SEPTEMBER 25, 2004

Seventeen races in 2005

According to FIA President Max Mosley there will be only 17 Grands Prix next year. This is no surprise as the F1 teams have made it very clear that they are not going to do more races unless they get paid considerably more money

According to FIA President Max Mosley there will be only 17 Grands Prix next year. This is no surprise as the F1 teams have made it very clear that they are not going to do more races unless they get paid considerably more money and cannot be forced to accept more races because the Concorde Agreement allows for only 16 races and a 17th in exceptional circumstances. This will help reduce costs for the teams but will mean that the Formula One group of companies will make less money because the organization will not be receiving any fees from additional events. With fees as high as $40m at some of the intercontinental races this will reduce the income. The big question is which races will get chopped from the World Championship. The speculation is that one of the races to go will be Imola and there must be queston marks over Silverstone although it would be a major step for F1 and the FIA to dump the British GP. We have heard stories that the Japanese GP might go but this sounds more like an attempt to push up the price rather than a realistic threat.