La prossima settimana a Ginevra i rappresentanti della FOTA, l'associazione dei teams, e la FIA, si riuniranno per discutere le proposte per la riduzione dei costi in Formula 1.

Al momento se ne sentono di cotte e di crude: dal motore unico per tutti (per sancire definitivamente il monomarca...), all'abolizione dei rifornimenti, alla standardizzazione di alcuni componenti tipo i cerchioni.

E' un terreno minato, ma in gran parte una scena già vista: Mosley si presenterà con la solita carica di proposte rivoluzionarie/imbarazzanti/improponibili, che verranno rigettate in toto dai team per fare spazio a modifiche minori.

Mosley è già partito sul piede di guerra parlando di motore standard dal 2010 al 2012, per poi introdurre un nuovo ed innovativo metodo di propulsione dal 2013.

Annotatevi questo post, e vedremo poi cosa ne esce realmente. Io scommetto sul nulla o quasi, sperando di essere smentito.

Sebastien Bourdais has had 25 seconds added to his Japanese Grand Prix finishing time after making contact with Ferrari's Felipe Massa on lap 52. The penalty demotes him to 10th place, after finishing the race in sixth, meaning he looses three world championship points.

The incident occurred as Bourdais was leaving the pit lane. He entered the first turn at the same time as Massa, who was setting fastest laps to try and get past his rivals in the pits at the time. The French driver tried to get out of the Ferrari's way, but the two made contact and Massa spun round, losing the time he had made up in the previous laps.

Crucially, this gives Massa an extra point in the race, which decreases Lewis Hamilton's championship lead to five points. Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld also benefit from the decision, promoted to sixth, eighth and ninth.

FIA= fucking idiots association

seriously. Why don't they just give Ferrari the fucking trophy now. In fact, why don't they just give it to them at the beginning of the season, then just run the rest of the races as exhibitions?

Corrupt fucktards.

I thought the penalty on Hamilton was bullshit, but figured I'd let it slide as they at least gave Massa slap on the wrist too. But to penalize Bourdais?? What the fuck did they expect him to do? Levitate? Pull to a complete stop at the end of pit out and have tea and crumpets until Massa had made his way by?
B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T.

so ya, what's the point of giving a play by play? Here it is in a nutshell.
Lap one... clusterfuck... overbraking/overtaking/overcooking/overcompensating.
Points leaders throw it away, get penalized.

Last handful of laps interesting dicing between Kimi and Kubica.
Alonso wins (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

Hours later, FIA decides they want Lewis to have to work harder for the championship they probably aren't going to allow him to win anyway, so they pull a bullshit penalty out of their ass against Bourdais, and gift Massa for driving like he's in a fucking video game.

Am I going to bother staying up until 2:30 am for the next race?
pffffffft. let me think about that... nope. I'll just read about it the next day.

Bourdais was in a battle for position on the track with Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who had seriously cocked up his race in Japan with one error after another. Bourdais did everything correctly, he was outside of the pitlane area, he was on the inside of the corner, and was next to the metal barrier on his right side when Massa drove up on his left, and proceeded to try to drive straight through Bourdais as if he didn't see him as he aimed for the apex of the corner without any regard for the car which was already in that position.

Of course, Massa hit the side of the Toro Rosso and span, losing point scoring places as a result. As Massa slowly made some places up, the TV screen announced that the incident between him and Bourdais would be investigated "after the race." Meaning when the TV cameras had gone and the potential for bad PR on the main evening news had dissipated and they could work out which penalty to apply to Massa without hurting his World Championship chances.

In the end, they decided to penalise the innocent man who was driven into. There must be some rule giving a more severe penalty to someone receiving their second stop-go penalty in the same race (he had already driven into the side of Hamilton on Lap 1) so they couldn't give Massa a second drive-through penalty. Because he had finished in 8th, and the 9th placed man (and a few others) were all within a few seconds of him at the finish because of his most un-World Championlike driving the stewards couldn't give him a penalty because that would mean taking away a single point from him. Never mind they'd already taken a race win away from Lewis Hamilton in Belgium when they last fiddled when Rome was burning. So, they had to blame someone for the accident, and that left Bourdais.

After all, he was clearly at fault because Massa span and Massa never spins! Cough, cough, don't mention Silverstone or the first two races of 2008... Oh, and of course, Massa doesn't make mistakes either - it's not his fault he continually drives into other cars... after all, he is half blind.

Bourdais carried on to finish in a fine 6th, one place ahead of his team mate, Monza winner and latest wunderkind, Sebastian Vettel. But after the penalty, he was demoted to 10th place!

The politics of this are interesting. First of all, Bourdais is French, the only French driver in F1 at the moment, and the FIA offices are in Paris. Ferrari is Italian, and I think most mediterranaean types would not have complained much about Ferrari favouritism from the FIA stewards before, since it was always "Les Anglais, Les Rosbifs" who were being penalised previously. Oh, and Frenchman Jean Todt, erstwhile head of the Ferrari F1 team is rumoured to be being groomed to be the next FIA president after Max Mosley retires next year. Oh yes, and Bourdais has the audacity to have made his name in the US, where F1 has no glowing reputation to uphold to such an extent that they won't even be going to Canada in 2009 - so they feel safe to treat Bourdais shabbily as they think there will be no come back.

Ferrari, the clowns of Singapore, are clearly continuing to disintegrate and the only question left is will the FIA follow the sinking ship down proclaiming to all and sundry that it was the iceberg's fault all the while?

PS Spaniard Alonso won. In a French team. What should have been a great news story, is now just an also ran to yet another Ferrari fiddle. Poor Alonso. Poor Bourdais. Poor Formula One.

PPS Is Max Mosley's man the financial link between Ferrari money and the FIA Stewards' Ferrari favouritism?

Calm my calamity, oh baby baby, hold down what's fighting to get free.

Anyway I think I will go to bed - I need to regain energy for the walk to college tomorrow.

Btw - I'm sorry I didn't say it back. I love you. ;)
xxx

     Este fin de semana hemos podido ver una diferencia en los neumáticos. Las ruedas llevaban los surcos pintados de color verde, algo que hacía difícil la apreciación del compuesto de neumático. Y se preguntarán ¿Por qué? Pues bien la razón de esto es que Bridgestone está realizando una campaña llamada "Por una conducción ecológica" junto a la FIA.

     El miércoles pasado, Bridgestone celebró una conferencia en Tokyo con los equipos McLaren y Ferrari con el fin de demostrar al mundo que las escuderías de Fórmula 1 y sus proveedores están comenzando a reducir el impacto negativo del automovilismo en el medio ambiente.

     Esta medida nace porque desde los deportes de motor se debe promover la introducción de nuevas tecnologías que no dañen el medio ambiente. Como parte importante de la campaña, la FIA propuso a Naciones Unidas una política pública para limitar las emisiones de CO2 en los vehículos de calle. La campaña se lanzó el 5 de junio en Nueva Zelanda. Desde entonces la FIA y Bridgestone trabajan mano a mano para conseguir los objetivos propuestos.

     Esta relación entre Fórmula 1 y medio ambiente se reforzará más el año que viene con la introducción de un dispositivo de energía híbrida. Esta será una de las medidas que se tomen con el objetivo de dar ejemplo a la industria automovilística y acelerar el uso de nuevas tecnologías de combustible.

     Max Mosley, presidente de la FIA, se mostraba entusiasmado con la nueva medida: "Las reglas cambian, esta nueva campaña hará que cambie la perspectiva de los deportes de motor y sitúa el medio ambiente como pilar central para el desarrollo del sector del automóvil".

MotorSport Vision (MSV) de Jonathan Palmer est retenu par la FIA pour  gerer cette nouvelle formule  (design WilliamsF1/moteur Audi 1.8 turbo) : 

Avec un budget de £195 000 (HT)  par saison  avec a la cle  une super license FIA pour les 3 trois premiers et un test F1 pour le champion. Les voitures seront stockees et preparees  chez MSV a Bedford (GB)

Le prototype sera prêt en decembre et les test (des voitures de course) commenceront le 27 avril soit un mois avant la premiere epreuve.

Format des courses : 2 seances d’essais de 30mn chacune, 2 seances de qualification de 30mn chacune et 2 courses de 110km (40mnn eviron)

8 epreuves au calendrier : 30-31 Mai (Valence), 20-21 juin (Brno), 27-28 juin (Spa), 18-19 juillet (Brands), 15-16 aout (Donington), 29-30 aout (Oschersleben),  19-20 septembre (Magny-Cours), 3-4 octobre (Monza)

Points attribues : 12-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

En 1978 s'est tenu le tout premier Grand Prix du Canada à Montréal. Le tracé avait été fait en mettant des tonnes de terre et en détruisant plusieurs pavillons qui avaient servi à l'Expo 67. Ce fut un grand premier grand prix puisque ce fut aussi la toute première victoire du pilote Gilles Villeneuve, fils de Jacques, qui a créé une bousculade monstre autour de son bolide, un fois arrêté aux puits. Une légende était née ce jour-là du 8 octobre 1978. Mais malheureusement aujourd'hui, le 9 octobre 2008, 30 ans (et deux jours) après sa victoire historique, les esprits pensent plus à:

BERNIE, MON TABARN***! T'ES RIEN QU'UN CR**** DE CHIEN SALE, MON CÂL****! J'VAIS TE PÉTER LA GUELLE! T'AS PAS LE DROIT DE... de...

Excusez-moi pour cette saute d'humeur très pertubante, mais lorsque j'apprends que mon grand prix national adoré a été rayé du calendrier 2009 de formule 1 comme ça... je pogne les nerfs.

C'était mardi matin, à la première période de travail à l'école, que j'ai sû la triste nouvelle. Dans cette période de math, j'avais eu l'idée d'aller voir sur le site de Radio-Canada, parce que je suis pas mal les nouvelles. Et ce fut une très désagréable surprise d'arriver sur la page d'accueil et de voir comme nouvelle de l'heure «Montréal exclue»... j'ai totalement arrêté de vivre pendant 3 trois minutes. Ce n'est pas une blague: la seconde que j'ai vue la nouvelle, ma bouche s'est ouverte complétement sans dire un mot, mes yeux sont devenus gros et je suis resté comme ça pendant au moins 3 minutes. Mes équipiers n'ont rien compris à ma situation, et finalement un d'eux est allé me voir pour savoir qu'est-ce qui se passait. Dès qu'il a vu la nouvelle, il savait pourquoi j'étais comme ça. Mais à la différence de moi, il est simplement retourné à sa place. Je n'ai rien à leur reprocher puisqu'ils ne sont pas de si gros fans de F1 comme moi, mais les effets furent plus graves pour moi. Je veux dire peut-être que je n'ai pas vraiment joué à mon Formula One: Championship Edition, mais je reste quant même un amateur de la formule 1. Pour tout vous dire, lorsqu'il y a des courses en Asie qui font en sorte que nous devons nous lever à une heure du matin pour les regarder en direct, je m'obstine avec mes parents pour le faire! Je sais bien que mon père n'est pas capable de rester réveillé dans ces heures, mais je veux quant même les voir en direct sur RDS!

Sachez, mesdames et messieurs, que ce qu'on a eu ces dernières années au Canada était du vrai spectacle. Et non, ce n'est pas juste à cause de l'accident de Kubica. Ça, on s'en serait peut-être passé. À la place, pensez aux victoires de Kimi Raïkonen, Lewis Hamilton et Robert Kubica. Pensez aux dépassements. Pensez au charactère du tracé. Pensez aux erreurs qui se sont résultées avec le mur. Pensez à l'accident d'Hamilton aux puits avant de dire qu'il est un super pilote. Et finalement, pensez à combien de personnes ont regardés les derniers grand prix. Non, je suis sérieux. Le Grand Prix du Canada fesait partie des évènements sportifs les plus regardés à travers le monde, avec le Tour de France. Mesdames et messieurs, ceci est une grande tragédie!

Comme vous avez vu au début de l'article, normalement je serais extrêmement furieux contre Bernie Ecclestone. Souvenez-vous: il était pas mal le problème derrière la dernière fois où la course à Montréal a failli disparaître. Mais ça c'était en 2003, et aujourd'hui je suggère un autre coupable dans l'affaire. C'est assez surprenant, mais le Grand Prix du Canada est le seul grand prix de formule 1, dans tout le calendrier de 18 courses, à être encore géré par le privé, précisément Normand Legault. Tout les autres sont gérés par le gouvernement. Vous voyez, le seul moyen d'avoir de l'argent pour la compagnie privé dans un week-end complet sont:

• Les tickets d'entrés
• La nourriture
• La marchandise

Et c'est tout. Ce sont les seuls moyen pour la compagnie en charge de l'évènement de recouvrir les coûts d'un tel grand prix. Sauf que lorsque nous disions que la course entraînait 100 millions de dollars en retombées économique, ça comprend aussi les restaurants, les hôtels et tout le reste. Et c'est une des raisons pourquoi le gouvernement gère les grands prix de F1. Après tout, tous ces établissements payent des impôts qui reviennent à eux, alors à la fin une plus grande partie des retombés économiques s'en vont dans les poches des organisateurs! Le circuit n'est pas dans un trou perdu comme Magny-Cours ou Fuji, il est en plein milieu de la ville, qui est en plein milieu du fleuve!

Mais si ça ne peut toujours ne pas être fait pour l'année prochaine et que nous n'y arriverons peut-être pas, laissez faire. Eh oui, j'ai bel et bien dit laissez faire. On a déjà dû sacrifier le Grand Prix de Belgique pendant un an pour des rénovations, malgré que tous les pilotes l'adorent. Est-ce que je serait capable de survivre un an sans mon cher grand prix? Ça sera dûr, mais tant que je saurai que celui-ci va revenir en pleine forme et qu'il va encore une fois nous donner une superbe course, je suis dedans. S'il vous plaît M. Charest, prenez la course et sauvez-là pour l'année prochaine. Les pilotes méritent encore d'avoir «Bienvenue au Québec» en pleine face. Ce n'est pas pour rien qu'on l'a appelé le mur des champions.

Pendant ce temps: Vincent se prouve supérieur parce qu'il a eu un code pour LittleBigPlanet BETA sans se forcer (Hahahaha!... euh... désolé).

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FIA president, Max Mosley, will meet with the Formula One Teams' Association in the days following this years Chinese Grand Prix to discuss urgent cost-cutting measures to secure the future of Formula One after 2009.

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Mosley expressed serious concerns over the not-too-distant future of the sport, saying "If we don't get it [cost-cutting measures] done before 2010, we will be in serious difficulty." Mosley met with FOTA on Wednesday in what was later described as a 'constructive' and 'positive' discussion, agreeing to meet again after the Chinese round, in just over two weeks time, where they will begin talks on "the strategic decisions which are now urgently required, having regard to current world-wide economic problems."

This follows the news on Tuesday that Mosley would negotiate with the newly-formed FOTA group towards significantly reducing the cost of the sport.

Mr. Ardeshir Cowasjee's advice to Mr. Zardari: Appoint a good Education Minister ASAP. At least we can ensure that our future leaders know how to spell correctly.

AhmedQuraishi.com REPORT

Thursday, 9 October 2008.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—So it turns out President Asif Ali Zardari did make the spelling mistake in the sentence 'May Goad [God] give us the strut [strength] to save Pakistan', which he wrote on Aug. 14 in Karachi at Quaid-e-Azam's Mausoleum.

It turns out President Zardari's men were ordered to remove the page from the Visitors' Book after the scandal broke out in the media when someone circulated the page copy online.

The President's media managers sprung into action and denied Mr. Zardari ever made those spelling errors. FIA's National Response Center for Cyber Crimes (NR3C), which is otherwise a very professional unit, was given the sloppy assignment of hunting down the person who distributed the email with presidential spelling errors. But, seizing the opportunity, the government decided to also hunt down those distributing harmless jokes on President Zardari through SMS text messages and personal emails.

The revelation that Mr. Zardari's spelling mistake is true and not a hoax comes in the latest column by Ardeshir Cowasjee, the granddaddy of Pakistani column-writing community. It turns out Mr. Cowasjee was one of the last people to actually visit the Mausoleum and take photocopies of the pages in the visitors' book on the day President Zardari and his entourage came down and jotted their impressions. Later, according to the veteran columnist, men apparently sent by the President came and tore away two pages from the book and made a new entry in Mr. Zardari's name where the spelling was correct.

Here's how Mr. Cowasjee describes it:

"Now, back to this September 12 when I went to the Mazar and asked the keepers to let me have photocopies of what had been written by the September 11 visiting 'dignitaries' in the visitors' book. I was given copies of remarks recorded by the president, the Sindh governor and the Sindh chief minister. Subsequently, on September 14, I wrote in my column: "Recorded by Asif, in illegible handwriting resembling that of a stressed physician, were the words "May Gaad [sic] give us the street [sic] to save Pakistan."

The internet then took over, and messages attaching a photocopy of what had been written were flashed around the world. The spooks sprang into action. They removed from the 100-page book the double-page on which Zardari's message and that of the Karachi station commander were recorded, leaving 98 pages in the book in which visitors will now record their views, and on a fresh page rewrote Zardari's message correcting the two misspelled words.

On September 26, on the back page of The Nation, a news item under the heading 'Zardari's misspelled remarks proved fabricated' reproduced images of the original page and the rewritten new page, informing readers that "Some hidden hands have sent an email … claiming that the President had misspelled the words God and strength. However a verification of this matter by The Nation revealed that the campaign was a venomous propaganda against President Zardari … It was distressing to note that a senior English-language columnist did not bother to verify the facts and added fuel to fire in his column while referring to this fabricated story."

This was picked up by APP and their report on the 'outrage' was printed on September 27 in The News under the heading 'Spokesman slams malicious campaign against Zardari' and in The Nation under the heading 'Propaganda against Zardari 'malicious'', both telling us that "The presidential spokesman has taken strong exception to a malicious campaign initiated by some anti-democratic elements to tarnish the image of President Asif Ali Zardari."

Not to be outdone, that same day an editorial in The Daily Times under the heading 'A shameful forgery' commented on the original Nation report of the 26th. It opened up: "The past week has seen a vicious electronic and press campaign maligning President Asif Ali Zardari through a forgery", and reproduced the comments about hidden hands and the columnist.

This was all very unnecessary and somewhat foolish to draw even more attention to the matter. The initial news report did no favour to the president, and neither did the amateur 'presidential spokesman' who would have done better to remain silent. Admitting that fuel had been added to fire indicates that indeed a fire burns (or even rages) when it comes to the matter of Zardari's image.

Unfortunately, for him and for us as a nation, his image has not been exactly shining since the early 1990s. Botheration and concern about his image is nothing new, but it has all been enhanced since the tragic assassination of his wife, his usurpation in her name of the largest (apart from the army) political party of this country, and his subsequent indirect election through the various assemblies and senate to the post of head of state.

The image took further hefty knocks when he decided to do his bit for his relationship with the US and attend the UNGA meeting and address it (Benazir's photo carried in and placed by him on the rostrum). His behaviour, as reported in our press and in the international press and as commented upon in detail by the American media, did little to enhance the image. So be it.

Now, what he should do is appoint a federal education minister in double-quick time so that the upcoming citizens and leaders of this country at least learn how to spell correctly."

Now that Mr. Cowasjee has settled the matter, it is important to mention why we are posting this report at AhmedQuraishi.com. Besides the very important issue of the quality of our 'leaders' and their spelling errors [Honestly, with far more serious flaws like corruption and ineptitude, we feel good spelling skills is the least of our politicians' troubles.] there is another more important issue regarding what President Zardari wrote in the book on that day.

A more urgent question is this: Why did the President, on Aug. 14 of all days, when someone like him is supposed to revive people's patriotism, chose the following nine words 'May God give us the strength to save Pakistan'?

Why was the president making such a dire indirect assessment on Pakistan's future on the day Pakistan gained Independence?

Yes we have problems, serious problems. But who said Pakistan is such a hopeless case that it needs someone like Mr. Zardari to 'save' it?

Frankly, if you Google this out, you will discover that the only other person who keeps warning us that Pakistan is 'threatened' in its 'existence' is Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of the U.S. occupation army on our western border. His argument is that Pakistan will end if it does not allow U.S. military to enter Pakistan.

Why would a President say 'God help us save Pakistan' on our Independence Day?

Mr. Cowasjee's column appears in Dawn newspaper. He can be reached at arfc@cyber.net.pk

Leo und ich sind noch immer fleißig dabei an unserem Projekt zu arbeiten. Wir haben schon eine Menge geschafft. Z.B. funktionieren bereits die Bestellfunktionen, die Geburtstagserinnerung und die Mitarbeiterliste. Aber fertig sind wir natürlich noch nicht. Es muss noch viel an der Optik getan werden und auch einen Namen für unser Projekt gibt es noch nicht.

Mal sehen was Leo und ich diese Woche noch so schaffen, bevor wir dann nächste woche unseren erste Urlaub haben, aber wir werden uns vorher noch einmal melden.

Formula 1 organizers have officially pulled the plug on the Montreal Grand Prix for next year, as announced yesterday. This means that F1 no longer exists in Canada, and the entire North American Continent.

Montreal F1GP drew in 75 million for the Canadian city, and no explanation was offered by the FIA as to why this decision was made.It has been speculated that Ecclestone may be bluffing to get more money from the Canadian organizers. Honestly, I don't care for the political side of F1-or for that matter, any motorsport. We all just want to see some damn racing, don't we?

Esta foi a maneira do GP do Japão colaborar com a campanha ambiental da FIA. Olha, eu sei que não sou um conhecedor nato da F1, nem conferi ainda os detalhes da campanha promovida pela FIA, mas eu sei de uma coisa. Com tanto dinheiro que todas as equipes (da FIA e também as administrações do GP) gastam para trazer este tipo de espetáculo para a gente, e de como esses carros gastam gasolina e poluem o meio ambiente, eu acho isso um péssimo começo.

Eu, assim como muitos que assistem a F1 gostam de justamente ver os carros velozes em uma corrida alucinante, e até a F1 perderia graça se eles de alguma maneira limitassem a esportividade em prol do meio ambiente, mas digamos que eles poderiam fazer mais do que listras verdes em pneus para mostrar que estão realmente preocupados com o ambiente.

.

A Brigestone vai distribuir pneus especiais com marcas verdes para serem utilizados pelas equipes no Grande Prêmio do Japão, em Fuji, neste fim de semana. A novidade tem como objetivo apoiar a campanha "Make Cars Green" ("Faça carros verdes") da Federação Internacional de Automobilismo (FIA).

- Nós esperamos que o lançamento dos pneus 'verdes' atraia a atenção do público para as iniciativas ambientais da Fórmula-1. A preservação ambiental é o centro do trabalho da Bridgestone e esperamos que essa colaboração com a FIA ajude a espalhar essa idéia pelo mundo - disse Shoshi Arakawa, chefe-executivo da Bridgestone.

.

A medida faz parte da campanha Torne os Carros Verdes, que busca chamar a atenção do público para questões ambientais. A categoria vem adotando, cada vez mais, recursos ecologicamente corretos. Em 2009, estréia o sistema de recuperação de energia cinética.

.

link: http://oglobo.globo.com/esportes/f12008/mat/2008/10/08/formula-1_tera_carros_com_pneus_verdes_no_japao-548614002.asp

link: http://www.makecarsgreen.com/

mais: http://globoesporte.globo.com/Esportes/Noticias/Formula_1/0,,MUL790815-15011,00.html

La Fia ha diramato il Calendario per la stagione di Formula 1 2009, si comincerà più tardi il 29 marzo in Australia e si chiuderà il 15 novembre ad Abu Dhabi, esce di scena così il Gran Premio del Canada facendo restare a 18 gli appuntamenti. Altra caratteristica della prossima stagione sarà il prolungamento della pausa estiva, che arriverà a quattro settimane tra il GP d’Ungheria del 26 luglio e quello di Valencia del 23 agosto

[via: motorsportblog.it]

Monoplaces de 2l / 250cv…

Au moment ou Max Mosley et la FIA cherchent à relancer la formule 2 la guerre semble déclarée…  Etrangement je n’ai vu aucun site parler du GP3 popur 2010, pourtant l’info est du 03 octobre… A suivre ?

In a shock move, the Canadian Grand Prix has been dropped from the 2009 F1 calendar, which was released by the FIA today. No reason has been given for the removal of the race held at the Canadian city of Montreal, with no prior indication that the event may be under pressure to stay on the calendar.

Canada has not been absent from the F1 calendar since 1987, and is one of the most popular and well attended races of each year. The decision to remove it sees no North American rounds on the calendar after the exclusion of the United States Grand Prix from the 2008 schedule. Canadian officials have confirmed that they had no warning the race may be in threat, prior to today's announcement. This leaves 18 rounds of the 2009 championship, rather than the expected 19.

Other changes from the provisional calendar include Turkey moving to June from August and the Italian and Belgian races swapping back to this years order. The season will start later than usual with the regular three-week summer break in the mid-season and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be the latest addition to the F1 circus. No word has been mentioned about the possible future revival of the US Grand Prix, however, after today's decision it's looking even more unlikely. The full calendar can be seen here.