F1 calendar shows 19 races in 2010
21/09/09 16:34
F1-Live.com
Bahrain will launch the 2010 season
The biggest news item coming out of today's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting has to do with the Renault 'Crashgate' affair and its very negative consequences for former Team Principal Flavio Briatore, however the WMSC members also had other items on their agenda.
It has become apparent that the performance gap has widened between certain teams despite the freeze on engine development. In order to re-establish closer levels of competition, the WMSC has opened the door to a compromise.
"Following suggestions that there is a differential between the performance of engines used in Formula One, the World Motor Sport Council has decided that should this be the case, and should the teams wish to eliminate this performance differential, they may be allowed to do so by reducing the performance of the more powerful engines. However, no engine upgrades will be allowed," an FIA statement announces.
The 2010 Formula One calendar has also been released and it shows a 19-round championship. Such a number of destinations has not been seen in F1 since the 2005 campaign.
Bahrain will take over as the season-opening event next year, with Australia presented as the second round. Taking into account daylight savings time, the change allows the Melbourne race to start at 5pm, following the trend of 'twilight' races imposed by Bernie Ecclestone in order to favour television coverage for European audiences.
The Malaysian Grand Prix will retain its twilight status, however the race is scheduled an hour earlier with hopes of avoiding a mid-race wash-out as was the case this year due to the daily fierce rainstorms of April. Abu Dhabi follows the late-day race format as well, while Singapore remains a late-evening event under the floodlights.
Canada appears on the 2010 calendar although the contract remains to be signed; if negotiations should fall through again, Turkey – which appears on the calendar in any case – will be delayed two weeks in order to take over Canada's reserved date.
New to the Formula One championship will be South Korea, with a debut set for October. Brazil will recuperate its traditional role as the season-ending race, this time in mid-November.
2010 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar:
Bahrain March 14
Australia March 28
Malaysia April 4
China April 18
Spain May 9
Monaco May 23
Turkey May 30
Canada* June 13
Europe (Valencia) June 27
Great Britain July 11
Germany July 25
Hungary August 1
Belgium August 29
Italy September 12
Singapore September 26
Japan October 3
Korea October 17
Abu Dhabi October 31
Brazil November 14
*Subject to the completion of contract negotiations with Formula One Management. If these are not completed then the Turkish Grand Prix will be moved to 6 June.
Note: The race in Australia will start at 1700 local time, in Malaysia at 1600 local time, in Singapore at 2000 local time, and in Abu Dhabi at 1700 local time.
Daniel BASTIEN
© CAPSIS International
21/09/09 16:34
F1-Live.com
Bahrain will launch the 2010 season
The biggest news item coming out of today's FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting has to do with the Renault 'Crashgate' affair and its very negative consequences for former Team Principal Flavio Briatore, however the WMSC members also had other items on their agenda.
It has become apparent that the performance gap has widened between certain teams despite the freeze on engine development. In order to re-establish closer levels of competition, the WMSC has opened the door to a compromise.
"Following suggestions that there is a differential between the performance of engines used in Formula One, the World Motor Sport Council has decided that should this be the case, and should the teams wish to eliminate this performance differential, they may be allowed to do so by reducing the performance of the more powerful engines. However, no engine upgrades will be allowed," an FIA statement announces.
The 2010 Formula One calendar has also been released and it shows a 19-round championship. Such a number of destinations has not been seen in F1 since the 2005 campaign.
Bahrain will take over as the season-opening event next year, with Australia presented as the second round. Taking into account daylight savings time, the change allows the Melbourne race to start at 5pm, following the trend of 'twilight' races imposed by Bernie Ecclestone in order to favour television coverage for European audiences.
The Malaysian Grand Prix will retain its twilight status, however the race is scheduled an hour earlier with hopes of avoiding a mid-race wash-out as was the case this year due to the daily fierce rainstorms of April. Abu Dhabi follows the late-day race format as well, while Singapore remains a late-evening event under the floodlights.
Canada appears on the 2010 calendar although the contract remains to be signed; if negotiations should fall through again, Turkey – which appears on the calendar in any case – will be delayed two weeks in order to take over Canada's reserved date.
New to the Formula One championship will be South Korea, with a debut set for October. Brazil will recuperate its traditional role as the season-ending race, this time in mid-November.
2010 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar:
Bahrain March 14
Australia March 28
Malaysia April 4
China April 18
Spain May 9
Monaco May 23
Turkey May 30
Canada* June 13
Europe (Valencia) June 27
Great Britain July 11
Germany July 25
Hungary August 1
Belgium August 29
Italy September 12
Singapore September 26
Japan October 3
Korea October 17
Abu Dhabi October 31
Brazil November 14
*Subject to the completion of contract negotiations with Formula One Management. If these are not completed then the Turkish Grand Prix will be moved to 6 June.
Note: The race in Australia will start at 1700 local time, in Malaysia at 1600 local time, in Singapore at 2000 local time, and in Abu Dhabi at 1700 local time.
Daniel BASTIEN
© CAPSIS International