Can’t wait !

Wolf, you go to Australia, China, AND Singapore? You must be stinking rich! Hahaha!

Wasn’t it you who snuck into the paddock at Monaco? You must tell me how you did that……

Montreal definitelly lives F1. The atmosphere there is awesome. There is no escaping it. And they call Hamilton Amilton and Heidfeld Eidfeld there The only draw back for me is that it really far far away from Hong Kong for me

@ Pink Peril - hey, I will be in Singpaore too, Turn 1

But you are right that Melbourne is a little lukewarm on the GP - always has been, sadly. But if you are looking for F1 action off the track you should head to Carlton - especially if Ferrari win - ‘cos that’s where the party will be ! Just so you know for next time.

It’s hard to compare, as the only other GP I have been to is Monaco. But in terms of action, value for money, and spectator enjoyment I think Melbourne is hard to beat. I’ll be going to Singapore in September, and I’ll let you know what that is like too.

On another note - still no word here if the Victorian Government has reached an agreement with Bernie to keep the OZGP. I am on tenterhooks waiting !

And even though this article doesn’t full out say it, Suzuka is WORLDS better than Fuji! Fan accomodation aside, Suzuka was also one of the worlds greatest tracks! It always made for good races, and was the type of track where the driver made a big difference. If this is the top form of motorsport in the world, shouldn’t we be challenging the drivers with the best tracks?

The only disapointing thing was that although the track is in the city, I felt like the F1 arrived in Melbourne under cover. The F1 atmosphere ends the moment you leave the track, it felt like the city does not really care …

That’s really interesting, especially when you compare it to the atmosphere in Canada - from your photos I’d say Montreal very much cares about Formula One, even if the circuit operators don’t (in reference to the surface breaking up).

Unfortunately neither the on-track action or a circuit’s racing heritage appear to count.

Sadly I would have to agree with you here; it’s all about the dollars, political influence and future direction of the sport.

It’s a fact that there will always be many more tracks wishing to host a Grand Prix than there are races available in a season. Bernie is therefore in the position to be able to dictate the game in terms of appearance fee, Paddock Club facilities, team and press facilities etc.

In recent years the deals to host the race have been done at Government level (Malaysia, Bahrain, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Turkey) with officials throwing $millions at F1 and bending over backwards to get in on the action. It was therefore inevitable that some of the more traditionally run ‘classic’ circuits would get left behind as Formula One moves itself onwards and upwards.

Fear of losing the race is the tool that Bernie uses to bully the circuits into re-investing in new pit garages, press facilities and Paddock Club facilities. Silverstone and Spa are prime examples of this.
(although quite how Sao Paulo escapes this treatment is anybody’s guess!) This in itself is a good thing as the teams and press benefit from the improved working facilities (unfortunately spectator facilities and convenience are quite a way down the list of priorities). Of course a more impressive Paddock Club brings in more $$$.

What other factors might affect Bernie’s choice?

Developing markets and future potential; India is an example along with Abu Dhabi and Dubai??

Spectator$$$; here the example might be Valencia as the deal for this race would have been made at the height of Alonso-mania, a 2nd race in Spain would cash-in the same way a 2nd race in Germany did for the Schumacher period.

Television scheduling; here Singapore is the experiment to see if a shift to night racing (and hence a more audience friendly broadcast time in Europe) could actually work. The Singapore government accepted this as a condition to gaining a race, but once one circuit has successfully run a night race then others will have to follow.

Political moves; here I will go out on a limb to say that I suspect that the race deal for Fuji Speedway (owned by Toyota) was struck as part of the package for Toyota entering F1 in the same way that Circuit Paul Ricard (owned by Bernie) became Toyota’s European test track. The value of having a major manufacturer such as Toyota join F1 being the deciding factor.

I believe there are many different factors that might determine where F1 races.
Unfortunately neither the on-track action or a circuit’s racing heritage appear to count.