Formula One impresario Bernie Ecclestone has made no secret of his desire to see his series make a stop in the Big Apple – Manhattan, in point of fact. To that end, our friends at 0-60 Magazine thought they’d help him out by drawing up a suggested courses – in fact, in an oddly prescient move, they had already done so, publishing the fantasy circuits in the pages of their Winter 2008 issue.

In any case, with Ecclestone reportedly reaffirming his interest in the Big Apple last week, 0-60 has decided to publish the story and the routes online. The routes through Central Park are inspired, although we suspect that more than a few of NYC’s anti-car intelligentsia would take issue with that notion.

This idea is certainty strengthened by the Formula One Teams Association’s interest in returning the the United States.

Personally I love the idea of more Grand Prix exposure here in the States, and the idea of a Manhattan street race is awfully fun to dream about. Logistically I just don’t see this happening. The tarmac on Broadway isn’t exactly FiA-spec, and I just doubt that the city of New York will support the idea – say the way Singapore has.

What do you think of the idea? If not New York, where would you like to see a US Grand Prix held?

On the face of it, Formula 1 recently presented a healthy 19 race dates for the 2010 calendar but many of those venues remain are under a cloud.

Canada and Germany are subject to the signing of contracts, Britain’s two alternative circuits are not guaranteed races, Spa’s racing license has been revoked, and South Korea’s new venue is only half built.

Meanwhile, the latest uncertainty surrounds the May 30 allocation for the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. Istanbul is therefore due to host a race within days of the Monaco Grand Prix, and the logistical impracticality of that prospect has been discussed this weekend by the Formula One Teams’ Association.

At a meeting of the World Motor Sport Council today though, it was confirmed that the Monaco Grand Prix has been brought forward by a week in order to aid the logistical demands of the teams ahead of the Turkish round of the championship.

In addition, the FIA has approved in principle a proposal to swap the dates of the Abu Dhabi and Brazilian races, pending agreement with the promoters of both events.

Officially, the Turkish Grand Prix, criticized for attracting so small a crowd earlier this year, is due to move to June 6 if the negotiations with Montreal fall through, which would give teams a more feasible time-frame to travel to the venue.  This scenario seems unlikely, as reports have come out that the Canadian Grand Prix will take place in 2010, and the announcement will be made before the final round of the 2009 season.

The Most recent version of the 2010 schedule looks like this:

The Formula One Teams’ Association has reportedly expressed doubts about the addition of South Korea to the 2010 calendar, and would prefer instead to be returning to the United States.  “South Korea is a wonderful country and we have no problems with it, but we hear that the track is four or five hours from the nearest major city,” McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh told Auto Bild.

“There’s no infrastructure, no hotels, no good transport. It makes it difficult for the fans and the media,” said the Briton.  He indicated that F1’s priority should be immediately reinstating a North American round of the world championship.

“There shouldn’t be any doubts about Montreal,” said Whitmarsh regarding Canada. “North America is a big market. In the past we’ve messed around with North America so much that we should go there for free if necessary.”

The obstacle standing in the way of a final deal for the Canadian Grand Prix is tax, according to Montreal’s French-language daily La Presse.

The report said Bernie Ecclestone wants to receive the payments of the Quebec, Ottawa and Montreal authorities over the next five years but not pay federal tax. It is said the F1 chief executive is holding back his signature until he receives a written guarantee about the issue from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Additionally, Ecclestone, who will certainly become the event’s promoter, also wishes to take all the money generated by ticket sales and refund the sales tax portion at a later date. Canadian law stipulates that such amounts should not leave the country before the government’s portion has been paid.

Raymond Bachand, handling the governments’ F1 negotiations, said last Friday that “there are always complicated elements with a tentative agreement – which we have with Mr Ecclestone – when the lawyers put it down on paper… problems sometimes arise.”

La Presse cited a well-informed source used to dealing with Ecclestone: “At one point he’s going to say ‘I give you 24 hours to sign the agreement’ and he will arrange to be unreachable before the deadline.”

“Politicians always end up with blood on their knees,” the source added.

Federal Public Works Minister Christian Paradis however indicated he wanted an agreement “which respects the Canadian taxpayers,” while a spokesman for the Minister indicated that “taxation rules do not depend on a politician’s good will.”

USF1blog.com reported back on September 20th that Kimi looks to be heading to McLaren for 2010, but this weekend Raikkonen has joked that he could race in NASCAR  in 2010 should he so desire – as he remained adamant on the eve of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos that he still has ‘no plans’ beyond the end of the current Formula 1 season.

The 2007 world champion is being dropped by Ferrari – for whom he has driven since that title-winning campaign – at the end of the year in favor of Fernando Alonso, the man Raikkonen pipped to the laurels by just a single marker two years ago.

Since the paddock’s worst-kept secret was finally officially confirmed earlier this month, the 18-time Grand Prix winner’s name has been linked with Renault, McLaren-Mercedes – for whom he competed at the highest level from 2002 to 2006, triumphing nine times along the way and arguably being unlucky not to clinch the crown in 2003 and 2005 – and Red Bull Racing, with Toyota Motorsport President John Howett also having made little secret of his desire to secure Raikkonen’s services.

However, despite time pressing on and seats beginning to fill, the 29-year-old – who will turn 30 on qualifying day in Sao Paulo – insists he has yet to make any decisions regarding next season, when it has similarly been suggested that he might further indulge his nascent forays into rallying by way of a more full-time switch, or even follow in the wheel tracks of fellow former Grand Prix stars Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya by heading across the Pond to NASCAR, a mooted destination for ‘Singapore gate’ protagonist Nelson Piquet Jr too.

Jenson Button has joined the elite group of race drivers to have won the world championship. His fifth position in Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix was enough to clinch the 2009 title from Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello.

Button is the tenth British champion following in the footsteps of Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill and the out-going 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton.

His string of six wins from the first seven races equaled a record set by Clark and Michael Schumacher and formed the foundation of his championship campaign. While his final win of the season came at Istanbul in June, he was able to score points on a regular basis much to the frustration of his rivals.

Button has had his fair share of critics for his performance in the second half of the championship, but had he started the season with points paying finishes and ended the season with a string of victories, his success would have, arguably, been seen in a differing light.

He may not have the flair of some of his rivals and may not put the car right on the limit week in week out, but with more points than his rivals, he has achieved his career objective of championship success following many years of loyalty to Honda and its new successor, Brawn GP.

In view of his team having taken the constructors’ crown as well, Button’s title caps what has been a fairytale success story for the Brawn team, an outfit which came close to shutting its doors mere weeks before the 2009 championship began. The BGP001 completed its first on-track testing only a month before the season’s first race.