The Formula 1 calendar development threadFormula 1 

Blitz24
They aren't going to run New Jersey in November, that's too risky. They will run it in conjunction with Montreal because its only a 375 mile drive from there.
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Agreed, however to me it seems incredibly illogical to take two separate trips across the pond.
 
lbsf1
Agreed, however to me it seems incredibly illogical to take two separate trips across the pond.
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How would they remedy that? Move up the races for Brazil and Austin? That won't be good either. Blistering Austin heat and won't it be nippy in Interlagos in July?
 
Work on the Port Imperial circuit will resume in September, though I gather he's referring to the actual circuit surface, and not the pit building.

lbsf1
That would not work, for all of the smaller teams it would be a logistical nightmare. When I was at Mclaren I saw the amount of stuff they ship about and how complex it is to get all the crew to the right places and it would be apsolutely stupid to not try and put New Jersey along with the rest of the America's races. Esspecially to then have to go back where they were prior to Europe for the next race.
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Right now, the teams do four flyaway races, come back to Europe for two races, and then go across to North America for two races before returning to Europe for five races.

To my mind, it makes more sense to do the four flyaway races at the start of the season, then do four races in Europe before going over to North America for two races, and returning to Europe for another four.
 
prisonermonkeys
To my mind, it makes more sense to do the four flyaway races at the start of the season, then do four races in Europe before going over to North America for two races, and returning to Europe for another four.
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It makes logistical sense, but I think the teams probably prefer the time back in their workshops, windtunnels, factories, et cetera...especially if they're not running up front, and would eventually like to be there. Being off the pace for four races might turn a season into a bit of a lost cause.
 
lbsf1
Agreed, however to me it seems incredibly illogical to take two separate trips across the pond.
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They've been doing that already for years.

And why is going across the Atlantic incredibly illogical, but making 2 trips to SE Asia is not? Remember that we go all the way to Australia, then head all the way across to Canada..and then back to Singapore+Japan before going back to Brazil. And we've been doing that since 2008....(except 2009 when Canada was temporarily dropped).

In fact, for the past 20 years F1 has been going back and forth across the globe "illogically".

Its not all about going in a single direction for logistics, there are a fair few factors involved here:
-Weather.
-Local events (attempting to avoid clashes with other major sporting events).
-Logistics.
-Fatigue for all involved (hence the summer shutdown).
-Cost.
-Money (some countries pay a bit to feature prominently, such as first or final race..or attempting to be the title decider).
-Tradition (e.g. Monaco has always been in May).
-Space on the calendar! (this has forced more events to be closer together logistically such as Spa-Monza).
 
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It's better for the race organisers to do it that way. If you have two races - like Malaysia and Singapore - that are close together both geographically and on the calendar, the two events will start competing with one another for crowd numbers. If you space the two races out on the calendar, there's a greater chance that more people will be able to go to both, because they don't have to pay for going to two races at once.
 
I was just thinking something, correct me if I'm wrong here but we're only getting 19 races this year because Bernie was not able to find a suitable 20th venue. Now, when the Nurburgring was under threat of not being able to host the German GP, Hockenheim were quite happy to host the race instead of them, but due to the contract, they would have to name it the European GP instead. However, as Nurburgring were able to host the German GP, why couldn't we have Hockenheim hosting a European GP to make it 20 races this season?
 
rendallio
I was just thinking something, correct me if I'm wrong here but we're only getting 19 races this year because Bernie was not able to find a suitable 20th venue. Now, when the Nurburgring was under threat of not being able to host the German GP, Hockenheim were quite happy to host the race instead of them, but due to the contract, they would have to name it the European GP instead. However, as Nurburgring were able to host the German GP, why couldn't we have Hockenheim hosting a European GP to make it 20 races this season?
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I presume it's due to New York/Jersey pulling out and the slot not being suitable for Hockenheim. Or something to do with rules stating a calender must be final by such a date.
 
Joe Saward gives a general view of where the Bangkok circuit will go:
The route agreed includes the main Ratchadamnoen Avenue, with the track using Din So Road to the Giant Swing and Wat Suthat Temple and then down to the Grand Palace and the Navy Club, with a run close to the Chao Phraya River. The paddock and grandstands would be located principally in the Sanam Luang park.
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Based on that description, I’m guessing the circuit will probably look something like this:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5867051
 
The previous proposal was also high speed, but your interpretation of the current one is perhaps more interesting. Looks pretty good anti-clockwise. 👍
 
Updated plans for the Sochi 'street' circuit (not new as DC says, layout's been confirmed for a while now):
https://twitter.com/therealdcf1/status/326299675617546240

935364_617228278306907_1896685155_n.jpg
 
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There's a few minor changes - the first turn has been tightened, probably to make it more pronounced (prviously, you could draw a straight line from Turn 2 to Turn 4 without any changes in direction). The knock-on effect is that the corner before the giant 180-degree bend has also been tightened and the entry into the 180-degree bend has been eased.

The short circuit is also brand-new.
 
Wardez
But not have a nearly as impressive skyline backdrop.
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Really?

The start line will be on the road between the Royal Navy Club and the Grand Palace. This is the Grand Palace.

There is a chicane halfway along one of the straights. It is there because the road goes through a roundabout. In the centre of the roundabout is the Democracy Monument. This is what it looks like. And this is Mark Webber driving through that very section of the city on a demonstration run in 2010.

The circuit also goes past the Victory Monument, and the Temple of Dawn.

So Bangkok might not have the glittering skyscrapers of Singapore, but there's some stunning architecture nonetheless.
 
Well yeah, wasn't disputing that at all, there are some cool monuments and palaces, but yeah I was just talking about the lack of an awesome towering skyline.

It'll be interesting to see how they light up all of those POI's though, which I'm sure they're planning to.
 
I like the layout and think that this will be a great night race as well. The course itself reminds me of Adelaide with the Hairpin in the northeast section of the track, but also Monza because of its flat out nature (which I feel that this track should produce)
 
Meh if the reports are true. A1 Ring was never a good track, too short and nothing particularly interesting except a crash prone turn 2. If Red Bull had added the Westschleife section along part of the old Österreichring track as they originally planned it might have been better.
 
Samus
A1 Ring was never a good track, too short and nothing particularly interesting except a crash prone turn 2. If Red Bull had added the Westschleife section along part of the old Österreichring track as they originally planned it might have been better.
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I'd agree on that.

Is it me or does the Bahrain Circuit look quite similar to the A1-Ring?
 
Certainly was fun to drive on according to the drivers, but that doesn't always make for good races of course. Nice and flowy old school circuit, would be cool to see it back for sure. Gonna be especially interesting to see how races are gonna play out on it with the new cars and DRS, ERS, less drag, etc.

And it's definitely a gorgeous scenic setting for a GP. Awesome environment, hopefully they don't go overboard with the RBR gear though.
 
My only memories of A1 Ring are the Ferrari team orders two years in a row and the various accidents at both turn 1 and turn 2. Apart from that, not much else.

Also you can absolutely be sure the RBR haters will claim this is favouritism and some sort of conspiracy to support Red Bull despite them not changing the layout since they bought it, only rebuilding it.
 
Samus
Also you can absolutely be sure the RBR haters will claim this is favouritism and some sort of conspiracy to support Red Bull despite them not changing the layout since they bought it, only rebuilding it.
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Yeah, they're going to install hidden underground rails for infinite traction that only work on RB cars :)
 
Austrian GP back? Meh. As others have said, the A1 Ring isn't that memorable a circuit. I've always felt its too short personally, and its a bit like Bahrain - it lacks some 'soul', to make you want to remember it.

What do we think lap times will be like? I'd estimate something like 1:12 or 1:13, but then again, with all the rule changes next year its not easy to predict. I wouldn't say as fast as the lap record (1:08.337) though.
 
Great to get the A1 Ring back if it's true. It's a brilliant 'driver's' circuit.
 
'cause of the nature of the track, I don't see modern F1 cars getting close to Schumi's 1:08.337, 'cause V10.
So yeah, I guess 1:12 or so, but we'll see.

One thing to note, it's pretty much the same exact length as Interlagos.

Oh, and about RBR "favoritism" fears, that'll be easy to mitigate, just make Mugello the European GP and let them race :D

Too bad McLaren doesn't have a nice track to represent.
 
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