Canada back in 2009? Team directors are meeting!

The Canadian Grand Prix has been removed from the provisional calendar for 2009, the FIA announced earlier this week on its official website. This would be the first time since 1950 and the creation of the Formula 1 World Championship that no North American country would be scheduled in the program.

Bernie Ecclestone, the financial chief of F1, announced the next day his desire to bring back a race in North America and hopes to improve Canadian finances for the next year.

The CEO of the Japanese team Honda also commented: « I think this is not a long-term problem to solve, but it should not even be a problem currently. We are an international championship. This implies that we must be present around the world, and I can’t even imagine for the major car manufacturers present in F1 how we can be absent from one of the most important continents in the world. »

« We need to find ways to make this type of race attractive on this continent, and then the question of not having a Grand Prix on one of the continents will no longer arise… » Concluded the Brit.

Mario Theissen, the Director of BMW Motorsport added: « I have received no explanation for this decision so I think we will discuss it at length. »

The organizers of the Turkish Grand Prix have expressed their desire to return to the beginning of the season in the 2009 calendar, as the date of the Turkish event changed in 2008. The solutions considered would then be to leave Canada at its usual date and move the Turkish GP to one week after the Hungarian GP.

Another meeting of team leaders is expected to take place this weekend with major players from this championship.