FIA Changes 2013 F1 Calender

[cosworth151]

The FIA has moved the date for the 2013 German Grand Prix from July 14 to July 7. This would leave room for another race on July 21. Turkey is rumored to be the front runner for the spot.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121205/f1/121209942#ixzz2EH4zAq9L

[Irisado]

I had hoped that we had seen the back of that bland circuit.  If we're going to have more races, it would be nice to bring back older tracks, but it won't happen because such circuits cannot afford Ecclestons's fees.

[Scott]

Things might play differently with DRS though.  I also would much prefer one of the other older tracks, but I don't think any of them could be ready for 2013, at least not that date slot.

[PG_Gabriel]

Turkey is the best Tilke track (in my opinion at least) Obviously I would prefer older tracks but I am still very happy to have Istanbul back

[David]

I'm glad Turkey is back on the calender, my man Massa always goes well there. 

It's worth it just to see the cars go through turn 8, awesome.

[John S]

 
A return to Turkey is far from certain as the government now appears to have ruled out funding any part of it, with the low attendance at previous Instanbul races it's hardly likely to be self financing.

Pity really as for the last few years I've been hoping to take a trip out there for a holiday and the race weekend.  

[Deovann07]

yeah right... its not like from other locations that had so many to finance for the F1.

I'm waiting for the Austin Prix again... can't wait for that...

[F1fanaticBD]

What are the chances of a French Grand Prix? Seriously the word "Grand Prix" is a french one, and sadly we don't have any French race in the calender. I thought Bernie was in talk with the French government about this race.

And I cannot understand why Turkey turns out to be such low atttendence, as because they are very enthusiastic about sports, they have a real good audience of motorsports. I think it is a failure of the promoters of this GP to reach the motorsports fans.

[vintly]

The Turkey track has some decent elevation changes as well as the fantastic turn 8 - that's good enough for me. And being an armchair fan, I'm not overly bothered if the attendance is low. Of course it's a better atmosphere and makes for a better TV spectacle if there's a full crowd, but the race is king, not the crowd.

[cosworth151]

It looks like Turkey isn't going to happen. The Turkish minister of sport, Suat Kilic, has told the Dogan news agency: “The government paid $13.5 million annually to the promoter for five years for the rights. In exchange for that, all the income went to Formula One and the promoter, so the state did not get any benefit from it. The private sector can bring Formula 1 if it wants to, but there is no question of us paying the cost of the rights which have been proposed to a private company.”

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20121207/f1/121209874#ixzz2EfYKzYzO

[Dare]

Imola  Imiss that track along with the A-Ring

[Irisado]

Imola  Imiss that track along with the A-Ring

I'd be happy to see Imola return.  At least it's a challenging circuit with interesting changes in gradient, even if it's tricky to overtake.

[lkjohnson1950]

I thought the track has been permanently ruled out for F1 because of the lack of runoff at Tamburello. Apparently it was recently approved as an F1 test track and could possibly return to the schedule if the money is there to make it happen. Could be very interesting because the old chicane before the pits has been removed ( except for Moto GP) and the run from Rivazza to Tamburello is once again flat out.

[cosworth151]

I'd like to see Imola return to the calender, too. A-1 might have a better shot since it already has the money in place. It looks like France is out of the running due to funding issues.

How about this: Anyone up for a second UK race? They could finally make use of the upgrades to Donington (although I personally would prefer Brands Hatch).

[John S]

I'd like to see Imola return to the calender, too. A-1 might have a better shot since it already has the money in place. It looks like France is out of the running due to funding issues.

How about this: Anyone up for a second UK race? They could finally make use of the upgrades to Donington (although I personally would prefer Brands Hatch).

Brands would be out of the question for two reasons:- 1, the track and pits are no where near up to F1 present standards. 2, noise limits and crowd numbers would prevent the circus coming to town, the track now has stringent limits due to housing built close by.

Donnington simarlarly would have problems meeting the F1 standard, even after it's improvements. The work eventually carried out, after the aborted F1 bid construction crew had damaged the track, was largely to put the track back in racing condition and not to bring it up to F1 spec.

Nice thought about another GP in Britain though.