post there. But hopefully that resolves soon.

            The pics are quite interesting, but hard to judge (for me, not being in construction), so it would be nice to have someone with more knowledge comment on them.

          2. someone loaded the pictures onto facebook now.

          3. here is a link to that facebook page.

  9. As much as I would love a Grand Prix on my birthday this is getting beyond a joke now. No one wants Bahrain apart from Todt and the Bahrain GP organisers so why should the Indian Grand Prix be moved.

    1. I want Bahrain GP – at end of the calendar. Switching Indian GP from 30. October is very rude against people.

      Rescheduling Bahrain to end of season – 50/50 – if no one will watch it anyway (as everyone here is a saint) + judging by Vettel performance everything will be clear at that point – it won’t harm to race there.

      1. The teams have said it will harm them by forcing their staff to work on the 2011 season until almost Christmas giving them essentially no break before next season’s work starts.

        If the championship is decided and nobody is going to watch then you are saying the FIA should schedule an expensive and pointless race purely for your entertainment alone. Well I can’t see the teams voting against that for a second.

        1. Aren’t all of the races expensive, and arguably pointless? Only held for the entertainment of the fans? If so, then yes lets have Bahrain as well.

          1. Mark Hitchcock
            9th June 2011, 16:50

            No. They’re held to make money for the teams and CVC. The sport is a business, and as such it’s the money, not the entertainment, that matters most to a lot of the people involved.

            And in that respect you’d think some of the teams might want/need an extra GP at the end of the year in order to move up in the constructor’s championship and win themselves a larger stake in the profits.

  10. Is this the most optimistic use of the word ‘confirm’ in history?

  11. What with all the Tilke clones around the world why don’t they hold two races in India, call one of them the Bahrain gp, and see if anyone notices?

    1. Maybe hold 20 GP at Jerez and just switch names?

      1. I wouldn’t mind a race every week of the year at Spa…

  12. can we please just focus on the racing again? Just cancel Bahrain already, see if it can come back next year. The more I think of it the more it seems this was all how FIA and Bernie wanted it to play out: ‘We want to go to Bahrain ,but the teams don’t. Sorry, we still love you but our hands are tied.’ Cowards. Bahrain’s rulers are shooting themselves in the foot wanting F1 back this year as a PR coup so they can keep saying ‘All is normal in Bahrain’. They are so careful to avoid scrutiny by the press yet attract all this attention to them by clinging onto the GP. It isn’t all normal in Bahrain, it may indeed be calm now, but it will only be normal when protesters are out of jail, get their jobs back,when the army is in their barracks, the Saudis back home, and the police carrying on normal duties not anti riots.

  13. Got to consider the Brazillian GP organisers aswell, they’ve probably advertised their race to sponsers and indeed fans as the “season finale” which is quite a big selling point. Probably won’t matter to much given Vettel’s probably going to have the championship wrapped up well and truly by then. I don’t know about you guys but I like the idea of the relaxed, warm, fun Australian GP opener, and the party, atmosphere packed Brazillian GP finale. These Tilke tracks with low, seemingly uninterested fans just seems like a let down too me.

    1. Couldn’t have put it better myself!

  14. Two things whether they will host the Bahrain GP or may be the Indian GP won’t be on time to stage the race.

  15. I bet this confirmation will be overturned in precisely 7 days, does anyone else wan’t to make a prediction?

    1. 6 days 17 hours 33 minutes and 42 seconds…

    2. I confirm that the FIA’s confirmation will be prelinarily unconfirmed subject to the confirmation of the relevant confirming parties confirming they confirm.

      I should apply for a job at the FIA… ;)

  16. I like how the drivers can get penalized for putting the sport into disrepute, yet the F.I.A can get away with things like this!

    1. I think that’s the teams actually, but good point!

  17. In the aftermath of the WMSC meeting, Jean Todt had an opportunity to show his hand. He could’ve made clear that the FIA revised calender is not definitive (or as PM says: ‘a proposal’).

    Also, he could’ve included advice for the fans in his communication. Like, what to do if you already booked a ticket (‘wait until after the teams response’).

    And of course he should’ve included a timeline in his communications.

    At least

    “let’s say that for the moment, it’s official”

    is a new hallmark for bad communications.

    …and this is only the aftermath. In the next round of approvals for Jean on this site, we can see how many F1Fanatics actually work for the FIA, because I cannot imagine anyone else approving…that is, except for some usual suspects from Bahrain…

    1. Well, I can’t see those approving either, seeing how muddles and without leadership the FIA handled this – I think, while some might be happy that the race isn’t already cancelled, this lack of clarity is bad for everyone.

  18. If a company was being run like this then the directors would get fired. Simple as. Its a shambles and unltimately Todt has to bear the responsibility

  19. The FIA could set a date for ‘The Moon GP’ on the 32nd Juneuary 2010 if they wanted. Doesn’t mean FOTA will turn up! ;)

  20. One can understand if this was just the product of Bernie, but to have the FIA complicit in this fiasco is just pathetic. I assumed Todt was making sensible, even if not always appealing decisions, but this one is just outright crazy.

  21. if vettle wins the next two races bahrain and india wont matter cos wats the point of watchin wen hes won alredy……..like i stoped watchin shuie win toooooo easy…in my op.f1 is getting boring i dnt look forward to the races wen one team is to dominant…….its not good

  22. This was surely just the next step in a quite logical process.

    The FIA politically had to say it was safe to race in Bahrain, the place has come out of its state of emergency and they sent someone to look around who came back reporting that life was back to normal and that safety was not a concern (we all read the leaked document i assume) The FIA couldnt then turn round and say no we are not coming back.

    So they announced their “solution” at the council meeting which was to move india and re instate Bahrain based on their findings.

    The FIA is a “Political” organisation, whether we like it or not, with a lot of influences and power around the world in what it does both in and away from motorsport. For them to declare a country unsafe to race in after it has pretty much been declared safe by everyone apart from the protestors would not have looked good.

    So they made their announchement.

    Next it is onto the teams, who in the regulations have to approve this particular set of in season changes. We all know they will say no, as probably did the FIA well in advance.

    This official announcement of India on the 11th of December is as far as im concerned the next step in the process that seems to have to be followed. No doubt the teams will meet, vote, say no, and it will all be put back to how it was a week ago.

  23. Well, the FIA website also has the two letters from FOTA and the response from the FIA:

    http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/pressreleases/f1releases/2011/Pages/fia-fota-090611.aspx

    Todt is asking Ecclestone to repropose a schedule in his e-mailed response to FOTA (cc to Ecclestone and Alzayani.

    1. Sorry, two letters, one from FOTA and the response …

      1. Why don’t we get to see the Concorde agreement I wonder. or does anyone know where to find it?. Thanks but i don’t need guesses.

  24. That now makes it a horribly long season! I just like every F1 fan wants as much racing a possible but even we need a break, I hate the feeling that there is no F1 for the next couple of months but makes it all the sweeter when March comes round again! Theme parks open, Weather turns warmer and F1 racing begins!
    Its scary to think that I will be watching the Indian GP with the comfort of my Christmas tree and log fire!

    P.S. I dont know where to ask this, so I will ask it now!
    Why is it that we assosiate most motorsports with the start lights RED RED RED…GREEN (GO) Yet on Moto GP and F1 its RED RED RED RED RED…OFF (GO) I have always wondered that, it seems to make no sense considering everyone thinks a starting grip is the green light for go?

    1. HounslowBusGarage
      9th June 2011, 21:05

      Hmmm.
      Perhaps it’s to accommodate any drivers who are colour blind, not that I’m sure that there have been any.
      I suspect that the whole logic is that if a driver/rider sees a light up there, it will be red and it will mean he cannot race yet. If he’s got a coloured visor he won’t have to decide whether it’s red or green, the presence of any light on the gantry will just mean ‘Stop’.
      Now it’s my turn for trivial questioning. If you download the Indian circuit plan (above), and zoom in tight, you can read that the start/finish straight is 693 m long. This would make the back straight between Turns 3 and 4 about 1300 m long.
      Now, if you look at turn 4 there is a track section that goes to a very tight radius corner and a track layout that follows a much loser corner to the inside. The red ‘racing line’ track follows the inside corner layout which is much less demanding.
      Does that indicate that the GP track will be the inside layout with the less acute corner? If so, why? Is it a run-off consideration? If the GP track is the inside layout, the people in Temporary Stand East 3 will be at least 250 metres from the action. Not something I’d want to pay for. The same seems to be happening at Turns 10 and 11 (looks a bit like Turn 8 at Istanbul reversed), is the inside track for the Grand Prix or the outside?

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