According to reports from Spa, Formula One tinkerer Bernie Ecclestone is seriously considering moving the Bahrain Grand Prix forwards to open the season for next year, in place of the current season-opener, the Australian race in Melbourne.
Ecclestone is considering reshuffling the calendar for 2010, in a move which would see Melbourne lose it's season-opening slot for the first time since 2006, when the race was pushed back in the calendar in order to avoid a clash with effervescent sport day-type event, the Commonwealth Games.
This time, the switch may be necessary because of the Australian GP's new later start time. In a misguided attempt to appease sleepy European audiences, the race will begin in the evening in 2010, much like the Malaysian race this year, with the later race unable to take place before March 28th in order to wait for daylight saving time to kick in.
While the late March slot is currently pencilled in as the start of the season, some believe that this is too long to wait for the new GP season, and so Ecclestone may choose to parachute the Bahrain event in earlier in the year. Bahrain took over the season opening slot in 2006, although starting somewhere other than Melbourne felt really wrong, like wearing someone else's underwear.
Sources within the paddock have confirmed that Ecclestone is in discussions over the possibility of switching the Sakhir race to March 14th, and although no decision has been taken yet, Australian race organisers are believed to be pushing their case hard in order to keep hold of their prestigious opening slot.
Bernie has handed out a draft of the 2010 calendar to the teams, with the return of the Canadian GP in Montreal rumoured to be the only significant alteration to this year, but changes may yet be made.
On the subject of the calendar, BMW boos and rentaquote merchant Mario Theissen said that the deal over Canada was not fully finalised. "There is an opportunity, but not a contract," he when asked about the race.
When pushed about the topic of whether Australia or Bahrain would open the season, he simply said that: "Both scenarios are in discussion, but I have not seen a finalised calendar."
The definitive 2010 calendar will be released later on in the year.
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