Good News, Bad News.
Firstly the Good News...... Max seems to think he can step in and help save the British GP on the grounds that if one of the original GP's (Britain France Germany Italy Monaco or Belgium) require assistance in keeping their GP they can go to the FIA for assistance, a move he said he would do for the British GP should say Donnington fail to meet their committments and lose the opportunity to stage the race. In those circumstances Bernie has said it wil go overseas to the highest bidder.
However it is not a rule that gives the FIA the ultimate say, as in the hypothetical situation of Donnington to being ready, Silverstone could step in, but would need to match the financial terms agreed for Donnington, if not the financial going rate of other GP's.
It was not a case which could have been used in the case of the French GP, as it was the French Organisers that went to Bernie with a 'cant provide a venue excuse'.... ie it wasnt a Bernie Mandate that lost the French GP>
Max explained "The thing is that our deal with Bernie says he cannot cancel one of those races without our agreement, which must not be unreasonably withheld. Clearly if someone said to Bernie 'I am a traditional race I am going to give you 100 dollars' and we will say, 'you can't do that'.
"But equally if they were paying the going rate and he wanted to chop them to go somewhere for 100 million dollars we would say you cannot do that... It depends what the going rate was and we would ask Bernie for his comments."
Good to see a bit of a rift between Bernie and Max. That gives some hope for the future, as with FOTA and the GPDA now voicing up on issues against either of both Bernie and Max they stand more chance .
A united Bernie and Max is an awfully strong combination of political and decision making clout.
And now the Bad News.
Turkish GP's long-term future in doubtThe start of the 2008 Turkish Grand PrixTurkish Grand Prix organisers fear they could lose their Formula One race after 2011, amid reports that Bernie Ecclestone does not plan to renew his current deal with the Istanbul Park circuit. Interesting, given that Bernie owns Istanbul Park, the venue the GP is held at.
From Autosport.
The Today's Zaman newspaper reports that Ecclestone, who took charge of the track several years ago, has given the circuit's original builder and financier the Istabul Chamber of Commerce notice that he plans to take the race off the F1 calendar after three more years.
Istanbul Park's general director Can Guclu confirmed that the race's long-term future was in doubt as other countries clamoured for dates on the F1 schedule.
"We are afraid that 2011 may be the last year of the staging of F1 in Istanbul," Guclu told Zaman.
"There is serious competition from such countries as South Africa, Russia, Bulgaria and South Korea. South Korea has a highly developed economy and they place importance on sporting events. The [football] world cup was held in there in 2002. And Russia has already started constructing a race course."
Guclu said he was concerned that negotiations had not yet begun to extend Istanbul Park's F1 deal, especially as it had originally taken four years from securing agreement with Ecclestone in 2001 to hosting the inaugural Turkish GP in 2005.
"If we want the Turkish Grand Prix to stay on the calendar, we need to start working immediately," he said.
"Or else, we cannot just begin negotiating for the race in the last year of the contract.
"We made a deal with Ecclestone in 2003 and the first race was organised in 2005. As you see, there is a four-year process in order to be included in the calendar.
"There is still nothing about extending the deal and no demand from either side."
It would be a shame to see Turkey go.... IMO it is the best of the Tilke tracks. The most boring race is always Hungaroring, and I would gladly see that go, or even one of the Middle East events on the basis of we dont need two GPs in an area of zero fans.
Topic: Future GP venues / Calendar Discussions (Read 14381 times)
