If Vettel wraps up the WDC early then in what order the remaining races are held could be fairly irrelevant. Supposing the other teams get their dozens of upgrades working before the 10% rule comes in, however, the gap is closed, and the title goes down to the wire - how do you fancy seeing it decided on a new circuit? The FIA will decide on 3 June whether to reinstate Bahrain on the 2011 calendar. "Sources" have apparently indicated that the Bahrain GP would replace the Indian GP on 30 October, with the Indian GP being moved to 4 December, a week after the Brazilian GP. This would give the owners of the Indian GP much more time to get the circuit ready. The end of the season, following the last European race (the Italian GP on 11 September) would look like this: 25 Sep Singapore 09 Oct Japan 16 Oct Korea 30 Oct Bahrain 13 Nov Abu Dhabi 27 Nov Brazil 04 Dec India please log in to view this image
They should just leave Bahrain out. Couple of weeks ago they were saying "it'll definitely be decided tomorrow", it's still all up in the air. Also look at that schedule. They have to travel out to Singapore, two weeks later they're in Japan, a week later Korea, then it's two weeks until Bahrain, another two weeks until Abu Dhabi, two weeks to Brazil and a week to India. It's going to put a huge strain on all the teams, to accommodate a race which is always ****e.
I would love to see the Indian Gp as the final race of the year. Can really make an impact for the new fans.
Regarding the scheduling - setting the calendar seems to have got more and more random in recent years. Why don't they have all the Pacific/Asian races follow on from each other, with the Persian Gulf races between Asia and Europe, or at least together? Cost-cutting, environmental concerns, logistics, etc. - it makes no sense the way they do it now, flying them all back and to to the same pat of the world they visited four months earlier.
How the hell can Bahrain hold a bloody motor race, only a couple of weeks ago they were killing people in the street. Might as well ask Gadaffi if he would like to hold a GP.
My geography isn't great so I might be missing your point slightly, but they break the flyaway races up to put less strain on the teams. If they had them all one after the other the teams would be constantly on the move for about three months.
I think that's a bit beyond this discussion, though, which is about having a season finale in India instead of Brazil. As far as Bahrain is concerned, Bernie Ecclestone left it up to the Crown Prince to decide whether Bahrain hosted the season opener in March. That was literally a matter of days after the killings. In reality I suspected Ecclestone didn't back out so that FOM wouldn't be held liable for cancellation, but whatever the reason the historical fact is that FOM, the FIA, the teams and the drivers were all quite happy to hold a motor race in Bahrain up until the race was cancelled one week after government forces had stormed protestors' camps leaving a number of them dead. I can't imagine the nightly terror parents, husbands/wives and sisters/brothers went through in that part of the world during that time and this is a discussion that I personally think is too complicated to have on an F1 forum. I think, as far as this forum is concerned, it's simply a matter of whether the race is held there this year. If they had China, Korea and Japan together they could have them a week apart. Same with Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. Possibly even with Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. They used to do this with China and Japan, Argentina and Brazil, USA and Canada, etc. It means the teams don't have to transport their equipment to the same part of the world twice. They wouldn't be out there for as long as they are now. At they moment they go to Bahrain at the start of the season and Abu Dhabi at the end, China at the start and Korea at the end, Malaysia at the start and Japan at the end, Australia at the start and Singapore at the end. If you put Bahrain and Abu Dhabi together then you wouldn't need a two week gap either side of each race to get the equipment there. They could save time, save expenditure (e.g. not having to go to the middle east twice), and save the effect on the environment of all those flights instead of criss-crossing the globe to get to a country a few miles from where they were five months ago.
Why can't we just get rid of Bahrain? Yes, it's supposed to be extending the frontiers of F1, but it's a really dull circuit, and the locals couldn't give a **** about F1. It's in a near war-zone, anyone for Baghdad 2012? ****ing idiots (Bernie, I mean)
jersey: I fully agree, but Ecclestone smells the cash and thats the all important factor to him, he see's no moral implication whatsoever, where do these bloody people come from.
Good point. I think they have to have the fly away races at the start and end of a season because of European weather. But there's no reason they can't have China/Korea/Japan at the start, Bahrain/Abu Dhabi at the end. They might even be able to have the Malaysian GP not in rainy season.
In favour of (e.g.) Austria? I'd be up for a bit of that. Maybe they could alternate Bahrain and Abu Dhabi as the Gulf GP. Back to India, though... I just remembered the other reason I posted this. There are hints that Karun Chandhok would be given a drive in the Lotus/Caterham car at the inaugural Indian GP. If Lotus have done well by the Brazilian GP and leapfrogged Williams in the pecking order then I think it's more likely Chandhok will be given a shot if India is last on the calendar. Of course, if the Williams/Lotus battle goes down to the wire then Chandhok might be seen as too much of a risk. I'd like to see him get a race this season.
I'm waiting for him to try and widen audiences further by having a track that crosses the border between two countries, to get double the exposure. It'd also be amusing watching drivers flash their passports at border police every lap!
Ross Brawn does not dig a December finale, Autosport reports. Elsewhere (can't remember where now), the logistic difficulties of getting equipment from Brazil to India in a week has caused speculation about the Indian GP being moved to 11 December. End of season events (including the awards presentation) are taking place in India instead of Monaco this season, but are scheduled for the week between 4 December and 11 December.
Autosport is still reporting 4 December for the inaugural Indian GP (asuming Bahrain, etc. etc.), despite the very clear logistical difficulties of shipping the cars and equipment from Brazil across half a planet, through a previously untested immigration control, to a previously unvisited circuit in the space of about 72 hours. Oh well, I'm sure they know what they're doing.
Did anybody read that about half the Bahrain GP staff have been arrested, they might struggle to even be able to hold the GP whether they wanted to or not.
