Montreal’s suits not giving up on F1 race

The Mayor of Montreal, Gerald Tremblay, has proposed an increase in hotel taxes over the weekend of the Canadian Grand Prix, in a bid to raise several million pounds in extra revenue.

Wee Bernie Ecclestone is still demanding overdue payments from this season’s race, and he hasn’t been paid yet. Canadian officials had hoped to raise the cash privately - Guy Laliberte, the founder of the Cirque du Soleil, was touted as a possible backer - but now Tremblay and co. are so desperate to get the GP back on the 2009 calendar that they are prepared to raise taxes to do it.

Tremblay said: “[Ecclestone is] not interested in where the money’s going to come from, he just wants to get the money to which he thinks he’s entitled.”

Show him the money and you may get your race back.

Montreal under threat? Send in the clowns…

Officials of the axed Canadian GP are looking for a new race promoter, following their crunch meeting in London with Bernie Ecclestone.

Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay said after the showdown that it is “still possible” the event could feature on the 2009 calendar, while Quebec economic minister, Raymond Bachand, admitted that the sticking point is cash:

“We must find a promoter from the private sector who will take the event into their hands,” he told reporters at Montreal airport.

Rumours suggest that the promoter could be Guy Laliberte, the founder of the Cirque du Soleil. Laliberte is known to be a big F1 fan - he regularly attended the Canadian GP - and he has a wallet deep enough to bail out the event (Cirque du Soleil is worth more than $1billion, and Laliberte has a 95% stake in the company). Not only that, Laliberte is friends with Bernie Ecclestone.

…But can he change Bernie Ecclestone’s mind?

The mayor of Montreal flies into London today to make a case to reinstate the axed Canadian Grand Prix for 2009. Mayor Gerald Tremblay is set for a showdown in the capital tomorrow with Wee Bernie Ecclestone, in a bid to reinstate Montreal’s lost weekend.

“We’ll be meeting Mr. Ecclestone to see how much he wants this Grand Prix to be held,” said Raymond Bachand, Quebec’s Economic Development Minister (Bachand will be present in the meeting with Ecclestone and Tremblay). “If the conditions are financially responsible, we’ll save this event. If they’re totally unreasonable, we’re in trouble.”

FFSA cancels French GP

France’s motorsports federation, the FFSA, has announced that it will not promote the racenext season due to financial difficulties.

“For reasons related to the financial situation, the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile has decided to cancel the Grand Prix of France,” an official statement read.

“The FFSA would like to thank all customers who attended the Grand Prix of France and have supported this international event in recent years.”

The shock decision leaves the 2009 F1 calendar with just 17 races. Does this leave scope for the Canadian government to step in and negotiate a rescue package for Montreal? We hope so, although it seems highly unlikely that Bernie Ecclestone will reverse his decision to scrap Canada for 2009.

An aside to this news: the official F1 website runs the story under the headline “French Grand Prix to rest in 2009″. Hmm, interesting use of the word “rest”.

Team bosses want Canada back on the Formula One calendar

Formula One team bosses are set to discuss ways of getting the Canadian Grand Prix reinstated for next season. The race had been scheduled on the original 2009 calendar, but was controversially scrapped earlier this week. It seems likely that Bernie Ecclestone has made the decision on economic grounds, but the F1 teams seem just as disgruntled with the decision as the Candian Grand Prix’s many fans.

“I don’t think it is a short-term problem, but it is a problem that does need to be addressed,” Honda CEO Nick Fry told Autosport. “We are a global series and not to be performing in one of the major continents is a serious problem - even more so because it is a continent that is very important for the motor manufacturers who are involved in F1.

ITV pundit escapes censure for “pikey” comment

Martin Brundle has escaped penalty for asked Wee Bernie Ecclestone at the Canadian GP what he thought about the “pikeys putting tarmac down at turn 10″.

The watchdog Equality and Human Rights Commission condemned Brundle’s use of the word, and a spokesman for the British F1 broadcaster apologised for the slip. Despite 36 complaints to ITV and Ofcom, the TV watchdog accepted the explanation that Brundle did not intend the use of the word to cause offence. Quite right too. We weren’t offended, but then we love pikeys.

After missing the recent Hungarian GP while on his traditional mid-season break, Brundle will be back in the F1 paddock at Valencia for the European GP in a fortnight’s time.

Double entendres never get old

Some wag’s response to Lewis’s embarrassing shunt in Montreal. We like.

Mild-mannered German reveals the Hulk within

Heidfeld strikes us as the quiet man of F1, but he revealed a darker, more angry side in a recent interview on the eve of the Canadian GP with ITV’s walking bangle shop, Louise Goodman. When asked what makes him swear, he replied:

“I do it every morning when I come into the track here in Montreal. There is a bit where you are made to stop because they let all the pedestrians pass. There are thousands of them and it takes ages. Each year it’s the same and each year I think ‘why don’t they just build a f***ing bridge?’ I swear about it each day, each year that I come here.”

Perhaps Quick Nick channeled his rage and used it to help him drive faster in Canada (he finished second)?