12/03/24
October 07, 2008
Canadian Grand Prix dropped: In a stunning move that caught the event's organizers off guard, the Canadian Grand Prix was dropped from the 2009 Formula One calendar on Tuesday.
FIA, the governing body of auto racing, ratified its calendar for the coming season and omitted the Canadian race, which was first held in 1967. It's the first time since 1987 that the Canadian Grand Prix won't be on the F1 schedule.
posted by tommytrump to auto racing at 02:08 PM - 3 comments
Unbelievable. Let me guess, another Asian or Middle Eastern GP in it's place. Thanks Bernie. Pretty soon this won't be a true World Championship anymore because there won't be any races left in North America or Europe. The Canadian race has always been one of the best on the schedule.
Let's see what happens to F1 when some of it's major sponsors start deciding they can no longer throw money at the sport due to the current state of the world's economy, which in large part was created by the greed of people like Eccelstone.
posted by eccsport78 at 10:15 PM on October 07, 2008
LOL! Thanks Bismarck:)
This decision is all down to the dollars I think, and the fact is it will save the teams a fair old chunk of change not coming over here for just ONE race. I fear this is a symptom of the increasing demand for races, and the Indy issue. Of course, playing fantasy GP booking, they could move Canada to later in the year and have it as a stop on the way over to Asia.
Indy is supposed to be back in 2010. I would imagine Canada will return then. Of course we're at 18 races for next year with neither Canada or the US on the calendar. Quite what that means for the future I'm not sure. Particular with India having a GP, and Russia working on getting one. Take a look folks. All those European races... Enjoy while they last. This is just the beginning of the very heart and soul being ripped out of F1.
What galls me more than anything is the fact that Montreal has a great circuit, always throws up an interesting race, and it's gone, whereas the horrifically dull Magny Cours got their GP BACK after Bernie said they were done. Not to mention we're still visiting the pitiful Hungaroring. And that hideous Barcelona atrocity. Throw in the other Tilke created garbage... Really, we're down to two classic circuits in F1 now. Spa and Monza. (Sorry, can't in good conscience include Silverstone as it's NOT remotely the same as it was 20 years ago. Ergo it can't be a classic.)
Clearly the entertainment a circuit provides doesn't factor in anything. If it did, Magny Cours, the Hungaroring... They all would have been erased from existence as F1 venues in the mid 90's. (And to be quite honest I think we should nuke the sites from orbit, just to be safe.)
It's absolutely stunning, though, to see Canada dropped. Certainly nothing I've read even suggested this was coming, except for some remarks after the hairpin track surface issues this year. There were vague rumbling then, but really you can only see them with the benefit of hindsight now.
What worries me now is that Tilke will be bought in to "reprofile" (AKA ruin completely) the circuit to get the GP back, just like the no talent arse did with Fuji.
Very sad, but given Bernie's greed, not at all surprising.:(
posted by Drood at 03:25 AM on October 08, 2008
Cue Drood explosion in 5... 4... 3...