Charlie Whiting in Qatar

[skid mark]

I saw Charlie Whiting come through arrivals in Qatar last night, and checked in at the Four Seasons desk. Qatar hardly has many attractions for F1 heirarchy, unless he was just after a couple of days R&R before heading to Bahrain. Does anyone else have any clues, or conspiracy theories?!

[Peter Mallett]

Blimey,

He could have popped in to say hello, I live across the road from there.

I understand that the QMMF is planning to upgrade Lossail to F1 standard, it means an extension and other stuff. Think Abu Dhabi on sterioids. I suspect his visit is to discuss those plans.

[rustyfan]

SpeedTV.com has an article about this: http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...join-calendar/

[Bodysnatcher]

Charlie Whiting is an FIA official, so it does'nt need to be about F1, more about the track being up to an agreed FIA standard.
I've been at a circuit staging an international FIA F3 race where he's put in an appearance to check that what he had earlier specified had been implemented.

edit - OK so reading the link above, they're going for 1T status first

[ECW Dan Selby]

I'd hate it if they bought this track on to the calendar eventually. Horrifically dull.

Selby

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

Aye, I doubt Qatar would be on anyone's top 10 lists to bring into the championship. It's just plain dull.

Sadly it has a Middle East location and night race facilities so no doubt it'll be on the 2012 calendar.

[ECW Dan Selby]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised. Even if they build a small extension to the circuit, it'll still be horrible as it completely consists of hairpins.

Selby

[jab]

3 Middle East races? I'd probably end myself. And that's before realising that there's still no French GP either

If there are 3 Middle Eastern venues on the calendar soon, could the last person out of F1 switch the lights out please?

[duke_toaster]

Two races in the Middle East is already one too many. There are far too many races outside the larger markets, and countries that actually deserve a GP not having them (France, United States, Finland). What have China, Bahrain, Malaysia and Qatar actually done for motoring or motor sport? Are there any good racing drivers from any of those countries (remember, Ho-Pin Tung is actually Dutch)?

[Quintin03]

Malaysia has brought us Lotus. Oh hang, they bought it from the Brits. The only thing the other countries you mentioned did was give Bernard E. and Herman T. two huge cases of money.

[duke_toaster]

Exactly my point ...

[Wims]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

...here are far too many races outside the larger markets, and countries that actually deserve a GP not having them (France, United States,Finland)....

Thing is, Finland has 0 racetracks and very few inhabitants. Would be next to impossible to find funding for an F1-quality track there I would think

[NaBUru38]

For those thinkng about the layout changes Losail needs, see this.

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by Wims

Thing is, Finland has 0 racetracks and very few inhabitants. Would be next to impossible to find funding for an F1-quality track there I would think

Finland has almost double the population of Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar combined, many of whom absolutely crazy fans, more equally crazy fans ready to pour in from Sweden (both of that lot generally head off to Hungary) and not a bad distance from Russia either. It also has motorsport history (the most F1 world championships per head of population of any country), too.

Yes, there isn't a permanent circuit but they could easily sort out a street race in the Helsinki area or Tampere. Helsinki would be advantageous for obvious reasons.

[Quintin03]

Originally Posted by Wims

Thing is, Finland has 0 racetracks and very few inhabitants. Would be next to impossible to find funding for an F1-quality track there I would think

Finland has quite a few tracks actualy. None of them are good enough for F1 but does it realy have to be in Finland. Gotland should have a great 7,4 km track by the end of this year which should be capable of reaching the Grade 1 license. This would be a decent venue I guess.

[duke_toaster]

Gotland is also in, er, Sweden.

[jab]

Even if we ignore Finland, there are still plenty of countries out there that would be worthy of a Grand Prix - France is the obvious one, plus the US, Russia, South Africa, Mexico and Argentina

I'm not bothered about Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea or any of the Far Eastern races or even Turkey, because they have heritage and/or an automotive industry of note. I'm not even bothered about Spain and Italy having 2 races each from 2013. But the Middle East has nothing, apart from a few rich oil barons who want to show off to other oil barons by building racing circuits in their back garden, and Bernie's happy to take the cash

I'm not getting all romantic here - I couldn't give a toss what the track's like and I encourage new countries to come onboard. I'm not even that bothered about the Middle East having a race or 2 different races - Bahrain and Abu Dhabi are totally unique events but Bahrain in particular won't be if Qatar join in because it'll just be the same thing. This isn't me being a Western supremacist. It is a rant based on principle - this whole idea of taking races away from where the fans are to some place in the desert where one man and his camel will turn out to watch is just, plain and simply, wrong

And it may lead to something worse - we have 2 races there now, but if Qatar decide to buy a place on the calendar, then soon you'll have Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and all the other oil-rich Middle Eastern countries spending increasing amounts to build enormous circuits like Abu Dhabi that no one will be there to use or spectate in. Eventually we'll end up with a sizeable proportion of the calendar being based in the Middle East, and then the teams will end up relocating there, and probably rightly so for them in that situation, because it'll just be cheaper for them to do that

Bernie runs the risk of alienating people - he's already not heeding the warning signs from the lack of attendances at Istanbul and Shanghai. A lot of the events that he brought onto the calendar because he wanted a quick financial fix are not sustainable. The more races in the Middle East or in places with no real interest in motor racing other than because they have a few billion to throw at it, the more people in the motorsport heartlands that'll switch off. I'm not normally one to criticise him but if he signs Qatar up, F1 is in serious trouble

This was one of the few things the manufacturers got spot on - they wanted races in places that will draw a decent crowd, where people will turn out to watch. It may have been for their own motives but the point still stands

[NaBUru38]

The only thing that the Middle East lacks is lots of crazy motorsport fans. Track owners should work on that before trying to get more world championship races. There are a lot of us here in Latin America, but we're too poor for Bernie's tastes, so we have only one F1 race, no MotoGP race, one WRC race and two WTCC races.

[nea]

One quote that sticks in my mind was from a Chinese journalist interviewing Michael Schumacher just before the first Chinese GP.

"Why do you always race in red? Is it your lucky colour?"

That about sums up why some of these places don't need an F1 race in my mind.

[jab]

I'd say out of all the countries that has been added to the calendar in recent years, China is the most deserving, actually - biggest population, largest-growing economy and a burgeoning automobile industry (admittedly that makes crap cars but still an automobile industry - same as SK and Malaysia)

[Peter Mallett]

In fairness the track design you've seen is not what is envisaged. There's also going to be a drag strip go-kart track and other such things to encourage enthusiasts. However I may be wrong but I think it is planned that a whole new track will be built at Lussail which is on the coastline.

[nea]

Originally Posted by jab

I'd say out of all the countries that has been added to the calendar in recent years, China is the most deserving, actually - biggest population, largest-growing economy and a burgeoning automobile industry (admittedly that makes crap cars but still an automobile industry - same as SK and Malaysia)

I'll agree with you on that, they are the most deserving. But more deserving than the USA? Or France?

[NaBUru38]

Americans are struggling a lot, just look at Nascar, IndyCar, ALMS and Grand-Am. There's no money now there to make their USGP happen. The French sadly quitted building a permanent circuit outside Paris and I doubt they will try having the French GP at Le Mans or Paul Ricard.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Americans are struggling a lot, just look at Nascar, IndyCar, ALMS and Grand-Am. There's no money now there to make their USGP happen. The French sadly quitted building a permanent circuit outside Paris and I doubt they will try having the French GP at Le Mans or Paul Ricard.

Bring Formula 1 back to Watkins Glen and I'm pretty sure the fans would come.

Not that Watkins Glen would ever get the nod from Bernie, but there's no harm in dreamin' eh?

[duke_toaster]

Originally Posted by jab

I'd say out of all the countries that has been added to the calendar in recent years, China is the most deserving, actually - biggest population, largest-growing economy and a burgeoning automobile industry (admittedly that makes crap cars but still an automobile industry - same as SK and Malaysia)

China has a large population, but they aren't that motorsport mad, and the country has little motorsport history. India has those three, but that's not taken seriously as an idea. India's burgeoning automobile industry even includes 1950s Morris Oxfords

I think the vehicles produced by Hyundai are probably of far better quality than Protons and whatever they call the shopping trolley that has a fair few panels somewhat interchangable with the Daewoo Matiz ...

Singapore do have some merits as a venue, including a very good circuit, but there are some good arguments for not going there. I'd leave it on the calendar, partially for transit reasons to Japan. Abu Dhabi could stay as the second round, partially as the track isn't that bad, partially as the kit would probably go through there.

As nea said, the USA and France (and Finland) are far more deserving of a GP than China at the moment, bearing in mind the fact that in China they got low attendances - IIRC the first was inflated by giving the army free tickets.