Formula 1 'highly interested' in China street race
- Published on 16 Apr 2019 14:09
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Formula 1 is exploring the possibility of adding a second world championship race in China.
The Shanghai International Circuit has hosted a Grand Prix every year since 2004, with the 2019 event seeing Lewis Hamilton take victory last Sunday.
Liberty Media has already secured a new Asian race on the calendar, as Vietnam will have its first Grand Prix next year around the streets of Hanoi.
F1's commercial head Sean Bratches confirmed that there are meetings in place to seek out an appropriate venue to potentially host the race.
"In terms of interest, we would be highly interested in a street race,” Bratches told AFP.
"It would be a nice juxtaposition to the purpose-built, extraordinary facility that we have here. Our intent is to bring our show to the people.
"There's meetings set up in each with government officials to talk about identifying a second city to host a Grand Prix. We think there's an opportunity to grow from that perspective.”
Liberty Media, who took over the commercial rights of Formula 1 in 2017, has been wanting to expand the calendar beyond the current 21 races.
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Replies (4)
Login to replyf1dave
Posts: 782
No street races, leave that to formula E and indycar.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yeeah, maybe F1 is interested in it, but I'm not sure we are. A 2nd GP in China could make sense since it's such a big country, but the focus on quality needs to be there still. I'm not as much against street tracks as some, but it needs to make sense to have it a street track venue in the first place.
f1dave
Posts: 782
Can't bring myself to watch one of these races again but read here that the last Formula E race was held up for an hour by a "blocked track". These narrow venues with no run off areas just don't cut it. (neither do tracks that are all run off areas like COTA )
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Personally, I like COTA, but I see your point. and a track with no run-offs really is a nono for a sport like F1. Imagine the kinda hazards that'd provide.