[Rumours] Which Circuits for FOTA championship?

[Peter Mallett]

As discussed here, http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116523 with FOTA breaking away what does it mean for the circuits? IIRC the FIA has the right to the title Grand Prix and indeed Formula One (although that may be Bernie).

So, it raises the question of what these breakaway races will be and where will they be held?

I suspect we may well be looking at the traditional circuits, such as Monza and Silverstone, not to mention Nurburgring, but I suspect Monaco will be dropped because of it's links with the FIA and Bernie.

[olly83]

Assuming the breakaway series goes ahead, as someone mentioned in the "Breakaway" thread, whats to stop Moseley from withdrawing FIA events from any track that supports the FOTA series? and would the fact that F1 has a race at Spa prevent the FOTA series from running there too?

[steve nielsen]

Ferrari own Mugello, Mercedes have a big interest in Hockenheim, Silverstone was off the calander anyway, maybe Maygny Cours or the Le Mans Bugatti circuit, Zolder, Assen and I'm sure I'm forgetting some circuits.

[Pingguest]

Monaco could well follow Ferrari. During the Monaco Grand Prix race weekend Prince Albert II gave an interview to the Dutch TV and more or less said the Grand Prix would follow the Scuderia.

[Pingguest]

I'd like FOTA to race at Zandvoort. Finally the Dutch will have their Grand Prix again.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Not sure that the FIA has dibs on the title "Grand Prix", the Indy Cars race at the
"Honda Grand Prix St Petersburg"
"Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach"
"Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen" (Watkins Glen)

[jab]

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

Not sure that the FIA has dibs on the title "Grand Prix", the Indy Cars race at the
"Honda Grand Prix St Petersburg"
"Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach"
"Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen" (Watkins Glen)

I think they have control over national Grands Prix as they have to authorise the use of the New Zealand GP and Macau GP

[ECW Dan Selby]

There's so many good possibilities out there. I almost hope that the FIA do put a stop to FOTA using "their" tracks - it means FOTA will be forced to look elsewhere

Selby

[Hendrik]

I'd LOVE to see Montreal back in the calendar.

[olly83]

Originally Posted by ECW Dan Selby

There's so many good possibilities out there. I almost hope that the FIA do put a stop to FOTA using "their" tracks - it means FOTA will be forced to look elsewhere

Selby

Well that's true but i'd still like to keep Spa, Monza and Suzuka. How about Road America, Laguna Seca, Adelaide?

[ECW Dan Selby]

Absolutely - But if they're blocked then I just think there's so many other options, options we havn't seen used in literally years.

Anyone know where I can find a list of tracks that are up to "F1 Safety" standard?

Selby

[steve nielsen]

Monaco! :

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/75566

[steve nielsen]

The term Grand Prix already exhisted before F1 did and is not only used in F1(MotoGP,Motocross, figureskating,horseracing)

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

...but I suspect Monaco will be dropped because of it's links with the FIA and Bernie.

Monaco was one of the first to give support to a FOTA breakaway series according to TV sources...

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Peter Mallett

...but I suspect Monaco will be dropped because of it's links with the FIA and Bernie.

Monaco was one of the first to give support to a FOTA breakaway series according to TV sources...

[Satorian]

Silverstone
Imola
Suzuka
Magny-Cours
Indianapolis or Watkins Glen

From the current roster, it'd be nice to get Monza and Spa.

[Tim Falce]

Do Mclaren still own Lydden Hill? That'd be an interesting race.

[jab]

No-one on the FOTA side is saying how much preparation has already been done, but I gather that one of the team principals has been on the phone to several tracks which have recently hosted F1 events and are no longer hosting events, like Indianapolis, Montreal, Silverstone.

Ferrari owns Mugello, while Imola is ready to host these cars again after a major refurbishment. The teams seem to feel that the logistics of putting a new series together are not as much of a problem as is being suggested, especially getting the tracks and track operations together. The TV deals would be the tricky bit.

http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/2009/...m-silverstone/

[chillibowl]

obviously a complete pipe dream, but thinking about Heidfeld's laps at the Nordsheilfe a few years back, is would be awesome if a breakaway series, attempting to get back to its racing roots, thought about throwing an endurance event onto the schedule.

is there a racing fan in the world that would not tune in to see that?

[Satorian]

Originally Posted by chillibowl

obviously a complete pipe dream, but thinking about Heidfeld's laps at the Nordsheilfe a few years back, is would be awesome if a breakaway series, attempting to get back to its racing roots, thought about throwing an endurance event onto the schedule.

is there a racing fan in the world that would not tune in to see that?

It'd truly be too dangerous though I think. The course is huge and emergency response times to get someone into medical care after a shunt or crash would be prohibitive. I think it's already bad enough with the GT cars in the SP classes of the VLN.

[chillibowl]

double post, sorry.

[JamesH]

The problem might be that the FIA could probably stop a circuit from having ANY FIA sanctioned events if they allowed a breakaway to run there.

Pretty sure that can happen in karting (ie run a non MSA sanctioned event at a MSA track and you lose MSA support). Since MSA is beholden to FIA.....

That said, it would make a very interesting court case, certainly in Europe.

[duke_toaster]

Disclaimer : this post does not affect my view that this is just brinkmanship and is unlikely to happen outside of the land of the press release. However I am assuming it does in this scenario.

Trademarking Grand Prix is an interesting thing - if Bernie had ownership to all uses of the term Grand Prix the courts would be jammed up with him suing the IAAF, Dorna, FIM, numerous showjumping events, whoever the promoters are for Speedway Grand Prix, International Badminton Federation and half of the world's sports governing bodies and commercial promoters.

I don't think Bernie owns the name Grand Prix. He might own British Grand Prix et al et al. If he does he would have sued the IndyCar events, GPMA and GPWC.

Also, FOTA could sue under competition regulation requiring the FIA to sanction other series. Other new sports leagues have sued on competition grounds, the USFL did but it sort of killed them (winning only four US dollars in damages). I think this has been mentioned before. If the FIA start taking licences away, the circuits could sue. The only real winners

Logical venues would probably be as follows.

Valencia Ricardo Tormo : F1 grade venue, holds MotoGP, in Spain. Not that long though.
Silverstone : No FIA top level events next year, major fan interest.
Mugello : It's owned by Ferrari
Indianapolis Motor Speedway : If the FIA ban them, are Tony George, the FIM and Bill France really going to care?
Magny Cours, Valleunga and other 1T licences : Nothing to lose.
Temporary circuits : Obvious reasons.

It would be difficult to get things together to kick off in nine months time though, I'd imagine it would start in the mid-summer next year. If it ever happens.

[TWK]

Max Mosely said last month the FIA would be obligated to sanction a "breakaway" series.

[courageous]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Trademarking Grand Prix

I think they tried that already & were told where to go - Pau & Long Beach are just 2 examples of non-F1 "Grand Prix" events.

Formula 1, F1 etc... is trademarked - which ironically could help a breakaway series find tracks to race on, since they can't be called Formula 1 cars; the FIA can't limit them to Grade 1 circuits.