The Formula 1 calendar development threadFormula 1 

akmuq
New Jersey might as well be New York. About one quarter of the city is in New Jersey.
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No biggie...the New York Giants and New York Jets both play ball in New Jersey.

I don't expect an F1 race to really happen inside NYC, it's an anti-car traffic nightmare.
 
Pupik
I don't expect an F1 race to really happen inside NYC, it's an anti-car traffic nightmare.
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And there isn't really going to be much choice in what turns there will be, 90 degree turns pretty much everywhere.
 
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More talk of a New York Grand Prix ... to be held in New Jeresy.
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That'll be the day. Like others have said, it'd be a logistical nightmare and I'd wager there'd be an local insurgency against holding a race there. If F1 wanted to do a race in the Northeast US, I'd think Watkins Glen makes more sense...

Personally, I think today's species of Formula 1 is just too quick for any street circuit, though Route 246 would make for an interesting street circuit in real life.
 
How do they determine who does and doesn't get a race? I'm curious if there's more to it than the money they can bring to the table.
 
Tesla
How do they determine who does and doesn't get a race? I'm curious if there's more to it than the money they can bring to the table.
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For the most part, its who pays the most. So if India comes along willing to pay more than Turkey...then Turkey no longer holds a race due to the 20 race limit (not a rule, but the teams have said that more than 20 races is just not feasible or sensible).

There is also clauses the FIA has for historically significant countries to remain on the calendar. These are (I think): Monaco, Britain, France, Italy. The FIA will go out of its way to try to make sure these are on the calendar. But because the FIA do not own the commercial rights, they can only pressure FOM into keeping these GPs - they cannot force them to. France has already been lost due to lack of interest and money.

There is also an element of FOM wanting to take advantage of new markets. A new market has much more potential for bringing in a large amount of new fans and new viewers than say holding a race in Holland. A race in India or Russia or even America will act as a "local" race for many more people and these countries still have an untapped market for viewers and fans.
So FOM will be tempted to go to more new places that are willing to pay than old or ones that are geographically close. But of course, money is still the main factor.
 
Ardius
For the most part, its who pays the most. So if India comes along willing to pay more than Turkey...then Turkey no longer holds a race due to the 20 race limit
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While that is indeed true, it should also be mentioned that Bernie has never dropped a race mid-contract simply because he had a better offer from someone else. He will only replace a race once they have seen their current contract out.
 
It's good to know the son of Carlos Slim is behind this. Makes it all the more likely to happen. I think it's pretty fair to say that Sergio Perez will be around in F1 for quite a while.

One thing that worries me is that there are so many countries bidding for a race right now. I think we are going to lose at least one "classic" race.
 
F1 fan
I think we are going to lose at least one "classic" race.
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I think people overstate the emphasis of a "classic" circuit. Look at Suzuka - it's held up as an example of a truly fantastic circuit ... but it does produce some boring racing.
 
Boring racing? Sure some years haven't been all that, but Suzuka has its fair share of interesting races. I wouldn't call last year's race a bore, 2009 maybe, 2006 also maybe, but 2005 was far from being a bore.
 
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I think people overstate the emphasis of a "classic" circuit. Look at Suzuka - it's held up as an example of a truly fantastic circuit ... but it does produce some boring racing.
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It has always been my dream to make the journey to Spa and Suzuka for their respective Grand Prix. I tried for Spa last year, but just couldn't afford it as I left the travel arrangements too late. My girlfriend's family live in Nagoya, so I could "kill two birds with one stone" as the saying goes and meet the rest of her family that I haven't met yet. Anyway, back on topic, Suzuka doesn't alway produce the best races, but it has produced some great ones and still has the ability to do so. It's a circuit I was in awe of when I first saw it in my early childhood.

It deserves it's place on the calendar and I am thrilled whenever F1 goes to Suzuka.

Would you rather have another Valencia in a pretty city, or Suzuka?
 
F1 fan
Would you rather have another Valencia in a pretty city, or Suzuka?
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I didn't say that. I said the status as a "classic" venue is over-rated. The alternative to Suzuka is not necessarily another Valencia. In fact, if you look at some of Tilke's latest work - Buddh International, Austin, Sochi - there's some very good stuff in there. If a long-standing event produces a spate of boring races, I don't see why they should retain their place on the caledar simply because they are "classic".
 
I'm sorry, but have we even seen so much as a track layout for Sochi yet? And since Buddh international and COTA only exist in simulated form so far, I'll wait until I pass judgement on them.

Tracks with "classic" status still have their place in people's hearts. Monza, Spa, Suzuka, Montreal and Interlagos have great track layouts and can produce some epic races. And Monaco is one of those traditions that occasionally throws up a thriller.

I see no reason to leave one of them, let alone any of them.
 
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This is an early draft. Turns 4 and 6 in particular wil be different - they'll hug the curve of the stadium. Turns 13 and 14 will be smoother and faster.
 
It seems like every week there is a new race that somebody is considering. I'm starting to think we'll have a 30 race calender before too long.
 
F1 fan
I'm sorry, but have we even seen so much as a track layout for Sochi yet? And since Buddh international and COTA only exist in simulated form so far, I'll wait until I pass judgement on them.

Tracks with "classic" status still have their place in people's hearts. Monza, Spa, Suzuka, Montreal and Interlagos have great track layouts and can produce some epic races. And Monaco is one of those traditions that occasionally throws up a thriller.

I see no reason to leave one of them, let alone any of them.
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This. The track layouts look pretty promising but they could be terrible, we'll have to wait and see if the tracks produce good racing.

Also, the Sochi track map doesn't look like it will provide overtaking, unless it's as bumpy as Monaco or Singapore.
 
Peter.
Boring racing? Sure some years haven't been all that, but Suzuka has its fair share of interesting races. I wouldn't call last year's race a bore, 2009 maybe, 2006 also maybe, but 2005 was far from being a bore.
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Suzuka should be more interesting with DRS, but two of the most epic things I've ever seen in F1 (Raikkonen blazing through the field in 2005 and Alonso's pass on Schumacher at 130R) happened at Suzuka...
 
akmuq
Also, the Sochi track map doesn't look like it will provide overtaking, unless it's as bumpy as Monaco or Singapore.
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Why should a circuit be designed to "promote overtaking". When Spa and Monza were first built, they weren't constructed with overtaking in mind ...
 
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Why should a circuit be designed to "promote overtaking". When Spa and Monza were first built, they weren't constructed with overtaking in mind ...
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Because lack of overtaking has been a bit of a problem in Formula one recently. When those circuits were built, while it was still hard to overtake, it could be done with relative ease compared to modern F1. I agree, the actual problem is the cars themselves, but there is definitely a lot of hesitation to make drastic enough changes in that department.

Perhaps driver safety is the main reason for the hesitation. If someone was to die in F1, it would be bad publicity for the sport. Whereas Mark Webber throwing his steering wheel out of the car and getting out unassisted after his crash at Valencia was actually good publicity.

With all the lawsuits surrounding the death of Ayrton Senna (and sadly none about the partially forgotten Roland Ratzenberger) there may be a reasonable degree of fear surrounding drastic changes to the cars.
 
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F1 fan
It was. It failed in that respect.
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And that's my point: maybe we're going about things in the wrong way. The design brief for the Circuit of the Americas was that the circuit should hug the countours of the land, the way circuits like Spa and the Nurburgring were originally conceived. And that's exactly what was done. The solution to the problem of circuit design is not to design them to promote overtaking, but to get actual racers involved in the organisation process rather than faceless governments. Because circuits like Shangahi and abu Dhabi are built on pieces of land that were set aside for the race by faceless bureaucrats who dont really know what racing is all about (that said, add a touch of rain to Shanghai and it's an absolute thriller).
 
Snetterton has recently been re-designed to "improve overtaking" and it seems to have been a success. The difference was it wasn't Tilke doing it.

And Snetterton doesn't feature major elevation changes, or at least not in the area that has been altered. So its nothing to do with the land available or any rubbish like that.
 
But Snetterton was never designed for Formula 1. It gets Formula 3 and (maybe) Formula 2, neither of which produce nearly as much downforce as a Formula 1 car.
 
In Soviet Russia, F1 car drives you!

Track looks sweet.
 
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Please don't put words in my mouth. Shanghai is only any good when you add a bit of rain to it, as happened in 2010 and 2011. Or doesn't your memory go back any further than that?
 

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