No more Canadian GP

[Fergie1]

People are harsh on races like Bahrain and China and even Turkey now. They blame the middle east as soon as we lose a good race but all of the Tilke non street circuits have provided great overtaking races. Money it maybe for Bernie buts its unfair too say the tracks are c**p.

[AzShadow]

I agree. I don't understand the criticism towards Bahrain or some other tracks. New Tilke non street circuits have provided good races and they are much better than many of the traditional tracks like Monza, Monaco or Hungaroring imo. I don't really care when old circuits get dropped out if they need rain or safety car to bring action for most of the time.

[phil1993]

I think the track is OK (Bahrain) but it lacks atmosphere and scenery (except for the big tower)

[Fergie1]

Well you can't expect much in the bottom of the Island as in Bahrain it is desert there, nothing but a Sheikh's house and a access road, but I can tell you for a fact in the city they have F1 ads all around the city even plastered down the sides of the skyscrapers. It won't have atmosphere in the first 4 years but on race day's crowds have gone up for all the races. (Bahrain, China, Turkey.)

[syncmaster]

People blaming Asian tracks is bad.I think people are thinking that Asia which use to be in nothing is now getting every thing

[Fergie1]

People blaming Asian tracks is bad.I think people are thinking that Asia which use to be in nothing is now getting every thing

Exactly what I think.

[swca92]

Bahrain's not bad,you get overtaking and there's lots of retirements,which makes for good racing.Its tracks like Barcelona,Hungary and Valencia that need to go.And anyway the 5 races in Asia (Bahrain,Malaysia,Singapore,Japan and next year Abu Dhabi) aren't bad.All of them have,I think,more pro's than con's

[AzShadow]

I think the track is OK (Bahrain) but it lacks atmosphere and scenery (except for the big tower)

Sure, it depends on what people are looking for when watching GP weekends. Many people like the glamour in Monaco etc that kind of stuff and expect places to be shiny and so on. For me it's just the racing that matters and that's why I'm not really into the "night races at street circuits with fancy lights" system.

[iceman1]

R5L suggesting Canadian GP being dropped has something to do with the local elections

[Sanredrose]

Being critical about Turkey & China is not fair. I too agree that F1 should drop boring tracks, but that doesn't mean that they can take away tracks which provided some kind of action ! Canada was one among them. Indy may be justified in being cast away since it looked more like a oval rather than being a race track & FIA's notorious decision at 2005 Indy, sent F1 reviews plummeting down in USA.

I don't think any logical reason has been found as to why they dropped Canada from calendar. If they are going to talk about Summer break, i would probably ask FIA to cast away one of the Spanish GP's. Do we need Barcelona & Valencia both on the calendar ? Nah i don't think so !

I was critical about Bahrain because of some issues with the track and its surrounding. Flush green trees and big building are not my priority of horizon since i don't think it matters to racing in anyway. The run off areas provided in that track, i don't know what it is made off, but its definitely seems lacking in terms of offering resistance to any speeding car heading towards barriers ! Hamilton's spin in FP2 was an example of how he was coasting after spinning before turn 6 or 7 (not sure). They should do some more work on that aspect. Overtaking is not very much a possible element in Bahrain. Tilke probably believed that two hairpins would create interesting scenario in racing but at the first two rows it simply makes no impact ! The same compared with Malaysia, the first 2 turns are quite adventurous to watch ! In my opinion Bahrain seems to be lacking in terms of genuine overtaking spots ...

Its a little too early to judge Singapore & Valencia at this time. Singapore can also turn into a boring a night race, but the susceptibility to make mistakes is still high in Singapore than in Valencia. Just for a change, why not try night racing in Valencia ?

[AzShadow]

I don't think any logical reason has been found as to why they dropped Canada from calendar. If they are going to talk about Summer break, i would probably ask FIA to cast away one of the Spanish GP's. Do we need Barcelona & Valencia both on the calendar ? Nah i don't think so !

The Canadian GP organizers are reportedly about 10-20 million dollars in debt to FIA so it looks like it was about financial reasons.

[Arrows_F1]

I don't think any logical reason has been found as to why they dropped Canada from calendar. If they are going to talk about Summer break, i would probably ask FIA to cast away one of the Spanish GP's. Do we need Barcelona & Valencia both on the calendar ? Nah i don't think so !

The Canadian GP organizers are reportedly about 10-20 million dollars in debt to FIA so it looks like it was about financial reasons.

Didn't expect something else. Of course it was about financial matters... it's always about financial matters

[Sanredrose]

I don't think any logical reason has been found as to why they dropped Canada from calendar. If they are going to talk about Summer break, i would probably ask FIA to cast away one of the Spanish GP's. Do we need Barcelona & Valencia both on the calendar ? Nah i don't think so !

The Canadian GP organizers are reportedly about 10-20 million dollars in debt to FIA so it looks like it was about financial reasons.

Didn't expect something else. Of course it was about financial matters... it's always about financial matters

Pretty true - Arrows_F1 - with Bernie around its always about Money !!

[AzShadow]

Canada GP organizers issue statement re Ecclestone comments

Following comments made by Bernie Ecclestone at the weekend regarding the Canadian Grand Prix, the organizers have issued the following:

Contrary to allegations made by Bernie Ecclestone regarding money owed by Grand Prix F1 du Canada for past hosting rights, the organizers of the Canadian Round of the Formula 1 World Championship would like to make clear that Mr. Ecclestone has received and accepted the terms of payment that were fully agreed to for the 2006 and 2007 events. According to Paul Wilson, Vice-President Marketing Grand Prix du Canada: "It is totally untrue to suggest that our organization has defaulted on payments owed for the past three years."

As reported this past week, Mr. Wilson continued: "It is true that we have a commercial disagreement regarding our monetary obligations, but only for 2008. This is the result of an historical difference within the contractual understanding between the two parties. We were working hard to resolved the matter in order to meet our 2008 obligations when Mr. Ecclestone, without notice, surprised everyone by unilaterally dropping the Canadian Grand Prix from the 2009 FIA schedule last October 7.

"We believe that it is important to shed the light on this matter and to clarify any allegations that could tarnish the reputation of our organization. We do not accept that the integrity of the Grand Prix du Canada should be called into question, when it is evident that the table is being set for new negotiations with different levels of the Canadian government," concluded Mr. Wilson.

[Ali]

And what is more:

The suggestion about a breach of contract intensified after McLaren boss Ron Dennis suggested on Sunday that teams had lost their faith in the race orgainsers.

I won't give you the exact figure but they did not fulfil their contractual obligations in 2007," explained Dennis. "There was a carry over which was a concession given for 2008, and there was an assurance by the Montreal government that they would stand behind the 2007 figure and the 2008 figure - and that was something confirmed on the Sunday morning of the grand prix.

"But that money, which is north of 20 million dollars, is not forthcoming. When you talk about trust. The trust is, if you have a contract and Montreal has a contract for another two years, we will adhere to the contract they have. But you cannot write a contract and say you come and race and we are only going to pay you half of what the contract says.

"There was a concession made for 2007 and there is a concession made for 2008. When someone lets you down once, you don't race again. And we were assured by the government that the promotional obligations would be honoured and endorsed by the government. Well, they haven't been and, as of late as last week, the government was trying to rectify the situation. Well fine, rectify it, but realise this time around that the trust has gone. Before you want to sit and talk, pay us the money you owe us.