Formula 1 chiefs have a difficult problem to solve in terms of the future scheduling of the Canadian Grand Prix.
The race's promoter said as much on the eve of this year's edition of the event. Francois Dumontier was discussing speculation that the timing of the race could be moved in future years.
Traditionally, the F1 circus sets up its big top in Montreal in June. That is the case this year, with the latest edition of the Canada race taking place this weekend.
But, in the context of the sport's aim to be more sustainable, its current slot on the calendar doesn't really make sense. F1 is in the thick of the European leg of its season – apart from this hop over the Atlantic to southern Canada.
It comes after races in Monaco and Spain. And, after this weekend's racing action has concluded, the teams will pack up all their gear and head back the other way for six more races in Europe.
In order to reduce emissions and travelling burdens on teams, F1 bosses want to time the Canada race to coincide with one of the three taking place in America. One option would be to bring it forward by a few weeks to follow the Miami Grand Prix.
Otherwise, it could be pushed back to later in the year to join up with the Austin race. However, Canadian GP president Dumontier has warned that it will be much more difficult than it sounds to make such plans a reality.
"This has been discussed for a long time and I fully understand the reasoning of the governing bodies," he told La Presse. "On paper, this problem seems very easy to solve, but it is far from being the case.
"With 23 events on its calendar, F1 must deal with 23 different realities. With us, it is mainly the weather, the major sticking point in our talks. One can hardly imagine an event before the beginning of June."
While that last sentence showed an openness to bringing the date forward by a couple of weeks, a postponement to September or October is out of the question in Dumontier's points of view.
He added: "It takes time to put everything in place and in doing so, we risk disrupting the activities of Parc Jean-Drapeau. In addition, in the fall, we could also find ourselves in conflict with congresses, for example."
