Quote:
bron f1-liveBernie Ecclestone promised that the Belgian GP will be back in 2004. There will also be two new races next year, in China and Bahrain and only one race is taken out of this year's calendar, the Austrian GP. The total comes up to 18 Grands Prix, which is more than ever before !
At Hockenheim, a rumour started spreading that the Canadian GP would not return in 2004 but Bernie Ecclestone mentioned that it is too early to speculate on that. The reason why Bernie Ecclestone thinks that way is because his project includes 18 races.
To make this new extended F1 season possible, Bernie Ecclestone offered to the team a new 2-day Grand Prix weekend format : free practice and first qualifying session on Saturday and final qualifying session on Sunday morning with the race in late afternoon when television audiences are larger, confirmed by the good ratings for the races in Brazil and Canada which are transmitted around 18:00 in Europe.
Bernie Ecclestone is hoping that the team will agree to these changes in the next few days. The new weekend format should not be too much of a problem for the team to accept but having 18 races a year might not please teams such as McLaren, BAR and Sauber. Bernie Ecclestone still have a few days to convince everyone. If that doesn't work, one race will have to be taken out of the provisional calendar. The victim could be the Canadian GP or even the San Marino event.
|
1. Kwalificatie 1 op zaterdag, kwalificatie 2 op zondag, gevolgd door de race, later op die dag.
> interessant voor de bezoekers op zondag, oninteressant voor de kijkers. Wie gaat er zondagsmorgens zijn slaap voor laten om te zien wie om 14u op pole gaat starten ? Tussen het ontbijt door naar die ellendig saaie rondjes zitten kijken.
Wat doet een team dat crasht in de morgenkwalificatie en de reservewagen moet klaarmaken voor de race ? Aan een recordtempo alles in orde proberen maken zodat z'n coureur nog aan de start kan raken ?
2. Canada en San Marino van de kalender of 18 races per seizoen.
> Interessant voor F1-fans, oninteressant voor kleinere teams als Minardi, Sauber, Jordan...
San Marino zal wel niet zo gauw verdwijnen, zitten de Italiaanse Maffiosi (pardon, 'regering') daar niet voor iets tussen ?
Ach wat, we hebben Spa tenminste al terug !