APRIL 29, 1996
More races ahead?
THE worldwide demand for Formula 1 races, particularly in the Far East, could lead to the teams accepting a bigger calendar if the race meetings are reduced to just two-day events.
The recent switch to having qualifying only on a Saturday has made Friday rather a non-day - a little like another day of testing. There are suggestions therefore that the logical thing to do in the circumstances is to have a bigger calendar, carefully organized so that it twins together races in the same areas with a week separating them: it is not logical to have a Spanish GP at one time of year and a Portuguese at another. It is logical to twin Austria and Hungary, Brazil and Argentina and Canada with a United States race. This would make life less difficult for the teams which have to transport all their equipment from place to place. We hear stories that the Nurburgring wants to remain on the F1 calendar, but with other European countries likely to complain if Nurburgring is given a third consecutive European GP, it has been suggested that next year's race at the Nurburgring could be called the Luxembourg GP. Next year will be particularly significant for the Nurburgring as it will mark the track's 70th anniversary. Given the popularity of Michael Schumacher and the huge demand for F1 races in Germany, a Luxembourg GP may not be such a silly idea. Rumors at the Nurburgring, incidentally, suggested that there is to be a Grand Prix in South Korea in 1998 and that details of the event will be announced at the forthcoming Monaco GP.
FIA President Max Mosley last weekend suggested that he believes that Grand Prix racing should be part of the OlympicÊGames and is aiming to have an Olympic GP incorporated into the 2004 event - wherever it may be held.