The International Automobile Federation (FIA) has dropped the Canadian Grand Prix from its 2009 Formula One calendar, leaving no North American events on the schedule (the United States Grand Prix was cancelled last year).

In the place of the Canadian race will be the inaugural race in Abu Dhabi. The entire schedule of the calendar has been revised with the season now starting at the end of March in Melbourne and the Turkish race being moved from August to the beginning of June, so that the teams can have a summer break. The season will now include 18 races, rather than 19, which would have set a new record.

The loss of the Canadian Grand Prix has come as a shock to some in the sport, including officials in Montreal. The mayor, Gerald Tremblay, expressed his disappointment, “we’ll see in the coming hours what we can do”. Furthermore, organisers stated yesterday that they “learned via the media of the omission” and that they would be in touch with the FIA concerning the nature of the cancellation.

However, it is not just officials in North America who have concerns over this latest move by the FIA. The Formula One teams may become anxious, since North America is an important market place for the road-car manufacturers with whom they are dealing.

The other big news in the world of Formula One comes in the form of Max Mosley expressing his desire to save the sport by encouraging teams to make drastic cuts in spending. Mosley believes the sport is “unsustainable” at the current levels of spending. Furthermore, if this spending is not controlled, he believes the sport will fall into “serious difficulty”.

Written by Charlotte Cook