No more Magny-Cours

[ArrowsFA1]

So says Bernie:
"We should not have gone there in the first place. And we only did so because of former FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre."
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/59290

Can't say I'm disappointed :)

[ShiftingGears]

Good riddance to bad rubbish!

*Fingers crossed the next French GP circuit isn't as woeful*

[jens]

The talks about the disappearance of Magny-Cours race from F1 calendar have been alive since 1998 as far as I remember! So it has taken a while to get rid of Magny-Cours...

[N. Jones]

Finally! Good track in video game land - bad track in real life.

[AndyRAC]

So where does it go now? Paul Ricard, Dijon, Le Mans (Bugatti), ?.....

[ShiftingGears]

So where does it go now? Paul Ricard, Dijon, Le Mans (Bugatti), ?.....

Considering that the article says:

"If somebody would offer me a Paris Grand Prix, I would sign a contract for the next 99 years immediately," added Ecclestone.



I'm thinking that if Bernie wants it, he'll eventually get it. Such is Bernies business skill. I don't want to see more street circuits on the calendar though, I'll think I'm watching champ car. Unless Tilke can design a circuit thats unique :o

Now, back to the choices that you threw about. Paul Ricard has no seats for spectators, noone would want Dijon as there isnt enough tight hairpins between long straights, and Le Mans Bugatti is just terrible. Theres a good reason why F1 only visited there once. So it looks like it will be in Paris.

[zoostation]

paul ricard would be great though :p

[aryan]

Bernie is hoping to get a circuit built on Disneyland in Paris.

Marketing wise, it would be awesome for F1.

[ShiftingGears]

It WILL result in a trillion "Mickey Mouse" comments though :p :

[AndyRAC]

I'm being naive, but wouldn't it be great to go to a track that gives us great racing, rather than one which pays the most money. I always liked Paul Ricard, great circuit, last GP there was 1990, I think.

[BDunnell]

Would Paul Ricard give good racing with today's cars, though?

[F1boat]

I'd love to see F1 racing at Le Mans.

[stevie_gerrard]

Around the streets of Paris would be awesome, but also very chaotic :p :

[luvracin]

"If somebody would offer me a Paris Grand Prix, I would sign a contract for the next 99 years immediately," added Ecclestone.



I'm thinking that if Bernie wants it, he'll eventually get it. Such is Bernies business skill. I don't want to see more street circuits on the calendar though, I'll think I'm watching champ car. Unless Tilke can design a circuit thats unique :o


This is what scares me too. The last thing we need is a boring, no challenge, Champcar-style, cost reduced, street course.

And I'll whallop the next moron that whines "but we need overtaking...".

[Corny]

no we don't need that, last GP there wasn't even a single overtakingsmanouvre, and yet there watched millions of people to that race! :D

[tinchote]

I'm being naive, but wouldn't it be great to go to a track that gives us great racing, rather than one which pays the most money. I always liked Paul Ricard, great circuit, last GP there was 1990, I think.

Maybe I'm wrong, but besides the fact that Paul Ricard has no facilities for public and/or PR, I'm not sure if the old layout still exists?

[gm99]

So says Bernie:
"We should not have gone there in the first place. And we only did so because of former FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre."


And it only took him, what, seventeen years, to figure that out?

While I didn't enjoy the circuit of Nevers very much, it did produce some good racing action occassionally, especially in the Adelaide (?) hairpin.

[wmcot]

Did Bernie actually have to take the race off the calendar or did the French just surrender it?? :) (Just a joke, people)

[aryan]

Did Bernie actually have to take the race off the calendar or did the French just surrender it?? :) (Just a joke, people)

even assuming it's a Joke...it's a rather deplorable sense of humour you have there... :dozey:

[truefan72]

Finally! Good track in video game land - bad track in real life.

well said

[truefan72]

I'd love to see F1 racing at Le Mans.



Yes please !!!

[AndyRAC]

Yes please !!!

I we all know there's more chance of finding life on Mars. Isn't it an 8.43 mile circuit, how many laps would they do? If I remember rightly, Hockenheim was shortened because it was 4.2 miles long and the spectators only got to see them over 45 laps. So it would be about 20 laps, not gonna happen, Bernie likes 50-60-70 laps, every lapis an opportunity for the crowd to see the cars, 20 laps only 20 opportunities. No Chance!!!

Unfortunately!!! :dozey: :dozey:

[odykas]

Another vote for Le Mans.

[veeten]

I we all know there's more chance of finding life on Mars. Isn't it an 8.43 mile circuit, how many laps would they do? If I remember rightly, Hockenheim was shortened because it was 4.2 miles long and the spectators only got to see them over 45 laps. So it would be about 20 laps, not gonna happen, Bernie likes 50-60-70 laps, every lapis an opportunity for the crowd to see the cars, 20 laps only 20 opportunities. No Chance!!!

Unfortunately!!! :dozey: :dozey:

No that would be the Bugatti circuit, which is the inner section of the Circuit de la Sarthe. Presently used by FIA, FIM, MotoGP, and others, it has more than adequate amenities to suffice for Formula 1. The track itself is also wide enough to handle F1 cars, since it handles Prototypes & GTs which are even wider and longer than them.

History also shows that Le Mans has hosted Grands Prix in the past, so it's not that unusual.

[Roamy]

i guess the track just "could'nt cut the mustard"

[Bezza]

Magny Cours is a very poor track and its shocking that only now has it been dumped. I recall just one exciting race there - in 1999 when Frentzen won - because it rained. Any track is exciting when it rains!

Dijon is a nice circuit but I doubt modern F1 will suit it. Certainly looked good with Villeneuve and Pironi battling in 1979!

[Roamy]

actually it was probably villeneuve and arnoux

[ClarkFan]

No that would be the Bugatti circuit, which is the inner section of the Circuit de la Sarthe. Presently used by FIA, FIM, MotoGP, and others, it has more than adequate amenities to suffice for Formula 1. The track itself is also wide enough to handle F1 cars, since it handles Prototypes & GTs which are even wider and longer than them.

History also shows that Le Mans has hosted Grands Prix in the past, so it's not that unusual.

Yeah, in 1967 on the Bugatti circuit - which was so poorly regarded they never went back. :\

ClarkFan

[Hawkmoon]

I won't miss Magny-Cours but the only reason that Bernie dumped it was because they wouldn't/couldn't contibute to the B. Eccelstone Retirement Fund in sufficiently large quantities to satisfy His Greediness.

Bernie will continue to cross races off the calendar that won't or can't pay his ever more exorbitant fees. There are plenty of countries in the developing world that want a race and they will pay whatever it takes to get it.

This talk of a street race in Paris is nothing more than hot air. Even if it does go ahead, how long before it too can't afford to hold the race without substantial government backing?

How long before the French, German and British GP's get rolled into one alternating European GP because they can't afford to run annual races or Bernie gets it into his little head that he doesn't like the venue (ah la Silverstone)?

[ClarkFan]

Underneath all this, I wonder how sound the current economics of F1 are.

Sure, the teams spend a lot of money and some of them (red cars with prancing horses) have enough sponsors to underwrite the spending needed to be in the top tier. But let an independent team fall off form a little (Williams) and the financial vultures start circling pretty quickly. Other than Ferrari, the current top teams depend on heavy subsidies from major automobile manufacturers. That industry is heavily dependent on economic cycles and facing near-term price competition from new manufacturers in China.

On the promotion/broadcasting side, nearly all the racing venues require large subsidies to underwrite the santioning fees and ongoing improvements to physical plants (gold plated toilets for Bernie's beloved jet set are costly). In Europe, subsidizing these fees is not well regarded (just a failure to understand the need to underwrite the super-rich, I guess), so many of the European venues struggle financially. The governments of east Asia and the Middle East have been more willing to pony up to stage races and are taking a larger role in the schedule, especially as the traditional venues become more hard pressed.

But television is a key element in the F1 impresario finances, and the television audiences are still mainly in Europe. So Bernie is left jumping out of the European tracks to capture his santioning fees, but is now demanding that the venues in east Asia and Australia stage night races to maintain the television ratings.

Doesn't sound like a stable system to me. So, what collapses first? :\

ClarkFan

[ShiftingGears]

Doesn't sound like a stable system to me. So, what collapses first?
ClarkFan

Hopefully Bernie :p :

[Mark]

Good bye Magny Cours! You will not be missed.

Paris or Le Mans would be excellent alternatives. Le Mans would be my bet for the new French GP, as it has existing facilities which just don't exist at the moment in Paris. Think of the infrastructure present at Monaco to give you can idea how much needs to be built just for a temporary course.

[ShiftingGears]

Bugatti circuit was considered a Mickey Mouse circuit 40 years ago, but the number of great circuits have declined since then...
But in my opinion, its still a POS circuit. I hope they don't go there. At the same time I'm hoping that I won't see another Tilkodrome pop up to defile a certain area of France either. This leaves the racing fan not very spoilt for choice here!

[OmarF1]

Good Job Bernie, you are becoming The F1 Grinch, that ugly dude that stoled F1, F1 needs to go to France, Germany and of course England, England should be an special event something like the F1 cathedral, most engineers, and people in the know about F1 comes from the UK, why leave there? why leave France?, why going to Dubai, Dubai (without offense) knows about F1, what I know about rocket science.

but yeah by the way Magny Course sucks, the question here is, which track doesn't suck?? Spa?? Turkey??

[N. Jones]

...Suzuka, Shanghai, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Monza, Silverstone, Albert Park, Bahrain, and Interlagos to name a few...

[ShiftingGears]

...Suzuka, Shanghai, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Monza, Silverstone, Albert Park, Bahrain, and Interlagos to name a few...

And at least two of those circuits used to be more challenging without various appendages added (or in Spa's case, removed) in the name of safety. I beg to differ with your selection of Tilke tracks as well.

On topic, I think theres a fair chance that France will be without a grand prix for next year.

[aryan]

...Suzuka, Shanghai, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Monza, Silverstone, Albert Park, Bahrain, and Interlagos to name a few...


Istanbul park? The only good Tilke track?

[zoostation]

...Suzuka, Shanghai, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Monza, Silverstone, Albert Park, Bahrain, and Interlagos to name a few...

i consider shangai to fairly mundane and uninterseting, and to a degree bahrain as well.

oh yeah and suzuka is where on the 2007 calender?

anywho yes back on topic :)