No French Grand Prix in 2009!

[Roamy]

wanna race - start lighting up - cigarettes are not affected by bad enconomys.

[Storm]

Well if they bring Canada back, I won't mourn too much for Magny-Cours.
Sure France needs a GP just for all the history but the current track is boring.

[AndyRAC]

The F1A should never have sold the commercial rights to Bernie. Now they'll have a job getting them back. The cost of staging a race is a complete joke - how is that in the sport's best interests?
In all this cost cutting talk, has the lowering of the entry fees and a reduction of fees to stage races been discussed? Mmm,
I doubt it.......

[truefan72]

actually, it is.

This what happens when you have jacked up the price of doing business, and have a major market-related downturn happen right behind it. It has become harder to justify such things in the face of present times, and Bernie isn't doing anything to help the long-term financial issues that a few more of these races, most that are reliant upon both state and financial industry backing, would later experience.

A step towards reducing the sanctioning fees and other costs would go a long way towards preserving the sport without losing the grandness of it. Only someone whom is too selfish and short-sighted would make statements signaling that they aren't willing to take the long-term approach in insuring that all venues have a better chance of sustained return.

yep

not having a french GP seems absolutely inconceivable to me.
Seems like the the 5 races that should always be on the F1 calender are the Italian, British, German and French and Japanese GP.

One's gone now, the British was in doubt until Bernie squeezed out millions from Donington park.

You watch in another few years the german and Japanese GP might come under pressure, especially with the economic crisis, several enterprises might not choose to subsidize these revenue loss leader at the current rates.

F1 might find themselves loosing out to the likes of the sports car series or an expanded/global DTM style series in the near future to fill the gaping void filled by Bernie's greed.

its the arrogance of self adulation and false might in the light of crumbling surroundings that took Rome down. And f1 is doing their best to go down that path.

[Hondo]

The F1A should never have sold the commercial rights to Bernie. Now they'll have a job getting them back. The cost of staging a race is a complete joke - how is that in the sport's best interests?
In all this cost cutting talk, has the lowering of the entry fees and a reduction of fees to stage races been discussed? Mmm,
I doubt it.......

Bernie has large bills to pay.

[Bagwan]

No disrespect to the French , but Magny Cours sucks anyway .

And now there's more space to refit the Canadian race on a good track .

Though I think there should be a French GP , that's my silver lining on this topic .

[schmenke]

The Difference with Canada and France is they said "No thank you" to Bernie as opposed to Bernie removing them. ...

Keep in mind that both the Canadian and French GPs are partially subsidised by their respective governments.

[N. Jones]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71421

Let's hope so. The track is more fun in pixel-ated form than in real life...

[FIA]

Magny-Cours great drivers circuit, seriously one of the races has to be there.

[DazzlaF1]

yep

not having a french GP seems absolutely inconceivable to me.
Seems like the the 5 races that should always be on the F1 calender are the Italian, British, German and French and Japanese GP.

One's gone now, the British was in doubt until Bernie squeezed out millions from Donington park.

You watch in another few years the german and Japanese GP might come under pressure, especially with the economic crisis, several enterprises might not choose to subsidize these revenue loss leader at the current rates.

F1 might find themselves loosing out to the likes of the sports car series or an expanded/global DTM style series in the near future to fill the gaping void filled by Bernie's greed.

its the arrogance of self adulation and false might in the light of crumbling surroundings that took Rome down. And f1 is doing their best to go down that path.

Id add Belgium to that list, Spa simply has to be on the calendar.

But really, the French GP, you have to admit has been in doubt for a few years now, all thanks to the greed of Bernie. Dubai and Qatar both have tracks now and also cold hard cash, and i think Bernie has said he wants to have a race in Qatar in the future, we know India and South Korea are on the calendar in the future and theres a new track being built near Moscow.

So considering that, looking at the races on next years calendar, i think these are under threat as well

HUNGARY - This i think could be next one to get the chop, even though they've signed a new deal, despite the enthusiasm of the Hungarian folk, if Bernie keeps putting the price up, the organisers here could struggle

AUSTRALIA - Bernie's already said he wants a night race there, personally i dont see the point in that, its fine as it is, and Melbourne always brings up a great race

BRITAIN - If Donington Park flops, i think that would be the final straw for Bernie

GERMANY - I dont know about the Nurburgring, but Hockenheim has struggled to raise the cash needed to stage the race (i think thats why they've started alternating with the Nurburgring.)

Overall though, its getting ridiculous