Only 17 races on 2012?

Looks like they have asked for a reduction in fee's (which we all know Bernie won't do)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/16442297.stm

Its interesting, as the high fee's have only been a problem previously for places that arent government funded. But I think the Valencia race is funded by local authorities, so for these type of races to start being hit, maybe it is a sign that the race fees are too high?

So there is a shadow over Valencia, Bahrain, Korea and USA races.... 16 races in 2012 then :(
 
Skeeter said:
Its interesting, as the high fee's have only been a problem previously for places that arent government funded. But I think the Valencia race is funded by local authorities, so for these type of races to start being hit, maybe it is a sign that the race fees are too high?
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Spain is in the same boat as Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal etc. in that the countries have large debts and therefore no money left and have to make huge cuts. So I can see why Valencia's government is trying to renegotiate its race fee as it's difficult to justify the cost of holding the race unless it brings in more money than it costs.

Bernie of course sets the race fees too high anyway.
 
Mr Jack said:
I'd like to see F1 return to the days of 16 races. Every extra race dilutes the value of the each race; and the new circuits have generally failed to match the quality of older circuits.
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Same here. I remember the "good old" days of the mid 90s where we had 16 races in 16 consecutive weekends. Or I think they were consecutive weekends. Now we've got 18/19/20 races with more governments wanting a GP I think we're just stretching the teams too much and diluting the value of each race weekend.
 
MarcLister said:
Same here. I remember the "good old" days of the mid 90s where we had 16 races in 16 consecutive weekends. Or I think they were consecutive weekends. Now we've got 18/19/20 races with more governments wanting a GP I think we're just stretching the teams too much and diluting the value of each race weekend.
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F1 season start to finish in 4 months with 16 races, when did that ever happen?!

:p
 
Whilst I agree that the new circuits haven't matched the quality of the old venues, I don't think we should drop back down to 16 races or less.

Providing the tracks offer up different challenges and are diverse from each other there is no reason why we couldn't have 20+ races with each one standing out. The problem we have now is there is a lot of 'filler' races at places nobody cares about where nobody is into F1 on boring circuits that are just padding out the calendar. Imagine a season of 20+ races where each one was on a circuit that generated the excitement like Canada, Belgium, and Brazil does. It would be amazing!
 
Reaper 392 said:
i dont know if anyone spotted it in the BBC article, but heres a french newspaper claiming the imminent announcement of that spa/france alternating deal for the next 10 years. i hope to god it isnt true, because spa is one of the best races of the season

http://www.lefigaro.fr/sport/2012/0...anvier-pour-le-grand-prix-de-france-de-f1.php
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So its the Paul Ricard track, and not Magny Cours, to alternate with Spa?

I didn't think the Paul Ricard track had stands for spectators? Wasn't it built up, perhaps by Bernie, to be an excellent test track? I guess that's what the 18 months of work mentioned was for? Getting the track ready to actually take spectators and media etc.

Whilst I love Spa, I really detest the changes they've made where the Bus Stop chicane was, or is. I loved seeing the cars break from nearly 200mph to 40-50mph (or whatever speed!) to negotiate a few seriously bumpy kerbs. :cool: Now they just break for a simple right-left corner onto the back straight. :(
 
Paul Ricard is nothing but a testing circuit that has, AFAIK, no grandstands, very rudimentary pit buildings, little to no media centre facilities and very little in the way of parking etc. Building such things will cost millions of Euros so I can't really see this happening.
 
MissChief said:
Paul Ricard is nothing but a testing circuit that has, AFAIK, no grandstands, very rudimentary pit buildings, little to no media centre facilities and very little in the way of parking etc. Building such things will cost millions of Euros so I can't really see this happening.
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The interesting thing if it does happen will be how much will Bernie pay himself to host the GP at his track?
 
Didn't know Bernie owned Paul Ricard.

After Ricard's death, the track was sold to Excelis, a company owned by Formula One promoter Bernie Ecclestone, in 1999. The track has since been rebuilt into an advanced test track. It is now known as the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track (Paul Ricard HTTT).

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Bernie bought Paul Ricard a tore down all the grandstands to allow for massive runoffs. It is a test circuit. It has hosted races recently, but they have been 'TV only' races as there are no spectator facilities at all.

As for the alternating with Spa, if the only other option is no Spa at all then it is fine by me. However, if F1 is going to start turning its back on the best tracks in the world in favor of racing around New York streets, it doesn't bode well for the future :(

Edit: just watching highlights from the GT3 race at Paul Ricard. They would need to build an entire pit and paddock complex to cater for F1, but more importantly, this would be hated by the fans. It's just one massive tarmac run off with a race track painted on it.
 
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