French GP cancelled

Eurosport - Thu, 16 Oct 11:07:00 2008

The 2009 French Grand Prix has been cancelled for financial reasons.

FORMULA 1 2008 GP de France Magny-Cours - 0

"For economic reasons, the FFSA (French Motorsport Federation) has decided to cancel the (2009) French Grand Prix," said a statement.

"The FFSA would like to thank all those clients who attended the French Grand Prix and have supported the event in the last few years," the statement added.

It said all those who had already booked tickets would be reimbursed and apologised to all for the inconvenience caused by the cancellation.

The FFSA had said in earlier statement that, due to the economic situation, it was no longer prepared to promote financially the race at Magny-Cours.

"As a result, and as long as a promoter capable of succeeding the FFSA has not been identified, the French Grand Prix will not be able to feature on the FIA international calendar in 2009," it added.

France, the country that invented grand prix racing and whose language permeates the sport from chassis to parc ferme, has only once (in 1955) been absent from the Formula One calendar since the championship started in 1950.

The FFSA has a contract to run the French Grand Prix until 2011 but Ecclestone has long wanted to move it to a track closer to Paris from 2010.

Next year's race had already been billed as the last at Magny-Cours, a circuit in the depths of rural France that has fallen out of favour with teams and sponsors.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone had wanted to axe it earlier this year but agreed a reprieve and the circuit retained its slot with a June 28 date on an 18-round calendar published last week.

That same calendar was notable for the absence of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, which had been on an earlier 19-race provisional list, due to contractual issues.

It was not immediately clear whether France's disappearance might re-open the door for Canada, a commercially important race for the car manufacturers who dominate the sport and are unhappy not to have a North American round following the exit of Indianapolis.

Disneyland Paris is a favoured option for a future French Grand Prix, with plenty of hotel rooms and easy rail access from Paris and the rest of Europe.

Poor accomodation facilities and difficult access were regarded as the main weaknesses of the Magny-Cours track.

The FFSA said it was studying six "serious and worthwhile" projects, most of which involved a new track near the French capital.

Reuters

Comment 20 - 39 of 39

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  1. its good news at last then

    From tiptoptoe77, on Thu 16 Oct 10:23PM

  2. Disneyland Paris???? Well,why not -- after all, the FIA­ IS becoming a Mickey Mouse outfit...

    From Roo, on Thu 16 Oct 8:07PM

  3. Let's see what happens. Promises have been made on­ things before.

    From lexyoung, on Thu 16 Oct 8:04PM

  4. It seems that i have my 1st Internet stalker - Bernie­ or maybe even Mad Max. I feel quite flattered!
    It is­ about time Bernie and Ferrari set up there own series­ in the East and let the serious teams concentrate on­ Europe and N. America. Australia - you live so far away­ - you will have to decide which series to join, Europe­ preferably 'cos your pit girls are the business.

    From Biggles, on Thu 16 Oct 7:46PM

  5. Ok Rick M ,I was wondering where they went!

    From wizzo, on Thu 16 Oct 7:37PM

  6. Well said cliffe p and Ill now tell kontrolklimate to­ get back to his funny farm and continue making his­ green residue for the hamsters.

    From wizzo, on Thu 16 Oct 7:33PM

  7. Thanks Wizzo, but my 2 posts seem to have disappeared­ from the forum. Bernie must have read them and­ threatened Yahoo!

    From Biggles, on Thu 16 Oct 7:33PM

  8. savizzo

    Paul Ricard is no longer used for racing -­ it's owned by Ecclestone purely as a testing venue.­ As for Suzuka, I believe Fuji and Suzuka are­ alternating in a similar way to the Brands/Silverstone­ years

    From martinclitheroe, on Thu 16 Oct 7:25PM

  9. Another Ferrari-track out.

    From Csatari, on Thu 16 Oct 6:30PM

  10. Well said Rick M No 31 it needs to be put to people in­ the dark the seriousness of just one man holding the­ rights to our beloved sport.

    From wizzo, on Thu 16 Oct 6:26PM

  11. There are plenty of tracks vying for F1 status ,from ­ paul ricard to suzuka , bernie won't be sweating .

    From saverio, on Thu 16 Oct 5:27PM

  12. Regardsless of whether Magny Cours was an interesting­ race or not, this is a sad indictment that Bernie has­ made it too expensive for venues to fund the event on­ ticket sales and sponsorship alone, let alone make a­ profit from them, and now unless a government is­ prepared to subsidise Bernie's tax, and fill his­ coffers even more, tracks can no longer afford to pay­ his bill.. Be interesting to see which governments have­ now got any money left to give Bernie after they have­ finished handing it out to their banks and banking­ systems..

    Maybe the end is nigh for F1...

    From stefan, on Thu 16 Oct 4:57PM

  13. well well well what is this we have here ....even the­ FIA's home grand prix aint happening next yr.

    This­ surely brings F1 to an untimely end

    (just wondering­ if bernie and max are edging there bets for next­ yr....... if lewis wins the championship then there­ will be a 2009 season ....... if a red car wins this yr­ well will that be the end of F1)
    will bernie n max ­ say enoughs enough as this means the red cars will have­ the world champion for the rest of time

    MAX AND­ BERNIE ur two old codgers who are passed their prime­ ... for the sake of the sport get yr zimma frames­ gracefully and leave the soprt while theres still a­ sport to leave

    From cetdriver03, on Thu 16 Oct 3:56PM

  14. kontrol.climate what on earth are you doing on this­ site???If you dont like F1 dont log in .Ive never eva­ seen you say anything positive about anything.

    From zooo0143, on Thu 16 Oct 3:48PM
  15. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    so if you are an english idiot you can say anything on­ this whatever you call it?

    From MarkI, on Thu 16 Oct 3:16PM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    WONDERFUL NEWS

    ALL HIGHLY POLLUTING MONEY WASTING F­ 1 SHOULD BE BANNED CEASED

    From kontrol.climate, on Thu 16 Oct 2:47PM

  17. The tracka a bit MFN anyway ( Middle of F...... Nowhere­ ) and was getting the boot next year but Bernie will be­ rubbing his grubby little mits, he'll get lots of­ cash to put another night race on the calendar. Getting­ rid of lots of the old tracks, probably be Donington­ next!!!

    From GEORGE, on Thu 16 Oct 2:47PM

  18. This could be the beginning of the end of F1.
    Bernie­ and his crew need to realise that the economic downturn­ will mean that the major sponsors will not have the­ money to spend on F1 next year.
    The arrogant, flippant­ way in which he dismissed Silverstone from the race­ calendar was disgraceful, and all because he had a­ disliking of Jackie Stewart and the BRDC.
    Britain will­ be lucky to stage a Grand Prix in 2010, as I am sure­ the owners of Donnington Park will struggle to find the­ money needed to upgrade the circuit to F1 standards.
    I­ hope I am wrong, but I feel that the general public­ feel cheated this season with some of the crazy­ decisions made by the stewards, and , coupled with the­ shortage of money to spend on entertainment, will think­ twice about spending over £200 for a race weekend

    From T D, on Thu 16 Oct 2:26PM

  19. Hear, Hear!

    From norman.rohner, on Thu 16 Oct 1:55PM

  20. not printable--
    that is the most horrible thing­ i've seen anyone post on a formula 1 page.
    i'm­ sure you realize how racist our comments are, but i­ don't know if you're aware of how ignorant they­ seem. please don't spew that kind of stuff out into­ the world, no one needs more hatred.
    some people, me­ among them, have criticized hamilton's driving­ tactics, but your comments and uncalled for and­ ridiculous. i won't go into detail correctingyou­ because there are just so many things wrong with what­ you said. i will just ask you to leave your prejudices­ outside of this website and outside of formula 1,­ because no one needs that stuff here.

    From jeffsey, on Thu 16 Oct 1:23PM
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