Canada Back On F1 Track
Formula 1 is set to return to North American soil after skipping one Canadian Grand Prix.
The company overlooking the Montreal Grand Prix, Grand Prix F1 du Canada Inc., and the Formula one governing body, the FIA, have recently reached a agreement concerning the financial dispute that had forced the cancellation of the Canadian Grand Prix for the 2009 season.
Through a news release, local F1 backer Normand Legault said Canada is now back on the F1 schedule.
“Negotiations with [F1 president Bernie] Ecclestone are going well,” said Raymand Bachand, a Quebec cabinet minister. “The negotiations are actually over, but we haven’t signed anything yet but we’re very confident.”
Prior to its demise, organisers claimed that the Canadian Grand Prix was one of F1’s best-attended races since 2001, with more than 300,000 spectators for the three-day competition, and pulling in 120,000 fans for the Sunday race alone.
The Montreal event, a F1 circuit stop since 1978, is believed to draw $100 million per year in revenues to the city.
Earlier during the year, Canadian officials coming from all levels of government, municipal, provincial and federal, travelled to London to meet with Ecclestone and persuade him to reinstate the F1 stop in Montreal, but he had refused.
At the time, Formula One Management could not come to an agreement with rand Prix F1 du Canada Inc. on a licensing fee, Ecclestone therefore looked elsewhere.
Istanbul took Montreal’s place on the circuit, but the race in Turkey was deemed poor in attendance, attracting only 30,000 on race day.
CBCSports.ca’s John Pudy wrote that “Montreal is a guaranteed sellout, and it is more than a race; it is an event.”
Indeed, the city itself claims huge F1 support and is just a few hours away from other wealthy cosmopolitan centres such as Ottawa, Toronto, New York and Boston.