Bernie's race calendar woes

While the current Formula One season is running to its end at this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Bernie Ecclestone is more active than ever when it comes to discussing deals with racing circuits and speaking out loud on his thoughts.

With Donington now having missed their Monday deadline after repeatedly having allowed extension, Ecclestone has claimed at Abu Dhabi that "where will be no Donington". He earlier also noted his intention to sue the Donington circuit for failing to comply with the 17-year Grand Prix deal that the English circuit had secured with the rights holder.

First candidate to fill the vacant spot is obviously Silverstone which has been hosting the British Grand Prix since 1987 continuously. Bernie was however not happy with the way things were handled by the most famous English track, especially after not completing the infrastructure works they had earlier on promised to Formula One and its teams.

Then there is also the issue of the French Grand Prix, absent of the 2009 calendar after Ecclestone rejected to continue hosting a Grand Prix at Magny-Cours, mainly due to its lacking hotel infrastructure. Now that Frenchman Jean Todt has been elected FIA president, it will surely be interesting to see what happens after he claimed to do all he can to put a French Grand Prix back in the calendar, like it should.

Fortunately there is also talk about events that still are on the calendar, such as the Australian Grand Prix hosted at Melbourne Park. It is no secret that Bernie is not too happy with that event being so early in the morning for Europeans. Hence he is still pushing for it to be a night race, after this year's event was held late in the afternoon to compromise with the Melbourne authorities not favoring the night race idea.

Altogether this year has featured a nice combination of races, with traditionals like Spa-Francorchamps, Monza, Silverstone and Suzuka on the schedule balancing out the newer events at Valencia, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. I'm pretty sure Bernie has a good time puzzling the circuits together, so let's hope the pieces fit in 2010 too.