Montreal is one of the most popular venues on the F1 calendar

Honda team principal Nick Fry has hit out at the decision to drop Canada from the 2009 Formula One calendar.

F1 will have no race in North America after motorsport's governing body the FIA included Abu Dhabi at the expense of Montreal.

"We are hugely disappointed," said Fry. "It will be a major topic at the next meeting of teams."

Toyota president John Howlett said: "Hopefully in the next four years we can establish a real race in the US."

And BMW team principal Mario Thiessen advocated having a "Canadian race and at least one US one".

The dropping of the United States from the 2008 F1 calendar left Canada vulnerable because the costs of transport to North America are steep for a single race.

That was not considered to be an issue when Canada was the sole North American race through much of the 1990s but it is more of a concern at the moment.

To overcome that, Fry suggested holding two races in the US and one in Canada.

606: DEBATE I am really annoyed about this decision I don't see why we fans should have to suffer time and time again for Bernie to make more money by moving to pastures new jonners99

The loss of Canada means the F1 calendar will stay at 18 races rather than the record-breaking 19 that had been expected for 2009.

The continent is a vital market place for the road-car manufacturers who are involved with many of them.

2009 Formula One calendar

29 March - Australia (Melbourne)

5 April - Malaysia (Sepang)

19 April - Bahrain

10 May - Spain (Barcelona)

24 May - Monaco

7 June - Turkey (Istanbul)

21 June - Britain (Silverstone)

28 June - France (Magny-Cours)

12 July - Germany (Nurburgring)

26 July - Hungary (Budapest)

23 August - Europe (Valencia)

30 August - Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)

13 September - Italy (Monza)

27 September - Singapore

11 October - Japan (Suzuka)

18 October - China

1 November - Brazil (Interlagos)

15 November - Abu Dhabi

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