Saturday 26 February 2011

Bahrain, Ecclestone and F1’s expansion

The Formula One fraternity was unusually united in agreement that the Bahrain Grand Prix should not go ahead – in the circumstances a mere sporting event was completely irrelevant. But is it time to take a good look at what Bernie Ecclestone’s expansionist plans have achieved for the sport?

15 years ago 11 out of 17 F1 races were held in Europe, this season it will be just 8 from 18, is this good for the sport? Most fans would agree that circuits like Turkey and spectacles like Singapore are welcome additions to the calendar but in a similar vein most would agree that bland-fests like Bahrain itself, Korea and Malaysia add little in a sporting sense. Who can remember a truly great race at one of the new venues? There aren’t many...

Mercifully most of the great circuits have survived, the real soul of Grand Prix racing lives at Monza, it lives at Silverstone and more than any other it lives at Monaco. The expansion of Formula One into new nations is not a fundamentally bad thing, but it should not come at the cost of the sporting spectacle.

Whether a track makes the cut into Formula One should not be judged purely on what makes the best economic sense. What gets the juices of the average F1 fan going? The growth potential in the Chinese car market, or the sight of the world's best drivers going tete-a-tete through Eau Rouge? I know which I'd choose! F1 is a sport which thrives on drama and circuits are the theatres for that, Spa delivers that drama, Suzuka delivers it – the Tilke-clones largely do not.

3 comments:

haitchjg said...

Wasn't Tilke brought in to design overtaking opportunities into racetracks? Fat lot of good that did except create bland, featureless, 'safe' circuits. Thank god they can't design/engineer out the driver error, engine problem, tyre failure, track disintegration or adverse weather interest else they undoubtedly would!

GreenJJ said...

With some of Tilke's designs its so easy to identify that there are few overtaking spots. Think about Malaysia, there are hardly any where you can pull a proper move - maybe into turn three, and its the same for Bahrain which is the worst of the lot if you ask me. They need to turn to a new circuit designer!

haitchjg said...

Nearly all the new circuits seem to have limited spectator interest/capacity other than in the main straight gradstands or (backstraight in Sepang I suppose. Still who would want to sit in 40+ in the middle of a desert. Hate Todt as you know but have to say he looks to be our (Fans) best (only?) bet at the moment for getting any spectator changes into the arena. Maybe we should start a campaign!