• Canadian Grand Prix

Montreal eyeing new ten-year deal

The Canadian Grand Prix is currently one of only two North American races © Sutton Images

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Canadian Grand Prix promoter Francois Dumontier says the race is negotiating a new ten-year contract extension.

The Montreal race's agreement ends next year, yet talks between Formula One Management - led by Bernie Ecclestone - and the different levels of government began some time ago. A new contract may be signed in the following weeks and if all goes to plan Dumontier said there will be no need to sit at the negotiating table for many years afterwards.

"We are presently discussing an extension from 2015 to 2024, so ten years," Dumontier said. That is the longest agreement that has ever been proposed to us. We had five years with options before."

Dumontier also said that long-term deals were becoming the trend in Formula One.

"All new agreements now being signed are for ten years ... Ten years allows us to think long term, to think about improvements that can be brought to the circuit, about investments, etc. We are happy to work in this regard."

When asked why he thinks Formula One was starting to look more towards ten-year deals, Dumontier hinted the upcoming planned flotation on the Singapore Stock Exchange could be one factor.

"There are several reasons, but I believe they want to consolidate the good grands prix. Montreal is such a race, undoubtedly. We saw as much [at last week's race] with the full grandstands and the comments made by the drivers and teams.

"F1 has a project to enter the stock market. Ten-year contacts have a certain value when entering the stock market."

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