“Obviously we are not happy about not being in North America,” asserted BMW Motorsport Director Dr Mario Theissen, whose driver Robert Kubica achieved both his and BMW's maiden grand prix victory in Canada earlier this year. “The US is the most important and biggest car market for BMW, and I think for the industry as a whole.

“It has always been difficult to set foot into the US, but Canada has always been a very strong Formula 1 supporter with the race in Montreal. I have seen the race in Montreal as an operational base to get a second race up-and-running in the US, and so we would – rather than drop the Canada race – use it to expand the operations in North America to have a Canadian plus at least one US race. The intention should be not to step out of this market but just the opposite, to use Montreal as door-opener for a future US race as well.”

“We are sad because it's a great race,” reflected Toyota Motorsport President John Howett. “We like to go there. I think one of the targets of FOTA (the Formula One Teams' Association) is to actually ask the commercial rights-holder to really establish a strong foothold in North America, particularly the US, with a race which showcases Formula 1 well and is, if you like, economically beneficial to Formula 1 as a whole.

“I think this is one of the core discussions FOTA wishes to have, because it is a very important market for our sponsors and for Formula 1, and hopefully in the next one-to-two years we can establish a proper race in the United States which is good for all of us.”

“We are hugely disappointed,” concurred Honda CEO Nick Fry. “It's difficult to emphasise by how much. Honda is very successful in Canada, we make cars there [and] the local company there is hugely enthusiastic about Formula 1. We have large numbers of guests from America and from Canada, we sponsor the event, we would like to see it back on the calendar as soon as possible and I support John's comments that I think it will be a major topic of conversation at the next meeting of the teams.

“I think we need to look at North America on a more strategic basis. As soon as we were down to one race on the continent, things inevitably were going to get difficult because the costs of transportation and appearing just once across the other side of the Atlantic were huge. I think really we need to look at how we're not just going to get back Canada, but how we get back to America, potentially more than once, as it is such an important market.”

Montreal radio station CJAD claims Normand Legault, the executive director of race-promoter F1 Grand Prix du Canada, owes Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Management company between $10 million and $20 million.

The task of solving that 'commercial disagreement' and getting the event re-instated on the F1 calendar has now been passed – at the instigation of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper – to Quebec, federal and municipal government.

Canada's federal minister of international trade Michael Fortier, Québec's economic development and tourism minister Raymond Bachand, Montreal mayor Gerald Tremblay and the vice-president of Grand Prix du Canada, Paul Wilson are understood to be working in collaboration to find a solution and are due to meet Ecclestone in ten days' time.

“The grand prix is an event that we cannot afford to lose, and that we will not lose,” Fortier told Canadian national newspaper the Globe and Mail. “There are three years left on [the race's five-year contract]. I believe on the basis of the contract we can move forward. We will do whatever we can to see that the [race] stays in Montreal.”