There are times when an F1 writer dreads the current news cycle. One of those is when the F1 calendar is the centre of attention.
Of course F1 fans want to know whether the historic circuits they cherish are in jeopardy, yet the smoke screens and misinformation spread abroad by the Ecclestone Empire become simply ridiculous around the time when a promoter is seeking to renew a race contract.
Motorsport.com ran an ‘exclusive’ on how Imola is available to replace the Cathedral of speed and that San Marino could ‘save’ the Italian Grand Prix. They report Ecclestone met yesterday with Uberto Selvatico Estense, president of Formula Imola, and Stefano Manara, president of CON.AMI and the city’s mayor, Daniele Manca
Manca states: “We wanted to show Ecclestone how willing Imola was to get Formula 1 back – but also do our part to keep the Grand Prix in Italy.
“We presented our plan to relaunch the circuit, outline the investments we have made and what we plan to do in the coming years with our infrastructure.”
Well blow me down with a feather duster.
Next up, the spectre of Enzo Ferrari is then called upon to breathe new life into the idea of a race in Imola. This is despite the fact the circuit is in a relative state of dilapidation as defined by the modern Formula One safety regulations.
“Bernie told us that he never wanted to go away from Imola – and he must remember that Enzo Ferrari originally asked him to organise a GP on our circuit.
“There are issues to sort out – and one factor is obviously the economy. But Ecclestone has agreed to check the time frame and conditions under which it would be possible to get F1 back to Imola. The target is 2017.”
Of course the current woes of Monza are well documented here. The circuit recently lost a 20 million euro tax rebate from the authorities and are having to find another 13 million euros to meet Ecclestones new hosting fee demands.
Monza barely makes a profit at present.
However, as TJ13 recently reported, there is new hope for Monza since the current chairman of Ferrari spoke categorically on the matter during the weekend of the Canadian GP.
“For my part, Monza will not fail.
“If they have problems then we should talk to Bernie (Ecclestone),” added Sergio Marchionne.
“If I consider the prospects for Monza, I think the race will not be excluded from the championship.
“If, in order to have this guarantee, we will have to intervene in the negotiations with Ecclestone, we will do that.”
Sergio Marchionne has proven to be a man who gets what he wants and also one who keeps his promises.
Following circuit butchering and a rebuilding of some of the facilities in 2008, Charlie Whiting awarded the circuit an FIA certification of “1” in 2011. However in the intervening years Imola has fallen behind the standards required by FOM to be awarded an F1 race contract.
This would most likely mean more facility upgrades would be required before F1 could return and the track layout would need to be ‘Tilkered’ – again – to prevent another processional F1 race.
The Imola 6 hour race was reinstated in 2011 after a 26 year absence. However, the Le Mans series (European sporstcar series) didn’t return for a race in 2012 and the event was downgraded to 3 hours in 2013.
Finally, given the new Ecclestone tough man act with Nurburgring and that the going rate for to host a European round of F1 is between 15 – 20 million euros.. how the Imola promoters believe they can afford this is beyond any reasonable calculations.
This story is just more Ecclestone propaganda, published by the now usual source and is an age old trick deployed to put pressure on Monza.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. Give us a F1 race at le mans. That would be awesome.
Yeah it’d be awesome! Maybe the right time is after LM24 race. and the quali time is a few hours before LM24 race! But the negative factor is we can’t see another Nico Hulkenberg-ish guy, who race in both LM24 and F1 because of time & stamina factor.
Circuit de La Sarthe (24 hr layout) or Circuit Bugatti (permanent track)?
24hr of course.
The idea is great but I’m afraid that at most we might see a F1 car do a demo but even that has only a small chance of being realized. I do wonder if the Monza spec would be used or if they would develop a different aero spec for that track… probably one of this things we will never get an answer to 🙁
But one can only dream
Bruznic i so agree, …France want a GP and we should have a GP in France. The le mans circuit is there just waiting
But lets get Monza resolved first and foremost.
“and even then the track layout would probably have to be ‘Tilkered’.”
For this reason alone I hope F1 never gets back to Imola, or any other iconic circuit for the matter. Not as long as the Tilkered Butcherer is alive, anyway… He’ll probably make a dog’s breakfast of Imola, too, just like he castrated the Mexican circuit (including the travesty of cutting in half Peraltada)…
From what I read, there were not many options with regard to Peraltada. There wasn’t enough room outside to provide run off, nor would today’s F1 buy off on a wall around such a high speed corner.
It is sad, but like many once great tracks which have had periods of inactivity, real estate gets sold or developed and it is no longer feasible to keep the old layout. *sigh* I’ve witnessed the demise too many once great local tracks in the North East of America.
“There wasn’t enough room outside to provide run off”
Level the damn bleeping stadium if need be, and cover it with gravel or tarmac or astroturf or whatever makes the FIA feel safe these days, and leave the f*cking layout alone. It’s not just Peraltada. He also butchered the Esses, completely gutting the flowing nature of the circuit, only so as to tilker the track to accommodate existing stands, as well as—it seems—to make it in his own boring image… I hope Tilke will start putting up stop signs on his layouts…
Before Tilke:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Autódromo_Hermanos_Rodríguez.svg/1280px-Autódromo_Hermanos_Rodríguez.svg.png
After Tilke:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Autódromo_Hermanos_Rodríguez_2015.svg/512px-Autódromo_Hermanos_Rodríguez_2015.svg.png
But before Tilke it looked like …ahum… a 2014 F1 nose
http://wtf1.co.uk/mexico-f1-2015-gameplay/ – Video of the track in action
I have to say, the stadium doesn’t look as horrible from inside the car as it looks from the outside.
“‘Tilkered’ – again – to prevent another processional F1 race”, I think ‘prevent’ needs to be replaced in this sentence with ‘ensure’ !!
Le Mans is unrealistic and unsuited. Better off dreaming about Bathust.
Yes, there was no reason to touch the esses. Maybe people don’t realize but turns 8, 9, 10 and 11 are different now. Why? I can’t understand, as Landroni says, apparently he destroyed the natural flow between these turns only to put his name on it.
Tilke’s hands were handcuffed by the FIA – maybe it would have been better to get a race in LA/Long Beach? We’ll see in 3-4 months if the renovation of Hermanos Rodriguez is a positive or a negative.. I’m sure we’ll see huge crowds though, if it’s not too expensive for basic tickets, that stadium would be 100% full.