Bernie says Montreal is back in 2010, mayor says "not so fast."

[BobHWS]

Recent reports, especially in Montreal's francophone papers (La Formule 1 serait de retour Ã* Montréal) have indicated that F1 will be back in Montreal in 2010. Now it seems that Bernie has stated so publicly. But based on my observation of Bernie's past blackmail, uh, I mean negotiation tactics, I'll believe it when I see the final, official 2010 F1 calendar published.

Montreal mayor says F1 deal not done yet
cbcsports.ca
Tuesday, August 4, 2009 | 4:34 PM ET

Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay said Tuesday that there's no deal in place yet to bring Formula One back to the city, despite F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone's comments to the contrary earlier in the day.

The head of Formula One said that an agreement in principle has been reached to have F1 return to Montreal in 2010.

"We have an in-principle agreement of how we're going to make the race happen," Ecclestone told CBC Radio.

But later Tuesday, Tremblay told RDS that negotiations are still continuing and that Ecclestone hasn't changed his previous offer. It was the major sticking point when the race was dropped for 2009...

[BobHWS]

Walter Buchignani, the man who covers F1 for the Montreal Gazette, offers his opinion about Bernie's premature announcement that F1 will return to Montreal in 2010. I think Buchignani's take on the news is the best that I've read so far.

Bernie the buffoon needs a muffler
By Walter Buchignani
Montreal Gazette
August 4, 2009 9:11 PM

MONTREAL — Here we go again. Bernie Ecclestone shoots off his mouth, and the rest of us are left scratching our heads.

Well, at least this time the Fuhrer of Formula One didn’t try to argue the merits of Adolf Hitler, as he did last month, drawing worldwide condemnation.

Still, what a buffoon...

...Officials at city hall appeared none too happy Tuesday at having to throw water on this latest fire sparked without warning by the gaffe-meister...

[Jay]

I think they'll get it back - it's just a matter of how much Bernie can extort out of our governments. It's a guaranteed successful race for F1, and the biggest event for Montreal - there are no losers. Oh right, except for those Canadian tax payers that would prefer not to pay for Bernie's circus...sucks to be them...oh right, and the groundhogs at Ile. Notre Dame..pity them too.

[BobHWS]

Originally Posted by Jay

...oh right, and the groundhogs at Ile. Notre Dame..pity them too.

I think the groundhogs have missed the race too...it was always the biggest weekend of the year for them too!

Youtube: F1 cars vs. groundhog in Montreal

[neiltb]

in that pic, the grondhog loos like he got by on the inside and lewis has had to go wide, quite the passing move.

[Last2LiftOff]

Oh, the irony.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Last2LiftOff

Oh, the irony.

The animal or the car ?

[JagtechOhio]

Isn't that the NASCAR Gopher Cam?

Speaking of which: for those of you in the know, I read that Montreal was limited to two major events each season. That being the case, and if the Circus is to consume one of them, why couldn't the NASCAR weekend be accompanied by an Indy Racing League Series event? Pros/ cons? Thanks!

[BobHWS]

Originally Posted by JagtechOhio

Speaking of which: for those of you in the know, I read that Montreal was limited to two major events each season. That being the case, and if the Circus is to consume one of them, why couldn't the NASCAR weekend be accompanied by an Indy Racing League Series event? Pros/ cons? Thanks!

It is true that the City of Montreal allows the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to be used for only two races per year. The reason for the limit is that the track is really only a temporary circuit that is laid out on a road that follows the outline of Ile Notre Dame, a big island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River across from downtown Montreal.

The whole island is a big public park and internationally renowned gopher sanctuary . (The Montreal Casino is also located in the middle of the island, in a building that served as the national pavilion of France for the Expo 67 World's Fair.) The city and the citizens of Montreal rightly feel that they don't want or need more than two race weekends per summer in the middle of one of their nicest parks. In the past 30 years this has meant one F1 weekend and sometimes another race weekend. For a few years there was a CART Indy car race and in recent years the second race has been NASCAR.

I guess you could pair NASCAR and IRL, but I'm not sure that either series is interested in that. The NASCAR people prefer to pair their race with the Rolex 24 sports car series, which is contolled by NASCAR.

But here's the interesting thing about the limit of two race weekends per year. The right to use the two weekends used to be controlled by former Montreal F1 promoter Normand Legault. He granted first to CART and later to NASCAR the right to use the second race weekend. However, when Legualt got out of the race promotion business in 2008, the company that currently promotes the NASCAR race acquired the rights to both race weekends. The name of this company is Stock Car Montreal and it is affiliated with International Speedway Corporation (ISC) , the big publicly owned US company founded by Bill France, whose family also controls NASCAR. ISC controls a bunch of big US tracks including Daytona, Talladega, Darlington, Michigan, California and Watkins Glen.

So even if Bernie gets everything he wants from the city of Montreal, he still has to cut a deal with ISC/Stock Car Montreal to acquire the right to use the other race weekend. I would guess that ISC/SCM doesn't really need or want to use that second weekend (it's not in use this year, for example), but all of sudden, Bwana Bernie has to deal with a group of people who are nearly his equal in deviousness. I wouldn't underestimate the little elf, though. After all, if Hitler could cut a deal with Stalin, then surely Bernie can cut a deal with ISC.

[Last2LiftOff]

I'm a little surprised that Bernie's just realising now that everyone in Formula One loves the Canadian, but I can see how some people on here might mistake that for a beaver, I'll give you that.

[JagtechOhio]

Thanks for the rundown, Bob. The subject came up on the IRL Forum, as several of us pointed to Montreal as an appropriate world stage venue.

My visits in '67 for the Expo and '81 for the F1/ CASC are fondly remembered, and I would love to return for a race once again. Staying in Toronto for Mosport events was a similar pleasure.

[icemachine]

I wasn't aware that NASCAR controlled promo rights for Ile Notre Dame, thanks for that info. Apparantly they signed a 3 year deal (2009-2011) so it'll be interesting to see who's got a tighter grip - Bernie or Bill

[scoobiesnoop]

Originally Posted by BobHWS

I think the groundhogs have missed the race too...it was always the biggest weekend of the year for them too!

Youtube: F1 cars vs. groundhog in Montreal

Isn't that Indy?? it looks like Indy, - I apologise if it aint but it looks like banking

[JeremySmith]

Is that Max Mosley, No silly not driving the car...

[Jay]

I think it's just the angle of the photo - it's the hairpin at Ile Notre Dame. See the youtube link above.

I also wasn't aware that the Nascar organisers had a say in the second date for a race at Ile. Notre Dame. I suspect that if the city was onside, the Nascar event promoters would have to take their date or leave it.

[JeremySmith]

???????? Jusus help me...

[BobHWS]

Originally Posted by scoobiesnoop

Isn't that Indy?? it looks like Indy, - I apologise if it aint but it looks like banking

Definitely Groundhogus Canadianus . I don't think there are any groundhogs at Indy--it's not a natural environment like Ile Notre Dame. Groundhogs like water and there is plenty of it on Ile Notre Dame with canals all around plus a small lake and the river. That photo looks like it might be from the Senna Curve where the white line indicates the pit exit.

[BobHWS]

As expected, the mayor of Montreal is now publicly acknowledging that F1 will return to Montreal in 2010. I plan to be there for the race and to capture some new Montreal F1 Babe Photos.



Grand Prix returning to Montreal
Mayor Tremblay announces tentative deal with F1 boss for 2010
Thursday, August 13, 2009 | 12:47 PM ET

Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone finally are seeing eye-to-eye, and the result is a return of the Grand Prix to the city.

Tremblay on Thursday said a tentative deal has been reached to bring back the race for 2010. A date and other event details have yet to be finalized...

[BobHWS]

Réjean Tremblay, a columnist for the Montreal francophone paper, La Presse, is the source of the news that Mayor Tremblay (no relation to Réjean) is acknowledging that F1 will return to Montreal in 2010.

Un Grand Prix bien protégé
La Presse
13 août 2009

Réjean Tremblay makes these points about the deal:

1. The contract has not been signed yet, but it's just a matter of finalizing a few details.
2. The national, provincial and city governments and the city tourist agency will together "invest" CDN $16.5M per year in the race. In return they will get 30% of the revenue from the ticket sales and local advertising (which leaves 70% for Bernie, who effectively assumes the role of promoter for Montreal), so their net investment will be between CDN $8-12M per year.
3. The main source of the government funds is the Quebec provincial government which is putting in about CDN $10M.
4. The contract will allow Montreal to opt out of it in case the teams ever do decide to dump Bernie and the FIA and form a rival series.
5. The contract will run between 5 and 7 years.
6. Michael Fortier, a Montreal lawyer and banker and a former associate of Normand Legault, has handled most of the negotiations with Bernie.
7. The deal will be officially announced sometime in the next two weeks or so.