Malaysia to go?

[Cold]

It seems that Malaysia is to scrap its F1 race from 2018.

Link

[mikecassie]

Considering the empty stands during the races is it any wonder it couldn't continue. Although it was a good race, the timing of the race with the well known heavy rain at the same time every day was daft.
Germany is to replace it I believe?

[Eric Mc]

Could this be a trend in those non-F1 culture destination?

[Vaud]

Eric Mc said:

Could this be a trend in those non-F1 culture destination?

Possibly. France and Germany back next year if I read correctly.

[stevesuk]

Not my favourite, but I can think of a few Grand Prix venues I'd prefer to lose. There have been some dramatic wet (or mixed wet and dry) races in the past. 2001 anyone?

[Melman Giraffe]

Vaud said:

Eric Mc said:

Could this be a trend in those non-F1 culture destination?

Possibly. France and Germany back next year if I read correctly.

Good to see France back on the calendar for sure, does anyone know what Le Castellet is like as a track?

[Eric Mc]

When it was first used in the 70s, the general comments at the time were unfavourable - but that was in the context of F1 fans who were used to the old Nurburgring and the old Spa.

It may get more favourable reviews in the modern F1 world.

Since those days, the track has been altered (the old Mistral straight is severely shortened compared to the original).

So, I don't think it is that great a circuit really - but at least it's in the right country.

[Ahonen]

Eric Mc said:

When it was first used in the 70s, the general comments at the time were unfavourable - but that was in the context of F1 fans who were used to the old Nurburgring and the old Spa.

It may get more favourable reviews in the modern F1 world.

Since those days, the track has been altered (the old Mistral straight is severely shortened compared to the original).

So, I don't think it is that great a circuit really - but at least it's in the right country.

The Mistral is the same length as it always was and Signes is unchanged (or it still was on Tuesday and Wednesday when I was last there), but there have been some tweaks to the layout - mostly to increase the number of available layouts. The short circuits are used for wet testing in the main, with the big track still in use for most racing and testing.

I've spent a lot of time at Ricard in the last few months and it strikes me that there is a heck of a lot of work to do to make the facilities 'F1 ready'. The wonderful pit complex, with its offices at the rear of each garage with desks and windows allowing the engineers to observe the car in the box, are great for GT cars but simply far too small for the sheer volume of stuff that F1 teams carry. There is also a height difference between the back and front of 2/3rds of the garages of around 4 feet, so the amount of excavation involved to rebuild it all would be huge.

Add in the lack of parking for spectators (just about fine for small events of 10-20000 spectators but hopelessly inadequate for 100k), tiny grandstands and access via a little single track road - admittedly from two directions - and it doesn't look positive.

I might be completely wrong, but with the race scheduled for around 15 months' time and absolutely no indication at all of any work taking place I wonder if it's really going to happen.

[KevinCamaroSS]

Ahonen said:

The Mistral is the same length as it always was and Signes is unchanged (or it still was on Tuesday and Wednesday when I was last there), but there have been some tweaks to the layout - mostly to increase the number of available layouts. The short circuits are used for wet testing in the main, with the big track still in use for most racing and testing.

I've spent a lot of time at Ricard in the last few months and it strikes me that there is a heck of a lot of work to do to make the facilities 'F1 ready'. The wonderful pit complex, with its offices at the rear of each garage with desks and windows allowing the engineers to observe the car in the box, are great for GT cars but simply far too small for the sheer volume of stuff that F1 teams carry. There is also a height difference between the back and front of 2/3rds of the garages of around 4 feet, so the amount of excavation involved to rebuild it all would be huge.

Add in the lack of parking for spectators (just about fine for small events of 10-20000 spectators but hopelessly inadequate for 100k), tiny grandstands and access via a little single track road - admittedly from two directions - and it doesn't look positive.

I might be completely wrong, but with the race scheduled for around 15 months' time and absolutely no indication at all of any work taking place I wonder if it's really going to happen.

Doesn't Bernie own the Paul Ricard circuit?

[Ahonen]

KevinCamaroSS said:

Doesn't Bernie own the Paul Ricard circuit?

Yes, I think he still does. There's still grass from Biggin Hill between the pit lane and pit wall.

If it does happen the spectacle of F1 cars going through Signes will be absolutely mind blowing.

[24lemons]

Ahonen said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

Doesn't Bernie own the Paul Ricard circuit?

Yes, I think he still does. There's still grass from Biggin Hill between the pit lane and pit wall.

If it does happen the spectacle of F1 cars going through Signes will be absolutely mind blowing.

Does Paul Ricard have a license to accommodate spectators any more? I thought that went by the wayside when they removed all of the grandstands. I'm sure that if the facilities existed, they would get a decent crowd.

While Malaysia isn't the worst of the new circuits, the fan attendance always seems poor. I'd rather that races were taken to countries where there is a sufficient local interest to fill the stands and add a bit of atmosphere

[Ahonen]

24lemons said:

Does Paul Ricard have a license to accommodate spectators any more? I thought that went by the wayside when they removed all of the grandstands. I'm sure that if the facilities existed, they would get a decent crowd.

Yeah, there have been races there for a few years now and spectators are evident. The ELMS and Blancpain GT series race there, while the historic races are always popular. I think it has around 15 race meetings per year, though of course there was a lengthy period of no racing at all.

They have grandstands - permanent concrete ones - but they are fairly small and wouldn't cope with an F1 crowd.

[Eric Mc]

Regarding the length of the Mistral Straight - here's what Wiki says -

"The length of the Mistral Straight was reduced from 1.8 km in length to just over 1 km, and the fast sweeping Verierre curves where de Angelis had crashed were bypassed".

I certainly remember commentators talking about the shortening at the time. It was done following Elio De ANelis' fatal accident in testing in 1986.

[Ahonen]

Eric Mc said:

Regarding the length of the Mistral Straight - here's what Wiki says -

"The length of the Mistral Straight was reduced from 1.8 km in length to just over 1 km, and the fast sweeping Verierre curves where de Angelis had crashed were bypassed".

I certainly remember commentators talking about the shortening at the time. It was done following Elio De ANelis' fatal accident in testing in 1986.

Yeah, that's the version we use for wet testing and it was used for the last few GPs there. The full version is still used for all races and the vast majority of testing. There are two versions of Verierre, with one being much faster.

[Eric Mc]

I wonder which version of the Mistral they would use for a modern F1 race?

[Chrisgr31]

24lemons said:

While Malaysia isn't the worst of the new circuits, the fan attendance always seems poor. I'd rather that races were taken to countries where there is a sufficient local interest to fill the stands and add a bit of atmosphere

I went to the first Malaysian race and the issue as spectator is that if it isn't lashing down with rain its ridiculously hot and sunny and you burn within minutes of being in the sun! Even though some of the grandstands are covered they dont necessarily protect you from the sun.Equally the air can be very still even in the shade.

[entropy]

A shame about the Malaysian GP as it's one of - if not the best - Tilke circuit. It's not even a Tilkedrome cookie-cutter circuit as flows so well and universally liked by the drivers.

At least South East Asia is bike mad and does good business when MotoGP comes to town.

Ahonen said:

If it does happen the spectacle of F1 cars going through Signes will be absolutely mind blowing.

The spectacle will be greatly diminished due to modern runoff.

Eric Mc said:

Regarding the length of the Mistral Straight - here's what Wiki says -

"The length of the Mistral Straight was reduced from 1.8 km in length to just over 1 km, and the fast sweeping Verierre curves where de Angelis had crashed were bypassed".

I certainly remember commentators talking about the shortening at the time. It was done following Elio De ANelis' fatal accident in testing in 1986.

There's options for chicanes on the Mistral. It's used when GTs use the long configuration.


!Flashback Friday! when Leyton House led the French GP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW7rJ15NEtw&li...

[Ahonen]

entropy said:

There's options for chicanes on the Mistral. It's used when GTs use the long configuration.

No chicanes are used in either Blancpain or ELMS. It's flat out awesomeness!

[DE15 CAT]

Melman Giraffe said:

Vaud said:

Eric Mc said:

Could this be a trend in those non-F1 culture destination?

Possibly. France and Germany back next year if I read correctly.

Good to see France back on the calendar for sure, does anyone know what Le Castellet is like as a track?

If it's the one I'm thinking of didn't it become a High Tech Test Track, but as racing returned the various coloured to differentiate grip level lines all around the edges of the circuit were left on (can only imagine it is what a 60's hippy on a bad acid trip would see) it gave me a bloody headache to watch racing on screen.