F1 has been on TV in Spain forever, and of course the channel is making big business out of it, would be stupid not to take advantage of Alonso's sweet moment.

BTW looking forward to seeing all of you here in 2008

Also, do you realise the first Spanish GP was already in 1913?
It's been in the F1 calendar in -51 and -54, and every year since 1967, except for 1982-1985. So, F1 is definitely older than Alonso over there

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Grand_Prix

Quote from amp88 :

On the original topic I think it would probably be a better solution to alternate between this track and Barcelona (or scrap Barcelona entirely if this is popular or this track makes for good racing), rather than have both in the calendar.

Bingo. Scrap Farcelona, that track sucks IMO. Has the personality of a civil servant.

Quote :

Then, on ITV4 (or one of the other secondary ITV channels) having a more insightful, serious program for 'proper' fans. Mark Blundell hosting, doing proper interviews with people asking something other than the normal questions. Martin Brundle (Jonathan Palmer would make an excellent co-commentator but that's never going to happen with his other business commitments) and potentially Mark Blundell commentating and Tony Jardine in the pits. Of course, I don't actually believe this is going to happen, but it's good to dream

Nah, the broadcast team should be Mark Blundell presenting - he isn't that annoying.
Ted Kravitz and Martin Brundle commenating would work, TK knows what he is doing. (Unless she is now only doing Channel 5) VBH in the pits would work, she is neither annoying or stupid - both of which are traits of James Allen. That's with the current people, ideally they would poach most of the BBC MotoGP team.

Barcelona has a deal until 2011, so everyone will have to put up with it for a while yet.

Apparently the singapore street/night race has been confirmed too:
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news ... _race_confirmed_for_2008/

Need a better source for that one.

Quote from duke_toaster :

Bingo. Scrap Farcelona, that track sucks IMO. Has the personality of a civil servant.

They should bring back Jarama but that's something as probable as having N2O in LFS :banghead:

Quote from sweetreid :

Apparently the singapore street/night race has been confirmed too:
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news ... _race_confirmed_for_2008/

Need a better source for that one.

Better one? http://www.formula1.com/news/6063.html

Quote :

This will be an urban circuit rather than a street circuit

I wonder what the difference is? not exactly monaco then

Quote from Eldanor :

WTF? F1 has been on TV here for ages before Alonso started to race!

And it will be on TV when he retires.

I know my friend, but not in Tele5...

Also singapore is in 2008 for the 1st night race (street circuit) http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/58696

Quote from NitroNitrous :

I know my friend, but not in Tele5...

If Tele5 drops F1 maybe it could return to La2 and get rid of that stupid Lobato so we all win!!!

Quote from Eldanor :

If Tele5 drops F1 maybe it could return to La2 and get rid of that stupid Lobato so we all win!!!

OT sorry. heheh, meeting another master: Jesus Frayle

Quote from sweetreid :

Barcelona has a deal until 2011, so everyone will have to put up with it for a while yet.

Which has been extended to 2016!

I wonder which races will be culled. IMO in the Concorde Agreement, the following races should be deemed to be uncuttable from the schedule.

• Britain
  
• Monaco
  
• USA
  
• Belgium
  
• France
  
• Italy
  
• If the motorsport ban gets repealed at some point, Switzerland.
  

They are the oldest Grands Prix/rounds of the F1 WC so they should be uncuttable.

if only Ireland upgraded mondello park ( main circuit course here ) then we could host it :S

Quote from theirishnoob :

if only Ireland upgraded mondello park ( main circuit course here ) then we could host it :S

It's nowhere near wide enough, it's dangerously narrow for the BTCC. And nowhere near long enough for F1, you might as well demolish the whole lot and start again.

And an Irish GP is as economically sensible as the (I think) Uzbek GP that got mooted a fair bit ago.

I hope that the Abu Dhabi one goes the way of Nagatino Island - the Middle East does not need 2 races

Uzbekistan is exactly the sort of place that should be considered to host a round of the F1WC. The area is undergoing massive growth at the moment (9.1% in Q1 2007 alone!) and at present does not have an international event to promote itself. It is very important for high-growth regions such as this to attract continued, long-term investment and holding large events such as an F1GP can be an important part of this.

The government would also most likely be very willing to spend large sums of money (meaning Bernie doesn't have to) in order to stage the Grand Prix.

Additionally, the event is good for F1 as a previously untapped (and importantly, high growth, as I mentioned earlier) market is exposed to F1.

Quote from sam1600 :

Uzbekistan is exactly the sort of place that should be considered to host a round of the F1WC. The area is undergoing massive growth at the moment (9.1% in Q1 2007 alone!) and at present does not have an international event to promote itself. It is very important for high-growth regions such as this to attract continued, long-term investment and holding large events such as an F1GP can be an important part of this.

The government would also most likely be very willing to spend large sums of money (meaning Bernie doesn't have to) in order to stage the Grand Prix.

Additionally, the event is good for F1 as a previously untapped (and importantly, high growth, as I mentioned earlier) market is exposed to F1.

Are you serious? It has no history of motorsport and being in central Asia there will be almost no real fans. Uzbekistan is not the sort of market that could justify a major event, such as a Grand Prix. If there are 18 races (I'd like F1 to increase that by a race a week in Europe. Or even a Sat-Sun race, and a Weds-Thurs race - that could be viable if the two circuits are near enough) they should be in major sports markets and places with racing history. Uzbekistan is in neither.

Quote :

Valencia? I thought they were talking about Venice.

Just in from the FIA: Outboard motors have been restricted to 13 horsepower and the Venecian council has said F1 can have a special exemption regarding the anti-corrosion speed limit and may go up to 6mph.

Quote from duke_toaster :

Are you serious? It has no history of motorsport and being in central Asia there will be almost no real fans. Uzbekistan is not the sort of market that could justify a major event, such as a Grand Prix. If there are 18 races (I'd like F1 to increase that by a race a week in Europe. Or even a Sat-Sun race, and a Weds-Thurs race - that could be viable if the two circuits are near enough) they should be in major sports markets and places with racing history. Uzbekistan is in neither.

If we restricted racing to areas that have a history of motorsport, F1 would never grow.

But then again, that proposition seems to suit a lot of "fans" fine. They are a selfish bunch!

Whether or not fans would show up at a race in Uzbekistan is largely irrelevant. That's a problem for the circuit owner/promoter, and not Formula 1. As I said earlier, governments in developing, high-growth nations are likely to be willing to subsidise the cost of holding the grand prix anyway.

If the decision as to where to hold races was based on what sort of motorsport history the place has and how many "real fans" there are, and not which venue is better for the growth of the sport, Formula 1 would not last very long at all.

I'm all for these new tracks in other countries, however I don't think they should have 2 races in one country. I say they should ditch the Spanish GP in favour of this new 'urban' track (that means its a racetrack built in an urban area, rather than racing on proper streets) but they shouldn't keep both.

If theres any country that should have 2 races its the UK, Brands Hatch would be packed if F1 returned there. People actually go to Brands for the track more than the racing, it has so much history and its a fantastic venue for the fans.

Oh and apparently the Spanish coverage has been taken over by a channel called...wait for it....La Sexta. But apparently they have done some decent sport coverage, hopefully they will educate F1s new fans.

One more thing, if anyone steals the BBC motogp presenting team I will personally injure them in a horrible way...maybe using some kind of endangered species to club them.

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

Oh and apparently the Spanish coverage has been taken over by a channel called...wait for it....La Sexta. But apparently they have done some decent sport coverage, hopefully they will educate F1s new fans.

Heheh, I wonder how did you know that, but yes, you are right. Let's hope they'll try to educate people a bit, but we'll have to wait until 2009 to see what happens

I subscribe to Autosport so I get full access to their website, if theres anything going on in F1 I will know about it from that site

Quote from ATC Quicksilver :

La Sexta. But apparently they have done some decent sport coverage.

That's only if by decent you actually mean cringe inducing bad.

La Sexta basically uses the same retard for all their sports commentary. He's completely clueless about the subject, so he just comes up with insulting nicknames for all participants while he shouts random unrelated and supposedly funny phrases. They'll probably hire someone that once watched a kart race from a distance as an expert sidekick that won't get to talk much while the other guy goes ahead with his mad ramblings.