India joins 2009 Calendar

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India is set to join the Formula 1 calendar, according to the president of the Indian Olympic Association, who revealed that Bernie Ecclestone has reportedly confirmed a race will be held in 2009.

Announced at a news conference by IOA president Suresh Kalmadi, he claimed Ecclesone had signed a letter that confirmed India will be the latest nation, following Singapore and Abu Dhabi, to win a place on the F1 calendar.

"We have received a letter in this regard from Bernie," said Kalmadi.
"Once we move ahead and put all aspects in place, a regular contract would be signed."

India has been campaigning for a spot on the Formula One calendar for some years now, with Hyderabad first mooted some years ago. The new bid however will see the race be held on a newly build circuit in New Delhi.

"We are planning to hold the race around New Delhi and we are looking to identify suitable land for a track."

Source - SkySports
 
Dude, it says "calendar" twice in the article, and yet you typed it wrong in the thread title... bad bad bad bad

But a new F1 circuit is good... it's too bad they're leaving European ones, since there seems to be a good quantity of circuits here, rather than hire the same guy to do the ones overseas.
 
That's been going on since around 2003, when they extended it to around 18 races
 
It's a massive market and I think it's a good move for the sport. I expect the track and hospitality to be of excellent quality.

Also, has anyone else seen some of the comments from Bernie on Indy? I reckon Indy will be gone within the next 2 seasons.
 
er... Spike, it still says "calandar" in the thread title :p

I hope you're not angry
 
The only way id accept a race in Delhi is if the race is guaranteed to take place in March/April or in September/October. I wouldnt want to have the drivers race in 45 degree weather or have the race cancelled because the track is two feet deep in water.
 
How much longer untill the drivers complain about too much races?
Why would the complain about too many races? Each round is another opportunity to score points ... besides, look at the Tata sponsorship that covers the Williams cars and their test driver whose name I can't spell and tell me we won't be visiting the sub-continent in the near future.
The only way id accept a race in Delhi is if the race is guaranteed to take place in March/April or in September/October. I wouldnt want to have the drivers race in 45 degree weather or have the race cancelled because the track is two feet deep in water.
I think they'd be smart enough to avoid that. If the FIA and FOM can make a night race in Singapore work, they can get plan around seasonal variations in weather. I saw a blog the other day (afraid I don't have a link just now) that suggested the race be run around the India Gate. From some of the shots of it the district it is in doesn't get flooded on a yearly basis.
 
The only way id accept a race in Delhi is if the race is guaranteed to take place in March/April or in September/October. I wouldnt want to have the drivers race in 45 degree weather or have the race cancelled because the track is two feet deep in water.

When the England Cricket team went to India their tour was over March and April, the temp was regularly mid 40s and 90% humidity.

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

So either end of May or at the end of the F1 calendar.
 
It seems Mr. E is going on quite the expansionistic crusade. First Abu Dhabi, then South Korea, Singapore and Valencia and a new circuit for France and now India. However, after looking around a bit online, there's some skepticism. It seems the Indian government want a permanent circuit, but don't really have any idea where they'll be building it, let alone some sort of draft plan (at least, no plan that they're showing us). A street circuit would be much more viable, but either they or Mr. E have vetoed the idea. They'd better get their backsides into gear if they want us to take them seriously. It'd be wonderful if F1 showed up to New Delhi only to find that the circuit is incomplete ...
 
Right, I fixed the thread title, so can you please stop carping about it?

On topic, I think that 2009 is ambitious. We're already mid-way through 2007, and the calendar for '09 will have to be confirmed in Sep-'08, which means that there are 14 months to design and build the circuit. Perhaps there is a layout already in place which can be dropped onto a suitable piece of land, and perhaps the money is in place (particularly if there is governmental funding), but it still took China 2 years to build Shanghai, and they threw A LOT of people and money at it. I realise that labour is cheap and plentiful in India, but I really can't see it happening by that deadline.

Actually, I don't really believe that Singapore's place is entirely secure at this time either.

The Indy rumours are typical of Bernie. He always puts out statements to the effect of "We don't need this place" when he's renegotiating a contract with a circuit. Indy will stay: the carmakers want a US race, and circuit owner Tony George is too much of an egotist not to pony up the money.
 
The Indy rumours are typical of Bernie. He always puts out statements to the effect of "We don't need this place" when he's renegotiating a contract with a circuit. Indy will stay: the carmakers want a US race, and circuit owner Tony George is too much of an egotist not to pony up the money.

Yeah, only a few months ago Bernie was saying how Malaysia&#8217;s GP wasn&#8217;t giving Malaysia and F1 a positive image, moments later Malaysia signed a new contract. Oh the games we play.
 
Right, I fixed the thread title, so can you please stop carping about it?


carp about it? Urban Dictionary's definition of carping isn't appropiate for GTP...

anyhow, I think Mr. E should worry about getting more circuits in Europe than venturing into other parts of the world, where there's always some security issue. As I said before, there's loads of great circuits in Europe and it's a shame they're going to waste in F1 and they're actually investing ridiculous amounts of money building circuits in other places.
 
As much as i like seing F1 extending its global reach. I'd hate to see another traditional, characterful F1 circuit dropped in favour of more featureless, forgettable dustbowls.
 
Originally Posted by -Diego-
I think Mr. E should worry about getting more circuits in Europe than venturing into other parts of the world, where there's always some security issue. As I said before, there's loads of great circuits in Europe and it's a shame they're going to waste in F1 and they're actually investing ridiculous amounts of money building circuits in other places.

I think your right.There seems to be less races in Europe recently and there is too many circuits already in Asia (with more to come....)The European circuit should still sustain even if the circuit was "old" (like Silverstone and Nurburgring)
and the idea of street circuits is a bad idea.Even if it was carefully planned,what would happen to the street? (especially if a car crashes into a shop) You know what,i thing Bernie Ecclestone has ran out of ideas where to run Formula One.I think if there is too many Circuits to hast,why not make another separate series which could run on another circuit?
 
I was getting bored of all the circuits which have been around for like 10 years... I love it when new tracks and countries come, Im not really into all this heritage / historic circuits stuff (things like Spa etc), I just want to see new challenging tarmac... bring on as many new tracks and exotic destinations as possible!

Robin
 
and the idea of street circuits is a bad idea.Even if it was carefully planned,what would happen to the street? (especially if a car crashes into a shop)

I think the term street circuit might be misleading some people. it won't be 'street' racing, it'll be more like the 'street' race tracks at Monaco, Montreal, Adelaide, etc.
 
I heard that the advent of non-European circuits responds to the fact that Asian countries don't have such strong anti-tobacco laws, so races in these venues can get more tobacco sponsorship, and thus, generate more money. Take a look at the Ferrari cars, during non-European/American races, they're almost always sporting the Marlboro advertising, whereas in Euro/US, they have that weird diagonal lines thing.
 
Not surprising tbh Diego, most of the decisions in F1 are Money related as opposed to performance/spectacle (not those kind of spectacles) related.
 
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