2009 F1 Calendar **major changes**

Nice! Suzuka is back.

 

+1!

-1 to no Canada/US GP's.

I thought British GP was moving to Donington?

 

no France, Montreal & Germany bah yuk! Its all Arab Oil money driven now.

 

They changed their minds--they moved it to Bangladesh instead...

Seriously, any doubts about the future of F1? 17 races, and 8 of them are:

Malaysia
China
Bahrain
Turkey
Hungary
Singapore
Japan
Abu Dhabi

 

9 races in Europe (incl. Hungary and Turkey, which are part of the EU), including Nurburgring.

2 in the Middle East (Bahrain and Abu Dhabi)

some of the Asian races should go, yes, but this is still a Euro-centric championship.

 

Splitting up races in Asia? Wouldn't it cut costs on travel expenses and things if they kept them together?

 

I consider Turkey to be borderline Euro/East. Bernie keeps pushing deeper into Asia, but the races all seem to become tenuous. I haven't heard anything about Malaysia lately--they were in bad shape last year but don't seem to be in the crosshairs despite almost non-existent ticket sales. When that race started, Petronas looked poised to take over the world between its sponsorships and the towers. They've definitely downplayed that initial presence. China seems to be reconsidering the values of losing money on a GP. I have heard Bahrain is a little iffy. The thing is, despite the "new world economies" chatter, those are the major-market Eastern races besides Japan. If those can't bring in money, and assuming the governments don't subsidize them, then what? Will Singapore really be able to afford a Formula 1 race years into the future? Doubt it.

 

There is a German GP: Nuerburgring

Nothing has changed in that regard: Hockenheim and Nuerburgring alternate (they have been since MS' retirement). 2010 would be Hockenheim again, but they are trying to get out of the contract. At that point there wouldn't be a German GP. At least not in Hockenheim, possibly however at Nuerburgring.

 

the only positive thing is, Suzuka is back!

 

Uh...isn't Suzuka rotating with Fuji like the two German tracks or am I confusing it for something else?

 

You are correct, except Hockenheim is now dead, they cannot afford Bernie's hostage money anymore. So Germany will no longer rotate tracks in the future, now Nurburgring is concerned that they cannot afford to lose money every year on F1, only every other. Interesting times we live in...

 

Sweet! Love Suzuka, too bad the rest of the calendar is quickly turning to crap.

 

+1, I may be missing something here, but how impressive is it for these countries that are spending huge $ to bring a race to their country to promote it to the rest of the world and they have extreme difficulty in filling even 50% of the grandstand seats? Empty grandstands coupled with the troubled world economy could make some of these countries regret their deal with the devils (Porno Max and the Greedy Midget). As venues continue to lose money and this track record becomes far too obvious for other countries to ignore, downward pressure on the fees to hold a race must surely be in the offing. Hopefully F1 can return to venues that supported the sport with great attendence and fervor and offered exciting racing such as Montreal, Imola and Silverstone.

 

Hell yes! +100

 

They should really have two Japanese GPs I like both tracks too much

 

Why oh why can't they kill off Hungary. It's the most pedestrian, least interesting, dullest, most boring race of the entire year. How Hungary can be considered a suitable venue and Canada cannot is beyond me. Bernie needs to go - he is slowly but surely destroying the sport with this ridiculous $ fueled game of calendar musical chairs and his attempts to mess around with the most basic fundamentals of the scoring system. Enough.

 

+1000000000000000000000000000000000 to get rid of Hungary!

 

Isn't this the calender that was announced and discussed here two months ago ?

 

But no Hockenheim. Just watch Bernie will deep six Monte Carlo next and then Monza.

 

What I dont understand is how Hungary which IMO is the worst track, is still on the schedule.

 

Hockenheim is not the same without the old circuit anyway. That was one of my favorite races, alongside Spa-Francorchamps. Now, it's just another circuit.

 

Money.


~Seriously, i'm absolutely confident that if michigan speedway (whatever the name of those circeley are) calls up bernie and names a large number, the F1 circus will actually race there.