F1 drops Canadian grand prix
FIA drops Canadian grand prix from 2009 F1 schedule
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Tuesday, 07, Oct 2008 05:46
The governing body of formula one, the FIA, has announced it is dropping the Canadian grand prix from the 2009 world championship schedule.
Originally set to take place at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 7th, the race has been left off the calendar for the first time since 1987.
The change means North America has no F1 race in 2009 after the United States grand prix was axed following the 2007 season.
The Abu Dhabi grand prix will replace Canada on the 18-race schedule, but will stage the season finale on November 15th rather than being held in the height of summer.
The Turkish grand prix has been moved from its early August slot in the provisional calendar to the weekend vacated by the Canadian race.
And, in turn, this means a 'summer break' of four weeks between the Hungarian grand prix on July 26th and the European grand prix in Valencia on August 23rd has been created.
One lesser change to the provisional calendar released earlier this year sees the Italian and Belgian races swapping positions – meaning F1 will travel to Spa on August 30th and Monza two weeks later on September 13th.
Full revised formula one calendar for 2009:
Australia – March 29th
Malaysia - April 5th
Bahrain - April 19th
Spain - May 10th
Monaco - May 24th
Turkey - June 7th
Great Britain - June 21st
France - June 28th
Germany - July 12th
Hungary - July 26th
Europe (Valencia) - August 23rd
Belgium - August 30th
Italy - September 13th
Singapore - September 27th
Japan - October 11th
China - October 18th
Brazil - November 1st
Abu Dhabi - November 15th