BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — While the United States Grand Prix is not listed in the provisional 19-race 2009 F-1 schedule released by the FIA, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Joie Chitwood said that the track is keen to host the F-1 race, perhaps as soon as next year.
“The Indianapolis Motor Speedway continues to be interested in the return of the United States Grand Prix,” Chitwood told National Speed Sport News, “and discussions will continue toward a solution that meets the goals of both Formula One Management and IMS. We believe that a return during our Centennial Era of 2009-2011 would be appropriate, but it must be on terms reasonable to all parties.”
Australia kicks off the season on March 29, and the new race in Abu Dhabi closes it on Nov. 15. The iffy French GP will return to Magny-Cours and the British race moves from its traditional July date to June.

2009 Provisional F-1 Schedule
Date           Location
March 29    Australia
April 5    Malaysia
April 19    Bahrain
May 10    Spain
May 24    Monaco
June 7    Canada
June 21    Great Britain
June 28    France
July 12    Germany
July 26    Hungary
Aug. 9    Turkey
Aug. 23    Europe [Valencia]
Sept. 6    Italy
Sept. 13    Belgium
Sept. 27    Singapore
Oct. 11    Japan
Oct. 18    China
Nov. 1    Brazil
Nov. 15    Abu Dhabi


• Robert Kubica has expressed concern that BMW Sauber is lagging behind McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari in developing their 2008 cars.

• The FIA plans to resurrect the Formula 2 name with a new, one-make feeder series for F-1. According to the FIA, the series, launched in 2009, would be used as “an inexpensive platform to develop emerging driver talent for F-1.” It is hoped this can be achieved within a budget of around 200,000 euros [$315,000] a car per season. Seeing that top go-kart teams spend that much annually in Europe, it remains to be seen if F2 can realistically run on such a budget. But many teams would welcome an alternative to the overpriced GP2 series owned by CVC.

• Although its drivers have been penalized three times in the past two races, McLaren has denied speculation that the FIA is picking on the team.

• BMW Sauber is restructuring its technical department. Willy Rampf, currently the technical director, becomes technical coordinator in November. He will still be responsible for the vehicle concept and will lead the team at the race track, but the responsibility for business operations and line management will pass to Walter Riedl, who already heads up operations at the team’s Swiss base and overall project management in his capacity as managing director.

• Rumors are circulating that GP2 racer Bruno Senna will become BMW Sauber’s test driver in 2009.

• Following a meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in Paris, the FIA announced it will enter into a wide-ranging consultation with the F-1 teams to examine plans for improved efficiency, including new technical regulations for the championship. This will also involve a review of the governance of F-1.
The less than subtle message here is that the FIA wants to strengthen its links with the teams and thus weaken the stance of the third member of the group — commercial rights holders Bernie Ecclestone and the CVC group.
But Ecclestone says that FIA cannot interfere with the commercial side of F-1.
“Under the agreement with the European Commission, the FIA are the regulators of the sport — like the police — and Formula One Management are the commercial rights holders,” he said.
Entry fees for the 2009 championship will be 309,000 euros [$486.675] per team. Initially, the FIA considered a drastic hike, but it decided on just the 2008 fee plus a three percent increase in line with inflation. However, the FIA will launch a consultation with the F-1 teams for the introduction of further fees to cover improved safety systems and equipment at every Grand Prix.
Entries for 2009 must be filed this July. If any teams were considering joining or forming a breakaway series, they now have only a few weeks to do so before they have to commit to the current championship.

• All 10 teams tested at Silverstone last week as they prepared for the upcoming British Grand Prix. Felipe Massa’s Ferrari was quickest on the opening day, but McLaren Mercedes took over the top spot with Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton, respectively, fastest on the following two days.