F1 still in talks with London over potential Grand Prix
- Published on 10 Jul 2019 17:42
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Formula 1 is still looking to add a second race in the United Kingdom to the calendar in the coming years.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that Silverstone had reached a deal that will see it remain on the calendar for the next five years.
Liberty Media has often expressed its desire to add a Grand Prix through the streets of London, and F1 CEO Chase Carey confirmed at Silverstone that talks are ongoing.
"We have interest from a lot of places. It's well reported that we have discussions ongoing with London, and I look forward to continuing having those discussions," he said. "It would be a different experience and we'll see where they take us.
"But in the short term, we're working with our partners in Silverstone and make sure we continue to build."
Silverstone support intent, but is wary of threat
Chairman of the British Racing Drivers' Club John Grant asserted that Silverstone welcomes the prospect of a race in London.
However, he says that the BRDC is aware of the threat that a second UK race may pose to the attendance of the Silverstone, something it has been open about in discussions.
"We recognise Formula 1's desire to have destination city races, and frankly if that brings a new audience to Formula 1 I think that's in general a good thing," he said.
"We don't oppose that intent, we support that intent. Of course, we are concerned about the commercial threat to us having a competitor event just on our doorstep, and so we've had very frank and open discussions with our friends in Formula 1 about that.
"They understand those concerns and I think it's fair to say we've come up with a modus operandi, a set of arrangements, that protect our interests to our satisfaction should that London event ever actually become a reality.
"We think there is room for the two races to coexist side-by-side as long as they had sufficient separation in time and as long as our commercial interests are recognised in some reasonably flexible way."
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Replies (3)
Login to replyf1dave
Posts: 782
On the streets of London ?
I can only assume that they've never been to that city.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I haven't been in London, and even I think this sounds like a bad idea. London city doesn't really have any place that would lead to an interesting race without obstructing a lot.. A Lot.. of traffic.
emprisedll
Posts: 22
London is a mess seriously but even if we leave out the political stuff it just doesn't make any sense. The streets are not wide enough for these huge F1 cars we have these days.
I can understand the Miami race because it's not as crowded and you have space for the fans. The Americans really know how to build their streets in the big cities.