Fireworks, but No Racing in Canada
Not for the first time, the F1 world is facing a problem with transparency. Yesterday a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council was held in Paris and those present agreed on a number of points that were scheduled to be discussed. None of this came as a huge surprise, but what has knocked the F1 world sideways is an update to the 2009 calendar that casually drops the Canadian Grand Prix.
Whilst there are no doubt reasons for the FIA dropping the race, the problem is no-one has any information as to what they might be. A quick scan of the official press release that followed the meeting actually makes no mention, it only provides a revised 2009 calendar without giving reason for the omission of a significant part of its timetable.
The subsequent reaction around the web has been entirely predictable given that one of the best races on the calendar has suddenly vanished, and now the sport has no presence in North America. As a result of the lack of information, every man has his dog have been blamed, most of them probably unfairly, but when there’s nothing to work with what else can people do?
It’s almost as if the FIA is deliberately trying to court controversy, as if they revel in lighting the blue touch paper and watching the resulting fireworks.
Regardless, it looks as though the race is indeed history as far as 2009 is concerned. The website Grandprix.com suggests that the issue might be related to non-payment of fees. While the organisers of the race issued the following statement:
Canada have learned via the media of the omission of the Grand Prix of Canada from the F1 Championship 2009 calendar. Therefore, the organization will issue no comment until having spoken to Formula One Management (FOM) and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
Make of that what you will, and no doubt the facts will become clearer once journalists have had chance to do some digging on their arrival in Fuji.
The race may well return in 2010, it took a hiatus for a year in ‘87 and still made it back, but in the meantime the dedicated and put-upon fans across the Atlantic are without a race and the Formula 1 World Championship is looking about as International as the World Series.
October 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pmJourneyer said:
Don’t be cruel! F1 regularly visits at least 4 continents a year, and they’ve visited 6 out of the 7 since they’ve started. All that is more than you can say for the World Series - they’ve stuck with just 1 continent for the last century or two!
October 8th, 2008 at 2:32 pmDom said:
We never should have gone there in the first place. Montreal was all about the money from start to finish. The Canadian fans are put to shame by the masses of Bahrani and Malaysian F1 fans who turn up to watch their incredibly exciting and action-packed races, in countries that are truly deserving and dedicated to F1.
Oh wait, that’s not right…
October 8th, 2008 at 2:36 pmme said:
hehe, fair enough, but it could easily be the formula 1 asia championship before long.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:28 pmStuart C said:
By all accounts, part of this comes down to who pays the freight costs (it used to be shared with Indianapolis).
Shall we nix this silliness from the start? Who reckons that an F1 venue that broadcasts to Europe in primetime will actually be axed? This smacks of gamesmanship.
In other news, McLaren’s team manager won’t be going to China – he’s one of the many visa casualties.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:48 pmRed in "off the calendar" Canada said:
We’ll find out more this afternoon…
“Montreal F1 race fans can expect a clearer explanation as to why their city was dropped from Grand Prix’s 2009 schedule as local race officials meet the press Wednesday afternoon.
Paul Wilson, vice-president of marketing for the Grand Prix du Canada, is scheduled to meet reporters at 4:30 p.m. today to explain where Montreal stands in the world of F1 racing.”
That’s 9:30 pm in the UK. I’ll post what’s said later on this evening.
October 8th, 2008 at 5:51 pmme said:
it does, but if it’s gamesmanship that involves money, can anyone afford to pay?
uh-oh. you did warn ‘em though. i guess if they stayed on in singapore there’s absolutely nothing they could do?
October 8th, 2008 at 5:52 pmme said:
thank you red, appreciate you keeping us posted.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:48 pmAlex Andronov said:
My guess is that Canada said that they wanted more money because they were now the only North American race. And Bernie is saying “Sorry no”.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:02 pmDan Brunell said:
The news of no race in Canada next year just makes me sick and angry. I was planning to go next year to make up for last year. All for not now. I know I am partisan, but this is horrible for Formula One. Really, what does that say to the hundreds of thousands of fans that showed up in Montreal every hot July to watch the race? Jordan and the rest of the Canadian F1 fan; I feel very sorry. You didn’t deserve it.
I don’t get Bernie’s play. He speaks up on behalf of sponsors when the head of the governing body embarrasses the sport by his involvement but when they demand a race in North America where many of these same sponsors and manufactures have their largest stakes, he ignores them for the small profit gained by a race where nobody or no sponsors reside. Really, the manufactures and sponsors really need speak up about this. More then half of most of their markets cannot see their premiere motorsport activity. How is this good for them and the sport?
October 8th, 2008 at 11:13 pmme said:
technically bernie has yet to say anything. it’s likely that he’s at least partly behind it, but blaming him is unfair at the moment.
the lack of a USGP is all his fault mind you.
very, very bad.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:40 pmRed in said:
Well it looks like a done deal for 2009
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/racing/wires/10/08/3010.ap.car.f1.canadian.gp.0330/
Maybe i’ll send Christine an email after I’ve processed it all. Good to see the feds didn’t run screaming. We’ve got an election here Oct 14 so Harper’s got the F1 vote.
October 8th, 2008 at 11:45 pmRed in Canada said:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/racing/wires/10/08/3010.ap.car.f1.canadian.gp.0330/
Not sure the link is working. Its at http://www.cnnsi.com
October 8th, 2008 at 11:52 pmme said:
cheers red. so legault just bailed? he’s clearly categorically wrong, because the british gp isn’t state funded.
still think the whole thing could’ve been handled in a far more sensible way though.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:10 amStuart C said:
Ah, typical. Well, if they want the government to bail them out they’ll have to join the queue…
October 9th, 2008 at 12:45 amJeremy said:
I love the race in Canada. It is often held around the time of my birthday, which is usually a long weekend here in Australia.
Am I being naive in thinking that perhaps the track breaking up seemingly every year has anything to do with this?
October 9th, 2008 at 12:48 amme said:
in the end it all comes down to money, but the organisers went out their way this year to source decent asphalt and have it installed by experienced hands. after it again broke up, all they got was a slap in the face and a snarky comment from brundle.
October 9th, 2008 at 12:57 amAlianora La Canta said:
Maybe. But it would probably not have been the deciding factor - the true reason is bound to be someone wanting an excess of power and/or money.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:02 amSteven Roy said:
I think Brundle’s comments were fair. The track surface was a disgrace and trying to sort it during the meeting in this day and age is unacceptable. Thye should have had a severe warning from the FIA but they should not have lost the race.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:06 amme said:
true. i’d imagine there’s probably not a lot else that can be done though if they really went to the lengths that were suggested.
maybe the land is just sinking? maybe it’s fighting a losing battle against the forces of nature / global warming.
still if that’s the case then bridgestone’s forward thinking initiatives will save ‘em for sure.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:17 amJordan Allen said:
The big problem with Montreal is that the Morons in the FIA have the race too early. This is Montreal. You can expect 217.5 cm of snow from September 1st to May 31st of the next year each season. That’s an average of 6.6 feet or just over 6 feet, 6 inches of snow.
What happened last year was unusual. Montreal was hit with 371.4 cm of snow. That’s over 12 feet! And it stayed all winter, which in Montreal, ends on June 1st. The race started a week later. It would not surprize me that eh ground underneath was still frozen solid and just begin to melt when the race started and then the ground an track surface started to buckle from the ice expanding into water.
All of this can be fixed by having the Canadian Grand Prix be later in the month of June.
This is the site that I found out about my snowfall for previoous years in Montreal. I remember cursing that I could go to Montreal becasue School was still in session and that was when it is the 2nd weekend of June.
http://www.criacc.qc.ca/climat/suivi/neige_e.html
October 9th, 2008 at 10:42 amme said:
two more for ya:
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/dazzling
http://drop.io/sidepodcast/asset/resplendent
October 9th, 2008 at 1:16 pmJourneyer said:
How about the F1 teams bailing them out?
So says Autosport.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71237
October 9th, 2008 at 1:31 pmme said:
that’s a dumb thing to do:
- bernie pays teams money for competing
- teams pay canada to stay on the calendar
- canada pays bernie for the right to race
the only winner is bernie. man we’re in the wrong line of business.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:41 pmSteven Roy said:
The Silverstone race had similar problems a few years ago Jordan. For no sensible reason it was switched from its traditional July date to April. It rains a lot in April so the car parks looked like the Somme. The FIA then threatened to take the race away as Silverstone had failed to provide good enough car parking. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out why you can park in a field in England in July but not in April and it sounds like Montreal’s problem is equally clear to anyone with the basic information.
October 9th, 2008 at 1:43 pmSteven Roy said:
I hope no-one sees this race as their first ever F1 race. Can you imagine the questions you would have to answer if a newbie was watching?
October 9th, 2008 at 1:44 pmme said:
am sure allen has that covered
October 9th, 2008 at 1:53 pmStuart C said:
Interesting thought. I’m convinced that a solution will be found somehow. The Canadian GP is in primetime for the UK and Europe and is a massively popular destination (unlike where we’re going next weekend).
October 9th, 2008 at 1:56 pmRed in Canada said:
Hope springs eternal…
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71237
October 9th, 2008 at 2:22 pmJourneyer said:
Wow, whoever would’ve thought the word ‘bailout’ would be such a buzzword this year? Hee.