French Grand Prix to return?

[FullMetalJack]

Hermann Tilke tracks just get more and more boring.
Malaysia, and the new hockenheim are the exceptions in the f1 calendar this year (is china tilke) if bernie has his way the majority of the races will be on boring tracks in far flung places

Yeah China is a Tilke one as well. The only other good Tilke circuits that you didn't mention are Istanbul Park and A1-Ring.

[pasta_maldonado]

Hermann Tilke tracks just get more and more boring.
Malaysia, and the new hockenheim are the exceptions in the f1 calendar this year (is china tilke) if bernie has his way the majority of the races will be on boring tracks in far flung places

Yeah China is a Tilke one as well. The only other good Tilke circuits that you didn't mention are Istanbul Park and A1-Ring.

Its a shame Turkey didnt have enough money fof Bernie's back pocket as it was a good race. The A1 Ring was good, don't know why it was dropped in the first place (money?)

[Wizzie]

Hermann Tilke tracks just get more and more boring.
Malaysia, and the new hockenheim are the exceptions in the f1 calendar this year (is china tilke) if bernie has his way the majority of the races will be on boring tracks in far flung places

Yeah China is a Tilke one as well. The only other good Tilke circuits that you didn't mention are Istanbul Park and A1-Ring.

Its a shame Turkey didnt have enough money fof Bernie's back pocket as it was a good race. The A1 Ring was good, don't know why it was dropped in the first place (money?)

If the circuit was in say, the UAE it'd be on the calendar forever more and nobody would question it

[Backmarker]

My 20-race calendar:

Australian Grand Prix - Albert Park
Albert Park has been a good opener for Formula One for years. Adelaide is a bit too short for modern F1, Surfers Paradise would be okay, but why fix what's not broken?
South African Grand Prix - Kyalami
Formula One is an international sport, let's have a race on each continent. Kyalami should be good, between that and Phakisa Freeway, Kyalami has the history behind it.
Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang
Having to red flag the grand prix every year because there's torrential rain is a little silly, but it produces good races, and is the best of the modern circuits.
Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai
Big market, buying up car firms like there's no tomorrow, some decent races, just need to fix turn 1-4.
Argentinian Grand Prix - Potrero de los Funes
Let's go back to Argentina, the home of Fangio, and have a race around a lake. Technically challenging, with elevation changes, it would have long lap times too.
Spanish Grand Prix - Jerez
Good circuit, silly that we've not been back because the mayor of Jerez presented a trophy he shouldn't have, forcing us to go to Catalunya and Valencia
Monaco Grand Prix - Monaco
Can't imagine F1 without it. If it wasn't so historic I wouldn't have any real desire to go there, but Monaco is F1.
Canadian Grand Prix - Montreal
Always good races there, love the Wall of Champions.
Portuguese Grand Prix - Portimao
Top class circuit, tragedy that it's only used for testing at the moment.
British Grand Prix - Silverstone
Would be nice if we could have the Bridge Circuit back, rather than the Arena, but Silverstone is the best British circuit.
German Grand Prix - Lausitzring
There needs to be a German Grand Prix, but Hockenheim is boring now you don't go through the forest, Nürburgring isn't great these days, let's try Lausitzring. Near Berlin, near Poland for Kubica fans, looks good in Formula Renault.
Belgian Grand Prix - Spa
Where else? The greatest circuit on the calendar.
French Grand Prix - Paul Ricard
Not the greatest track, but it is the best track in France. Will be great to see cars along the Mistral straight.
Turkish Grand Prix - Istanbul Park
Was a good race, shame it's gone because of money reasons.
Italian Grand Prix - Monza
A classic, but slightly damaged by losing the banking and being slowed down. Tempting to try Mugello, except for the advantage it would give Ferrari, but Monza is the Italian Grand Prix circuit, and always has been.
Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay
The Monaco of Asia, and a challenging circuit.
Indian Grand Prix - Buddh
Haven't seen enough to hate it yet.
American Grand Prix - Circuit of the Americas
There are other facilities in the USA that I would like to see races held at, but let's give COTA a chance before going to Road America or Watkins Glen or somewhere.
Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka
Tempting to have it at the end of the season, but I think Interlagos has been better. Produces good races though.
Brazilian Grand Prix - Interlagos
It needs its facilities updating, but other than that a fine track.

[DOSBoot]

Paul Richard is back!

[JeremyMcClean]

Sorry, but Autosport or it didn't happen. (It's surprisingly an accurate way of telling if anything is true.)

[Wizzie]

Sorry, but Autosport or it didn't happen. (It's surprisingly an accurate way of telling if anything is true.)

The link I posted is an Autosport article, you muppet

[FMecha]

I wonder why Brazil became last round nowadays. Why?

Sorry, but Autosport or it didn't happen. (It's surprisingly an accurate way of telling if anything is true.)

The link I posted is an Autosport article, you muppet

Why you call people 'muppet'?

[Shadaza]

The Turkish circuit was great. Does it deserve to be on the calender? No.

It never drew in crowds, the atmosphere was blank and the whole bridge between fly aways and Europe never really worked.

I don't think being a good circuit alone is good enough to secure your place on the grid, A circuit that fails to draw in 10,000 people should never have priority to circuits that have well over 100,000 people in attendance!

[East Londoner]

The link I posted is an Autosport article, you muppet

Why you call people 'muppet'?

Watch this thread descend into off-topic anarchy in 3, 2, 1...

[Shadaza]

The link I posted is an Autosport article, you muppet

Why you call people 'muppet'?

Watch this thread descend into off-topic anarchy in 3, 2, 1...

Williams, Jaguar, Minardi and everyone else on the grid plan to steal from BAR.

[pasta_maldonado]

The Turkish circuit was great. Does it deserve to be on the calender? No.

It never drew in crowds, the atmosphere was blank and the whole bridge between fly aways and Europe never really worked.

I don't think being a good circuit alone is good enough to secure your place on the grid, A circuit that fails to draw in 10,000 people should never have priority to circuits that have well over 100,000 people in attendance!

Based on that analogy, even if Bahrain attracted record number of spectators, would it deserve a place on the calendar? No. It'd still be boring, with just more people there

[mario]

The Turkish circuit was great. Does it deserve to be on the calender? No.

It never drew in crowds, the atmosphere was blank and the whole bridge between fly aways and Europe never really worked.

I don't think being a good circuit alone is good enough to secure your place on the grid, A circuit that fails to draw in 10,000 people should never have priority to circuits that have well over 100,000 people in attendance!

That argument is slightly precarious though - by that same reasoning, Spa Francorchamps could be struck off the calendar given the relatively poor attendance figures over the past few years. I believe that Spa struggled to sell much more than 45,000 tickets last year for race day, which was not significantly more than the Turkish GP was pulling in at the time it got the axe and a long way short of the sort of crowds that other European GP's pull in.

[AndreaModa]

The Turkish circuit was great. Does it deserve to be on the calender? No.

It never drew in crowds, the atmosphere was blank and the whole bridge between fly aways and Europe never really worked.

I don't think being a good circuit alone is good enough to secure your place on the grid, A circuit that fails to draw in 10,000 people should never have priority to circuits that have well over 100,000 people in attendance!

That argument is slightly precarious though - by that same reasoning, Spa Francorchamps could be struck off the calendar given the relatively poor attendance figures over the past few years. I believe that Spa struggled to sell much more than 45,000 tickets last year for race day, which was not significantly more than the Turkish GP was pulling in at the time it got the axe and a long way short of the sort of crowds that other European GP's pull in.

Bloody Belgians...about time they started putting their money where their mouths are!

[pasta_maldonado]

Bloody Belgians...about time they started putting their money where their mouths are!

They'd better, because if Spa is dropped, that means Bernie Ecclescake will feel like he can drop any track that he pleasest....The idea of the race alternating with France is just bad thinking. I mean, Paul Ricard's great, but Spa's better

[This]

Bloody Belgians...about time they started putting their money where their mouths are!

They'd better, because if Spa is dropped, that means Bernie Ecclescake will feel like he can drop any track that he pleasest....The idea of the race alternating with France is just bad thinking. I mean, Paul Ricard's great, but Spa's better

People who run Belgian autosport are just incompetent, as evidenced by the recent self-destruction of Belgian motorsport. Both the RACB and the indecision from politicians are problems, while Zolder is pretty much ignored by both. A shame really, they don't realise what impact Spa can have on the image of Belgium, because let's be honest, if it wasn't for Spa, nobody on this forum (except for tommy, obviously) would care about Belgium.
Also investors don't care the slightest bit about autosport.
Recently we've seen quite a lot of Belgian teams going the European route, that is mainly because they have no other way to go, rather than being ambitious.

And if Belgians put their money where their mouths are, it would be even worse...
It's a shame, i don't think many countries have so much potential, but also not many countries waste their potential like we do. At least we still have waffles.

[dinizintheoven]

It's a shame, i don't think many countries have so much potential, but also not many countries waste their potential like we do. At least we still have waffles.

And chips, and a shatteringly fine array of beers. Not forgetting the chocolate. And... Ardennes pâté! Now, what else...

[Backmarker]

It's a shame, i don't think many countries have so much potential, but also not many countries waste their potential like we do. At least we still have waffles.

And chips, and a shatteringly fine array of beers. Not forgetting the chocolate. And... Ardennes pâté! Now, what else...

Tintin! James Ensor! Brugge! Victor Horta! Brupark Model Europe! Belgium's really cool!

[dr-baker]

It's a shame, i don't think many countries have so much potential, but also not many countries waste their potential like we do. At least we still have waffles.

And chips, and a shatteringly fine array of beers. Not forgetting the chocolate. And... Ardennes pâté! Now, what else...

Tintin! James Ensor! Brugge! Victor Horta! Brupark Model Europe! Belgium's really cool!

And don't forget the cheap cigarettes that so many Englanders come to Belgium for!

[Ferrim]

As long as we have Melbourne, Montreal, Monaco, Spa, Monza and Suzuka; a British GP; and most races held in European countries (this would mean: 9 out of 17), and with no more than one night race, I would be happy.

Apart from those seven races I've said, GPs in France, Germany, the USA, Brazil and an African country would be important. And there's still five remaining races to go wherever the hell Bernie wants.

[AndreaModa]

The important thing to remember about which countries F1 chooses to go to is the business opportunities in those countries. For this very reason the most important countries for F1 right now are China, India and the US. To a lesser extent you could argue Brazil, the UK, Japan and Germany also fit into this category, and if we had a race in Mexico that probably would too. In future it is highly likely with continuing trends that we should expect an African country to be placed in this category. From my knowledge a shortlist of South Africa (obvious), Nigeria, Kenya or Ghana may be possible in future years.

Away from this, you have tracks which fit into the historical/traditional category and along with Britain, Japan and Germany from the above category, here you would place countries such as Monaco, Italy, Australia, France, Belgium, and Canada. It is of no surprise that these locations are amongst the favourites of F1 fans.

From there you have countries which are willing to foot the bill to be a part of it all, and of the current fixtures on the calender you have Malaysia, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Singapore and South Korea. These are all essentially replaceable, and when Russia joins in 2014, it will be in this category.

That leaves the two current races in Spain and Hungary. The former is simply exploiting the explosion in interest in Spain following Alonso's success, and is similar to the two races in Germany we had during the Schumi years. Some may argue the Spanish race deserves to be considered a historical/traditional race, but I remain to be convinced, especially when their current unemployment rate stands at 25% and the country has few interests in four wheeled motorsport aside from Alonso, and to a far lesser extent, HRT. Portugal lost their race very easily and I can see Spain going the same way.

Hungary currently caters for what is a fairly large market in Eastern Europe, but the likelihood of this diminishing once Russia is on the calender in 2014 is likely, and with the track never that favourable in the eyes of casual fans, I question the likelihood of it being a fixture for the long term.

Ultimately though, money will talk, and aside from the key markets mentioned at the start of this post, F1 will go pretty much anywhere if the money is handed over. All things go in cycles though and eventually when markets become more and more saturated, we will see a return to old tracks once more.

[DanielPT]

Hungary currently caters for what is a fairly large market in Eastern Europe, but the likelihood of this diminishing once Russia is on the calender in 2014 is likely, and with the track never that favourable in the eyes of casual fans, I question the likelihood of it being a fixture for the long term.

Everyone knows that Hungary is only on the calendar because HWNSNBM tells Bernie to do so.


Sorry for posting a less clever and articulate post to your fair assessment. Couldn't contain myself.

[pasta_maldonado]

That leaves the two current races in Spain and Hungary. The former is simply exploiting the explosion in interest in Spain following Alonso's success,

The trouble is, for the second Spanish race alongside the boring Catalunya, they picked Valencia. Which is the most boring race I have had the misfortune to watch.

[AndreaModa]

Hungary currently caters for what is a fairly large market in Eastern Europe, but the likelihood of this diminishing once Russia is on the calender in 2014 is likely, and with the track never that favourable in the eyes of casual fans, I question the likelihood of it being a fixture for the long term.

Everyone knows that Hungary is only on the calendar because HWNSNBM tells Bernie to do so.


Sorry for posting a less clever and articulate post to your fair assessment. Couldn't contain myself.

That's true, it slipped my mind when I was typing! Maybe it was HWNSNBM making sure the conspiracy didn't get out!

[East Londoner]

Now that Francois Hollande is in power, there have been mumblings that the French Grand Prix could possibly return to the calendar, but at Magny-Cours instead. Not terribly surprising considering it's located in a strong Socialist part of the country, whilst Paul Ricard is weak for Socialists.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/20/motor-racing-france-idINL4E8IK2J120120720