Imola still off the 2007 calendar

It appears that there will be no reprieve for the San Marino Grand Prix as the 2007 calendar was re-issued by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) on October 18th and Imola is absent. It was thought that after upgrades to the circuit it could be restored to its usual slot as the first race in Europe after the early flyaways but reportedly there is no commercial agreement between Imola and Bernie Ecclestone.

The WMSC noted that "no agreement was in place for an 18th race and there will continue to be 17 races in the 2007 calendar." Therefore the gap of nearly a month still exists between the third race in Bahrain on April 15th and the fourth in Spain on May 13th.

Silverstone returns to its usual early July spot and while the European GP is officially off the schedule, the Nurburgring will be host to the German GP in 2007. In 2008 the race will switch to Hockenheim and will alternate between the two tracks after that.

Japan and China, a week apart on September 30th and October 7th respectively, have swapped dates from the first draft of the calendar and are listed as provisional pending confirmation. There are four other back-to-back events: Malaysia and Bahrain (April), Canada and America (June), France and Britain (July) and Italy and Belgium (September).