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[Jabberwocky]

I agree that there is more passion at european tracks (from my limited experience) I went to the 1st Turkish GP and just found it a bit of a sterile enviroment. There was no dedicated fanboys and girls. I mean as in there is normally an Alonso fan group who would cheer and shout everytime he went past, there was none of that.

Where as in european (I have been to Spa and Monza) people where shouting and cheering for there chosen person eveywhere. I have been to a lot of tracks in the UK with a lot of lower level racing and there is more of an atmosphere, maybe it is just fellow motorsport fans who feel your pain of being stood out in the windswept cold.

[clarkeycats]

Sorry if I've missed it, but has the New Jersey race been officially cancelled in 2013 then?!

*edit: just checked online, I totally missed that news

'With the removal of the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey until 2014 due to financial and construction difficulties, it appeared the calendar for next season would revert back to 19 races following the record 20 this campaign'

It's a shame because I think it would be a awesome venue and for a Grand Prix.

[andrew]

I don't believe it ever really existed. Seemed to me as more of a tool to get the Austin circiut finished on time.

[scotty]

Red Bull has offered its own track in Austria as a potential venue for a 20th grand prix in 2013.

Formula 1's governing body the FIA has shuffled next year's schedule to open a slot for an extra race on 21 July.

It had been expected that this would be filled by a return of the Turkish race, but it is not clear it could be funded.

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko told an Austrian newspaper: "We have made the FIA aware that the Red Bull Ring has a fully updated Formula 1 licence."

Red Bull, whose F1 team has won the drivers' and constructors' titles for the past three years, owns and has redeveloped the track that hosted the Austrian Grand Prix in various guises from 1970-87 and 1997-2003.

There are, however, a number of potential problems with the Red Bull Ring hosting a grand prix.

These include the shortage of hotel accommodation in the mountainous Styrian region, an agreement between Red Bull and the regional government to host no event with a crowd of more than 40,000, and the lack of facilities and organisation to run an event of such magnitude.

But Marko told Salzburger Nachrichten none of these was insurmountable.

On the race fee, he said: "There is the province of Styria, the Republic of Austria." And in response to the suggestion that few European governments could justify funding a grand prix in the current times of austerity, he said: "Let's wait and see."

He said objections over the limited accommodation were "nonsense", adding: "It managed in the 1970s and 1980s." He pointed out that the city of Graz, 50 miles away from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, had more than enough hotel rooms.

And he said that the media centre, which struggled to cope with the capacity required by a German Touring Car race this year, could be extended, and an organisation to run the event imported.

A final decision would rest between F1 commercial boss Bernie Ecclestone and Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz, who is on holiday in Fiji until Christmas.

The two men are friends and it is conceivable they could come to an agreement if the Austrian did want to host a grand prix at the Red Bull Ring.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether Turkish authorities will be able to fund the return of a race in the country.

On Thursday the country's sports minister said the government would not contribute towards the fee for the race - a day after the chairman of the Turkish motorsport federation said state money would be needed to revive the race.

The 2013 calendar initially ran to only 19 races - one fewer than in 2012 - after the mooted New Jersey Grand Prix had to be postponed because the track overlooking Manhattan was not going to be ready in time.

But on Wednesday, the FIA moved the German Grand Prix to 7 July, a week after the British race, and opened up its previous slot of 21 July for what it referred to as another "European" race.

[Hammer278]

Yep, posted on the previous page. Possible good news indeed.

[scotty]

Is the layout still like A1 or has it been modified into this?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... l_Ring.svg

[What's Burning?]

I hope this is a big flop, I could care less between 19, 20, 21 races. Personally I'd rather see 16 races on the calendar and a couple of more test dates. It would be better overall for the competitive nature of the sport and it WOULD lower expenses because the logistical savings would be huge.

I think Bernie made his bed with the exorbitant amounts almost extorted from local regions and it's clear there's a saturation point. The teams also don't want to work effectively year round. So I hope some of these holes remain unfilled it will give the classic venues much more leverage.

[Hammer278]

Is the layout still like A1 or has it been modified into this?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... l_Ring.svg

[vlad]

A1 was amazing.

[andrew]

Is the layout still like A1 or has it been modified into this?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... l_Ring.svg

Looks like it is still the layout used between 1997 and 2003. As far as I can tell, the revised layout seems to be a proposal that never went ahead.

So the track looks like this:



And not this:



Either way, it's still an awesome track and it would be good to see a new F1 race from one of the more traditional hosts.

[elfinitty]

I agree that there is more passion at european tracks (from my limited experience) I went to the 1st Turkish GP and just found it a bit of a sterile enviroment. There was no dedicated fanboys and girls. I mean as in there is normally an Alonso fan group who would cheer and shout everytime he went past, there was none of that.

Where as in european (I have been to Spa and Monza) people where shouting and cheering for there chosen person eveywhere. I have been to a lot of tracks in the UK with a lot of lower level racing and there is more of an atmosphere, maybe it is just fellow motorsport fans who feel your pain of being stood out in the windswept cold.

I think if we had a race today,the atmosphere would've been better since with the race a lot of people started watching F1,take me as an example.Especially,there is a big fan group of Alonso and Schumacher now.Last year,there were Alonso,Vettel,Petrov(Russians) and Hamilton&Button(me leading them ) fans cheering.Still,there's a little but dedicated group here who perished when we got the news. But yeah,I see the European races and I notice what you say,also it'd be nice to go see it in that kind of atmosphere,those two tracks Monza and Spa are must see for me.

[LewEngBridewell]

A1 was amazing.

Made really special by the Alpine backdrop

[scotty]

Yeah i just checked out recent DTM footage and it seems that extension wasn't even built. So in light of that god damn, i hope it's going back to Austria now, i love that track. It'd be a nice change too - mega short laps under 1:10s.

[darwin dali]

The Nurburgring will host this year's German Grand Prix as scheduled, a major local newspaper has declared.

The fate of the 2013 race had been in doubt because of the Nurburgring's well-documented financial problems.

But the Bild-Zeitung daily said the German Grand Prix, as well as GP2 and GP3 support races, will be held at the track in early July, as per the published FIA calendar.

"Formula One will be held at the Nurburgring on July 7, 2013," Nurburgring Automotive GmbH spokesman Karl-Heinz Steinkuhler confirmed.

Sport Bild quotes him adding: "The major sponsors are making their bookings now."

[andrew]

Latest reports are saying that there will only be 19 races this season.