The Formula 1 calendar development threadFormula 1 

GTPorsche
What? Are we going back in time to build the facilities for a street circuit?
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Are they not racing at Losail? Even if the proposed street circuit is pushed ahead, it'll hardly be a massive construction project. Labour condition complaints are better served in other arenas. (no pun intended)
 
Nobody is forced to fly to Qatar to work in drudgery under a contract that's crap any two ways you look at it.

Just like nobody's forced to start work at Chinese sweat shops.

At least with Qatar, you know (or should know if your country's immigration bureau does its job) what you're getting into. Even if it is horrible. With Chinese sweat shops, laborers don't have to pass through immigration exit points to get in.

What's shocking, really, is that other countries, including mine, readily send their migrant workers there. Tells you a lot about working conditions in those countries (although our local construction field death toll isn't anywhere near as large...)

That said, the labor issues there are not particularly surprising. Working as a foreign laborer in many other places in the Middle East is just as bad, already.

Also:

Dubai Unveils Plan for World's Largest Human Rights Violation
 
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AJHG1000
Nice in which way?
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You can't set a calendar based on any parameters other than who is willing and able to host a race. Claiming that the calendar should be based on human rights records is ludicrous because everyone is guilty of something. Our government literally just chose to ignore a report into their human rights violations because it was politically inconvenient and didn't criticise their political opponents as much as they wanted to.
 
haitch40
They kind of are. It is that or they die of starvation.
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Not quite that simple. If you're a poor Chinese person without the skill or education for clerical or technical work, you have several choices, in order of increasing income: Farm. Beg. Perform manual construction or sanitation labor, work at a sweatshop, sell illegal goods (self, drugs, etc).

A sweatshop is not the default choice or the only choice. People actually migrate from far flung provinces simply because sweatshop wages are higher than farming wages or typical manual labor wages.

People don't go to sweatshops to keep from starving. They go there for the opportunity to earn enough to jump up a social class or two... (without realizing, of course, the extra cost of living incurred by moving to the city severely handicaps them, unless they're sending money home to the province instead of moving the entire family to the city).

This ties in with migrant labor in the Middle East. The entire region is a cesspool of poor labor laws, mistreatment of workers and poor protection for migrant laborers. Not just Qatar. Yet construction workers still migrate there because the pay is excellent compared to even technical work in their home countries.

Some don't understand the risks, for which their home governments are at fault, for their inability to crack down on illegal recruiters, others don't care.

Personally, I wouldn't mind boycotting the region to make a political statement, but the increased visibility of human rights abuses due to these high profile issues is at least forcing the Qatari government to change.

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And, as PM notes... most governments are guilty of something. Why shouldn't F1 boycott the United States due to Guantanamo Bay or the Invasion of Iraq? Or boycott France, or Australia? Or even Brazil? Or Mexico, if we're after improving the lot of workers?

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Disclaimer: Don't give two whits about Qatar. Would rather extra races be found in Asia, where we actually manage to keep most of our construction workers alive.
 
niky
Would rather extra races be found in Asia, where we actually manage to keep most of our construction workers alive.
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I think South Korea and India are the only two Asian countries missing a race. Maybe Indonesia. Thailand and Vietnam are outside possibilities.
 
prisonermonkeys
I think South Korea and India are the only two Asian countries missing a race. Maybe Indonesia. Thailand and Vietnam are outside possibilities.
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India should be there. I think the races would sell out year after year. Vietnam is an interesting choice, but there might not be enough money to support such an endeavor.

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We have a few nice tracks here in the Philippines. Unfortunately, they're not F1-compatible.
 
niky
Nobody is forced to fly to Qatar to work in drudgery under a contract that's crap any two ways you look at it.

Just like nobody's forced to start work at Chinese sweat shops.

At least with Qatar, you know (or should know if your country's immigration bureau does its job) what you're getting into. Even if it is horrible. With Chinese sweat shops, laborers don't have to pass through immigration exit points to get in.

What's shocking, really, is that other countries, including mine, readily send their migrant workers there. Tells you a lot about working conditions in those countries (although our local construction field death toll isn't anywhere near as large...)

That said, the labor issues there are not particularly surprising. Working as a foreign laborer in many other places in the Middle East is just as bad, already.

Also:

Dubai Unveils Plan for World's Largest Human Rights Violation
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Er, why do you link to The Onion? Isnt that a parody website?
 
Looks pretty lousy, to be honest - a touring car circuit built to Grade-1 status.

The appeal of a Thai Grand Prix stems from Red Bull's presence in the sport, but Bangkok (or possibly Phuket) are the only regions with the population to sustain a race.

But the country is too unstable for it.
 
Oni91
There's a thought, the Chang International Circuit in Thailand recently opened up and that's FIA Grade 1. What are your thoughts on that? Personally I like the idea of a new sub-5km circuit. And if the alcohol licensing gets a bit iffy, it also goes by the Buriram United International Circuit.
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I don't think Charlie Whiting and Tilke would like turn 4...that is unless there is a mile of runoff or a chicane.
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Regarding Qatar, they could use Losail International Circuit instead and just add a few extra meters of pavement in sections so that it is wide enough for F1. (This would probably be expensive and/or illogical though)
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The organisers of the Russian Grand Prix have been forced to cancel the Sochi round of the Red Bull Air Races, due to unsustainable exchange rates, leading to concerns about their ability to host this year's Russian GP. Autoweek
 
I doubt that will put the Grand Prix at any risk. The race is far more prestigious than the Red Bull Air Race, so Putin will see to it that the Grand Prix goes ahead.
 
New South Wales is heading to an election later this month, and the incumbent premier, Mike Baird, has announced that he wants to make a bid for the Australian Grand Prix to be held in Sydney.

Nice try, Mike. But seeing as how I don't believe in the privatisation of public assets, I won't be voting for you.
 
prisonermonkeys
New South Wales is heading to an election later this month, and the incumbent premier, Mike Baird, has announced that he wants to make a bid for the Australian Grand Prix to be held in Sydney.

Nice try, Mike. But seeing as how I don't believe in the privatisation of public assets, I won't be voting for you.
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He wants police and fire departments and other government programs privatized? I'm republican and even I think that is crazy.

Back on topic, Melbourne is a good place to hold the GP, there is no need to change it.
 
ukfan758
He wants police and fire departments and other government programs privatized? I'm republican and even I think that is crazy.
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No, he wants to privatise the power infrastructure - power lines and poles - and hospitals to pay for an expensive cross-city transport project. The irony is that in the past three months, his party lost power in Queensland on the issue of power privatisation, and they lost Victoria on an expensive cross-city project. He still insists on carrying both issues not only to the election, but as his policy platform.

Back on topic, Melbourne is a good place to hold the GP, there is no need to change it.
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I think it's a bit of a wind-up. The Liberal party got the race to Melbourne in the first place, and now they've lost the state, they're running back to their sole premier in the eastern states.
 
Isn't there a Liberal Party-aligned newspaper in Melbourne that's spent the last few years complaining about the Australian GP in Melbourne?
 
DK
Isn't there a Liberal Party-aligned newspaper in Melbourne that's spent the last few years complaining about the Australian GP in Melbourne?
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Yes. Yes, there is.

I know that sounds contradictory, but this is a newspaper supporting the party that produced a report outlining the economic outlook of a parallel universe this week.
 
Baird's comments are looking more and more like a stunt. He has suggested that the race could go over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Ignoring for the moment the way that this is completely impractical because it will shut down a major arterial road connecting the North Shore with the CBD, the bridge itself is only six lanes wide. So the cars could go over once, but they couldn't come back - it's too narrow and too dangerous. The only option would be to send them over one way and bring them back via the Harbour Tunnel, which is dangerous in itself and will strangle the city.

The only way to make it work would be to run a race around the lower level of the CBD, probably building pit facilities into James Packer's Barangaroo casino development, and to keep the circuit off the Bridge.
 
I think he's most likely correct. If the venues aren't going to do anything to entice fans to show up all weekend, then it's going to fail in terms of revenue.
 
FOM should stop forcing the tracks to pay rediculous hosting fees... then more circuits could afford to host a race. FOM should be paying to go to the tracks (they would get partial ticket revenue for compensation)
 
ukfan758
FOM should stop forcing the tracks to pay rediculous hosting fees... then more circuits could afford to host a race. FOM should be paying to go to the tracks (they would get partial ticket revenue for compensation)
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But then Bernie doesn't get to line his underwear with money!
 
Legro
Hockenheim and Nürburgring are the only ones in Germany.
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The Lausitzring has a T1 grade level, meaning it's approved to allow F1 tests. So in theory it shouldn't take that much to get it lifted to grade 1. But of course, that costs money as well, and the organization fees would come on top of that.
 

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