The Formula 1 calendar development threadFormula 1

[Ian Poole]

Well, if you are looking for races to get lost to get Russia on the calendar, get rid of Valencia because we could do without that two hours of yawning in our lives. Span only got a second race because of Alonso's success and Germany had their second race taken off of them because of their lack of success (i think but don't quote me).

Also, I think that we should do something else with the circuits because I notice that people want other circuits so what about doing something like what rallying is doing right now; alternating the events each year? Perhaps swap Russia with Hungary or a country as close to?

 

[Seismica]

I concur. 👍 We should have both Nurburgring & Hockenheim, Imola & Monza and Suzuka & Fuji on the calendar. Now..just got to find some sponsors .

Couldn't agree more 👍

Having one race per country (And a possible extra for continent) doesn't produce exciting races. We need to pick the circuits on merit, not location. But we know that isn't going to happen, if it's too remote, neither the sponsors nor Bernie will go with it.

I mean look at Spain, Catalunya and the Valencia street circuit produce awful races in my opinion. But the Hockenheimring and the Nurburgring seem to produce decent races, as do both of the Japanese and both of the Italian circuits. I like what they did before with the 'San Marino' GP that wasn't in San Marino .

Maybe they should have an English GP to compliment the existing British GP

 

[DK]

If there's a Russian GP in 2012, then what's to say there won't be an Irish GP?
As you can tell I'm obviously joking.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Monaco appears to be safe for another 10 years.

 

[PeterJB]

They should just bring back every single grand prix and every single track (Some would need new grands prix made for them) for a mammoth F1 season. One race every week all year round. Perfect!

 

[Louie_Schumii]

Can someone suggest to me where the overtake points are? Maybe turn 3...(Korea)

Turn 3 and 4 seems to be the prime overtaking spots on this track (since those hairpin turns are preceded by slow corners instead of Herman Tilke's staple diet of high-speed corner followed by a redundant long straight leading to a hairpin - Mr. Tilke did come up with Turkey but all that track did was take the best things about a number of already popular circuits such as Interlagos).

They should just bring back every single grand prix and every single track (Some would need new grands prix made for them) for a mammoth F1 season. One race every week all year round. Perfect!

. That would be so exhausting for the teams. Just thinking about it has me out of breath!

 

[NapoleonMikey]

Also going into turn 1 if you can get a good run out of 17 would be a good spot as long as you can keep it tight for the apex of 2. So I would say the whole first sector is your prime passing area.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Can someone suggest to me where the overtake points are? Maybe turn 3...(Korea)

The layout has been changed slightly. Turns one and two have been reversed, so that one is now the sharper bend and two is the easier exit. It's kind of like the current Hungaroring configuration. Turn three has also been tightened to be more of a hairpin, with a new turn - a right-hander - added immediately afterwards so that the course continues along the back half as originally intended.

 

[lukeconnelly]

Red bull are going to be dominent in Korea. 2 seconds faster possibly

 

[Alex.]

Perhaps 1.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Red bull are going to be dominent in Korea. 2 seconds faster possibly

What are you basing that on? Their performance in Hungary? Hungary is tighter and needs different levels of downforce compared to South Korea.

 

[lukeconnelly]

It's just the fact that it looks like a big s. But the other teams will probably have caught up with them if they stop moaning about the rb6

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It's just the fact that it looks like a big s.

And what does a big capital letter have to do with Red Bull winning by two seconds per lap?

More importantly, how on earth does the circuit look like an S?

 

[lukeconnelly]

Look from turn 5 to turn 13 and it's constant turns with the odd straight in between a couple of them

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Still doesn't make it an S shape ...

 

[JohnBM01]

I'd be interested to see what a street course around Moscow will be like and what roads would be used. I know that for some time, there had been plans to introduce a true circuit that could host Formula 1 in Russia. Never materialized. I have to think in the long term that the Russian folk may just want a true international circuit worthy of hosting Formula 1 racing on a permanent circuit. Moscow is a lovely start, but I'm somewhat thinking long-term here.

 

[Antti-san]

New video of Chandhok driving a few laps around the new Korean circuit.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

This was the lead on Autosport overnight:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86442

Very exciting - sounds like Bernie Ecclestone is giving Hermann Tilke the power to design as he pleases in the future. Not sure how this is going to manifest, but I wouldn't be surprised if Tilke gets involved in settling on the final location for the race.

 

[Northstar]

Apparently there will be a Russian GP in 2014, as long as a piece of paper gets signed.

Link

Bernie Ecclestone on Saturday said he is only now waiting for organizers of a Russian Grand Prix in 2014 to sign a contract.

A report in the Kommersant daily said the F1 chief executive has agreed terms for a race in the resort city Sochi.

"The document has still not been signed but when the appropriate person from Russia signs it, I will sign it the next day," Ecclestone is quoted as saying.

The report said the only potential stumbling block is the annual promotion fee, apparently comparable to the approximately $40 million paid by Singapore and Abu Dhabi.

An official in the deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak's office confirmed the receipt of the contract from Ecclestone, according to AFP news agency.

In other circuit news, photographs have emerged showing that curbs, barriers and the crucial top layer of asphalt have been laid in Korea.

And a new circuit in the north of Spain, Circuito de Navarra, has received a T1 homologation by the FIA, making it eligible for Formula One testing.

Unfortunately it appears it will be another street course.

 

[Akmuq]

Apparently there will be a Russian GP in 2014, as long as a piece of paper gets signed.

Link


Unfortunately it appears it will be another street course.

If it's the street course on the opening post of this thread I will be happy.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

"In" Sochi could mean anything. The USGP is going to be "in" Austin, but it's clearly a road course on the outskirts of the city. And looking at the city in Google Earth, there's not really that many places it could go. And if there is, the streets are all very narrow - so at least it would be a proper street circuit, closer to Monca than Valencia. I suspect that if Bernie wants a circuit in Sochi, it's going to be worked into the 2014 Winter Olympics venue. That's one of the big problems with hosting the Olympics: once they're gone, a lot of the facilities struggle to find a new lease on life. The Homebush Bay site languished for years after the Sydney Olympics, and while it eventually got back on its feet, there was a two- or three-year period immediately after it where nothing happened. Having Formula 1 race around the Athletes' Village and/or the stadium and skating rinks would guarntee the project had a life after the Winter Games. And all of the fancy architecture would already be in place. That said, construction of the Olympics venues is no doubt well underway - at the very least, the plans will have been finalised - so it would be hard to work a circuit into it. But it would certainly be an interesting approach. Then again, Stupid Football Thing is currently in China with a race around the Shunyi Rowing Basin, which was one of the facilities for the 2008 Olympics. The race is a non-championship event after the circuit failed the FIA inspection; a section of circuit was deemed too narrow for racing, even under yellow flags.

There's also a renewed push to revive the South African Grand Prix, to be built somewhere near Durban Airport. A plan has emerged; apparently the circuit has the backing of financiers from Abu Dhabi. I don't like it, but I expect this will go the same way as that talk of a race in Mallorca: nowhere.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

If it's the street course on the opening post of this thread I will be happy.

Go back and read that opening post again - it's in Moscow. Which is nowhere near Sochi. Sochi is a city on the east coast of the Black Sea, just north of the Russian-Gerogian border. About a thousand kilometres from Moscow.

 

[Akmuq]

Whoops. I wasn't paying complete attention.

 

[DK]

If Bernie wants a great circuit, they should build Grand Valley Speedway. Polyphony Digital are way better at designing tracks than Tilke.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Actually, I think that even if it were possible, Grand Valley would just be like the Hungaroring with a higher average lap speed because of the straights.

When Tilke builds a circuit, he has to work with what he's given. The biggest constraint here is the land: sometimes, he'll get something loaded with elevation changes like Austin. Other times, he'll gret reclaimed swampland (Shanghai) or a man-made island (Abu Dhabi), and there's not a hell of a lot you can do with that. I mean, look at his modifications to Hockenheim - he cops a fair amount of criticism for it, but evena cursory glance should tell you that he was told to treat the existing circuit like a perimeter. And given the shape of the old Hockenheim circuit, there was never going to be much that he could do with it.

 

[yeti]

Arcadey footage of new Korea...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9081589.stm

Imagine if F1 was like this every weekend!!

C.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Bernie Ecclestone and Vladimir Putin are reportedly in Sochi today to sign a contract that will see a Russian Grand Prix established in the city from 2014.

 

[Sureboss]

So with Bernie stating that 20 races is the maximum, which tracks are under risk? Hungary? I sincerely hope we lose Valencia, but I don't see it happening. New races are great, but if we start getting to a point where we rotate GPs, track investment could suffer.

 

[Akmuq]

Well if I was in charge the tracks going would be Hungary,catalunya and Valencia. But it's all about the money and that probably means we will lose Turkey and any other place with bad attendence.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Circuit map:

It's 5.5km, to be run around the Olympic Village on the Black Sea. I think it looks like a cross between Sepang and Monaco (pre-Rascasse), with a touch of Aragon in there. Reactions have been very varied; some people love it, others have already written it off. Most people seem deathly afraid that it will replace something like Monaco or Spa simply because those events are up for renewal and everyone seems to believe Bernie when he says 20 races is the maxium (despite having previously said that 16 is the most that can fit on the calendar).

Personally, I like it. It looks like it's got some very fast sections, and there's two or three corners in there that look like really nasty kinks. And another image I found:

So with Bernie stating that 20 races is the maximum, which tracks are under risk? Hungary? I sincerely hope we lose Valencia, but I don't see it happening. New races are great, but if we start getting to a point where we rotate GPs, track investment could suffer.

Bernie has previously said that sixteen races is the maximum. Look how that turned out. The maximum number of races is dictated by the Concorde Agreement, and a new one will be coming into effect in 2012 - but it needs to be negotiated first. If Bernie decides we can do more races, he'll no doubt get his wish.