bigC
10-16-08, 06:57 PM
organizers of the French Grand Prix have canceled the race for 2009, citing economic reasons:
The French Motorsports Federation says "economic reasons" are behind the decision after it was unable to find a suitable promoter to take on the financial responsibility of staging the event.
the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours was usually boring, so this may be a good news development, since it may allow the return of the Canadian Grand Prix to the schedule, a highly successful and usually entertaining race that was dumped by Ecclestone:
It becomes the second event to fall off of next year's calendar, joining the Canadian Grand Prix which was removed for "commercial" reasons. France's disappearance could pave the way for a return of the Canadian race in 2009 should the funding issues between the promoter and F1 officials get resolved. The French race was scheduled to be held on June 28, which was only a few weeks after the original Canadian date.
http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/story/?id=252774&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_auto_racing-formula_one
basically, FIA, and Ecclestone, want more money to stage the race in Montreal, meaning they want the government to subsidize the race. given the fact that the race generates a lot of money to the local economy, and the current re-elected Conservative gov't wants to increase it's popularity in Quebec, they'll likely do whatever is reasonable to get that race back. when Toronto lost its Champ Car race, it left a big hole in the summer (it will return next year under the IRL) but i can't imagine what hardship Montreal will feel if it loses it's F1 race, a huge event that kicks off the summer party season there.
also, F1 teams want the race. Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes .... sell a lot of cars in Canada and the US (well maybe not now since the economy is failing ;)), and to not have a presence here is insane. if Ecclestone is still going to Third World developing nations chasing tobacco dollars he is pursuing a really bad strategy, since Europe and North America are the world's biggest markets (not to mention, the only places where people really care about the sport). how long will it be until European fans turn their backs on the sport if more and more of the popular Euro races are canceled?
i'm considering not following F1 next season if the Canadian GP is canceled for sure. what with the politics of the sport seemingly deciding races, the economics influencing where races are staged, the IRL-ization of the cars (ie, proposed standardized engines, etc), and no home race or even a Canadian driver, i'm beginning to ask myself why i even watch?
"It's the opposite of what we want to see," said Theissen, whose team celebrated their first ever F1 win in Montreal this past summer.
"The North American market still is the biggest one, not just for BMW. Montreal has always in a very strong position in North America. The intention should be not to step out of this market but just the opposite - to use Montreal as door opener for a future U.S. race as well."
http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/story/?id=252071&lid=sublink09&lpos=headlines_auto_racing-formula_one
The French Motorsports Federation says "economic reasons" are behind the decision after it was unable to find a suitable promoter to take on the financial responsibility of staging the event.
the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours was usually boring, so this may be a good news development, since it may allow the return of the Canadian Grand Prix to the schedule, a highly successful and usually entertaining race that was dumped by Ecclestone:
It becomes the second event to fall off of next year's calendar, joining the Canadian Grand Prix which was removed for "commercial" reasons. France's disappearance could pave the way for a return of the Canadian race in 2009 should the funding issues between the promoter and F1 officials get resolved. The French race was scheduled to be held on June 28, which was only a few weeks after the original Canadian date.
http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/story/?id=252774&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_auto_racing-formula_one
basically, FIA, and Ecclestone, want more money to stage the race in Montreal, meaning they want the government to subsidize the race. given the fact that the race generates a lot of money to the local economy, and the current re-elected Conservative gov't wants to increase it's popularity in Quebec, they'll likely do whatever is reasonable to get that race back. when Toronto lost its Champ Car race, it left a big hole in the summer (it will return next year under the IRL) but i can't imagine what hardship Montreal will feel if it loses it's F1 race, a huge event that kicks off the summer party season there.
also, F1 teams want the race. Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes .... sell a lot of cars in Canada and the US (well maybe not now since the economy is failing ;)), and to not have a presence here is insane. if Ecclestone is still going to Third World developing nations chasing tobacco dollars he is pursuing a really bad strategy, since Europe and North America are the world's biggest markets (not to mention, the only places where people really care about the sport). how long will it be until European fans turn their backs on the sport if more and more of the popular Euro races are canceled?
i'm considering not following F1 next season if the Canadian GP is canceled for sure. what with the politics of the sport seemingly deciding races, the economics influencing where races are staged, the IRL-ization of the cars (ie, proposed standardized engines, etc), and no home race or even a Canadian driver, i'm beginning to ask myself why i even watch?
"It's the opposite of what we want to see," said Theissen, whose team celebrated their first ever F1 win in Montreal this past summer.
"The North American market still is the biggest one, not just for BMW. Montreal has always in a very strong position in North America. The intention should be not to step out of this market but just the opposite - to use Montreal as door opener for a future U.S. race as well."
http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/story/?id=252071&lid=sublink09&lpos=headlines_auto_racing-formula_one