F1 is going to screw up Memorial Day weekend

It's been tradition for decades: Monaco in the morning, Indy in the afternoon, NASCAR at night. A full day of motorsports, BBQ, a moment of silence, and adult beverages.

But in 2026, Monaco will move into June and it's likely that Montreal will be in the May slot. So this means that the Montreal GP and the Indy 500 will be on at the same time.

Bummer.

 

Wait until F1 sees how many viewers they loose. Honestly, F1 is a series of very fast parade laps these days. There is better racing in amateur SpecMiata racing.

 

You also got the 24 hour at LeMans in June too.

 

Yes but Le Mans will still be mid or late June so a couple of weeks after these races and will not be affected.

Years ago it fell at the same time as the Canadian GP and I recall watching the GP in in the 1990's in the huge press room at Le Mans on Sunday evening, hours after the 24 hours had finished while working on my notes.

 

This year LeMans and the Canadian GP are on the same weekend again.

 

These are big events and many will watch all. Hightlight options abound as so many races are 80% in F1 tyre management/not exciting. I see no major problem. F1 has more than enough fans to endure a schedule conflict.

 

Well, most of the world don´t watch Indycar or NASCAR, nor even know what the memorial day is, so I´d say this is not F1´s biggest problem at this moment.

 

Interesting they would make this move. The only advantage is that its less likely in the rainy season in Monaco. But usually the Cannes film festival was held the week before Monaco so the celebs would stay a week and see the race.

I recorded the Memorial day races anyway and saw them on delay.

 

Exactly. Can someone tell us what is MEMORIAL DAY before I look it up on Wikipedia ?

 

It is celebrated for those who have died in military service in peacetime or wartime roles.

 

It's like our Rememberance Day in UK then.

 

Yes. It’s supposed to be, but our observance probably isn’t as solemn as yours tends to be. And many Americans think it means the same as Veterans Day, which it does not.

 

I seem to recall when Mario was in F1, dashing back and forth between Europe and Indy in May. I think Penske did the same. It was quite a challenge pre- intercontinental private aircraft.

…or did I imagine all that?

 

True, Mario juggled between Monaco and Indy several times in the 80's, a lot more challenging than those nascrap kids doing the Indy 500 and some redneck taxicab race in the south the same day.