Arab Times

Germany axed from 2017 calendar

Azerbaijan race moved to avoid Le Mans clash

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LONDON, Dec 1, (RTRS):Germany will have no Formula One Grand Prix next year, despite the dominance of Mercedes and the country’s new world champion Nico Rosberg, after the race was axed for financial reasons on Wednesday.

While that move will dismay German fans, there was a more welcome change in the renamed Azerbaijan Grand Prix being pushed back to June 25 to avoid a clash with the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar classic.

Races in Brazil and Canada, whose fate had also been left open on the draft calendar, were confirmed on the 20-round official version published by the governing Internatio­nal Automobile Federation (FIA).

There were a record 21 races this year.

Germany’s absence had been expected with the Nuerburgri­ng unwilling to pay hosting fees and Hockenheim, which drew a mere 57,000-strong crowd this year, reluctant to lose money in successive

WIESBADEN, Germany, Dec 1, (RTRS): Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg hailed Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton as one of the greatest drivers of all time on Wednesday, and the Briton repaid the compliment by saying the German’s title was well-deserved. Hamilton sent congratula­tions in a message posted on Twitter after Rosberg had returned to his German birthplace in Wiesbaden. “We said we’d be champions back then, now we both are!,” said Hamilton, posting a picture of the two of them together as young go-karting team mates. “Congratula­tions Nico, you did everything a champion needed to do. Well deserved,” he added. Rosberg, who lost out to Hamilton in the previous two years, made it third time lucky on Sunday when he clinched his maiden title with a second-place finish behind the triple world champion at the season finale in Abu Dhabi. The childhood friends have been fierce rivals in Formula One and their body language was distinctly frosty immediatel­y after Rosberg clinched the title. There was minimal eye contact as they waited to go on the podium, where they did eventually shake hands in front of the crowd. Hamilton had done his best to scupper Rosberg’s chances by deliberate­ly slowing the pace from the front, hoping to back Rosberg into a position where rival drivers could overtake the German in a last-ditch effort to overhaul his 12-point deficit. “Lewis is one of the best of all time. He sets a high standard,” the 31-year-old Rosberg told reporters. “It will always be difficult between us. We are in the same team and race against each other for titles. “It is virtually impossible to have a good relationsh­ip. We used to be best friends when we were young so at least we have this respect for each other. This helps somewhat,” he added. “I do not know how he feels at the moment but I know how I felt in 2014 and 2015.” Rosberg lost any hope of claiming the 2014 title with an engine problem at the final race of that season but, unlike Hamilton, has had no such reliabilit­y issues this year.

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