What constitutes a 'strategic' Euro F1 race?

[Hugh Jarce]

I was reading the F1 news - as you do, and found an article on the BBC Sport website in which Uncle Max makes a interesting comment ...

Mosley - president of motorsport's governing body the FIA - repeated Ecclestone's warning that the future of the British Grand Prix is far from secure.

"Bernie has got a point. It would be tragic if the British Grand Prix were not to survive and I think a lot of people will get together to make sure it does survive," Mosley said on BBC Radio Five Live... "It's one of a number of Euro races, it's not a key strategic race. So they must sort it out - but I think they will sort it out."

So, what consititutes a 'key strategic' Euro race - is it mainly about the quality of the pitlane and the bogs?

Any insight?

:confused:

[Adam43]

strategic? Is that to do with chess and pitstops

I guess strategic means several things, but includes Cigerette sponsorship (Bernie was very open about this with regard to Imola at the weekend), manufacturer support and other sponsor support.

[climb]

Considering where is motorsport kingdom, if the British GP is not strategic I just wonder if there is any.

[ensign14]

I think what he means is that Europe, with under a tenth of the World's population, should not have 60% or whatever of the races.

Personally, I think the British, German, Italian, French and Monaco GPs should be inviolate because of these nations' involvement and commitment to racing. Belgium should also be included whilst it is at Spa. Japan is probably getting there as well.

It is also important to have races in North and South America, Asia, Australia and (I would say) Africa every year. Where exactly they are held could rotate.

That would be 12 races. 13 if you count the Middle East as being a target area; 14 if Eastern Europe is included.

Then there would be half-a-dozen additional tracks wherever that could have a GP every other year or so. Widen the franchise a bit.

[ASCII Man]

Bahrain, Sepang and Shanghai are key strategic tracks for sure. Hockenheim and Melbourne probably too.
Spa hopefully as well.

[climb]

About Spa, i just hope it is out of danger now, after last year's troubles.

[Dick Spanner]

I think the Key Strategic races are the ones that most thickly line Bernies pockets, it probably doesn't matter where they are particularly.

[Hugh Jarce]

The fact that Britain is not part of mainland Europe (where there are a few races) and there are so many teams based in the UK ought to carry some clout - I would have thought.

But the fags thing is interesting.

F1 always seems to come back to big dosh issues.

[climb]

Provided money is Bernie's sole interest, i just say that motorsport, like any other sports activity, has in tradition a strong basis of foundation.
Displacing British Gp to Turkey would be like replacing Tour de France with a tour of Indonesia or whatever.
Keeping in motor racing, someone has already tried to take US openwheel racing away from Indy, with the results everyone know .
God save the British GP.

[KC]

Strategic means money. Obviously Bernie and company don't make enough money racing in the UK, so that is the impetus behind all the threats.

[Hugh Jarce]

Sick isn't it.

Strategic = Profit

[Glen]

Why do you blame Bernie and Max? The teams and their sponsors want the top facilities and, especially, the global TV interest.

[Hugh Jarce]

But Max made the comment about strategic circuits - it wasn't a quote that the teams were placing him under pressure he seemed to own the comment!

So, he must be accountable for the implication of what he said.

By the way Glen, do you like Dorking - I must admit I have never Dorked.

[Glen]

It's not a question of pressure from the teams - money is the primary motivator for everyone in the business.

[Hugh Jarce]

True!

Dorking?

[Don K]

Originally posted by Hugh Jarce
So, what consititutes a 'key strategic' Euro race - is it mainly about the quality of the pitlane and the bogs?

Many teams are based in England.

So whether or not F1 visits England, there always will be a lot of interest (and therefore a lot of money) coming from England.

I would think that under the present situation, F1 can also be assured of getting a lot of interest from Germany, Italy and France.

So if F1 had to drop 7 European races, it might be a sound (short term) strategy to drop the races from England, Germany, Italy and France.

--------

If the above is correct, a "key strategic European race" would be a race in another big European country. Preferably not a poor country.

So that would probably make Barcelona the most "important" European race.

[DriverT]

Why drop those ones, Don K?

[Mattracer]

Call it simplistic, but the best circuits should attract the GPs as a matter of priority. After all, the sport should be about the sport, the best challenges which equates to the great circuits of the world- Monza, Spa, Suzuka, Monaco, Silverstone etc. Tradition counts for something too doesn't it?

[Hugh Jarce]

Just out of interest, how does it work.

Say a fictious oil-rich state called 'Maxovia' decided it had money to burn and got Herman to design a circuit and were prepared to put in all the infrastructure to rival Sepang.

Do they get a nod and a wink that they will get a GP before proceeding?

Or do they build it prospectively on hope to push Silverstone out?

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Hugh Jarce
Just out of interest, how does it work.

Say a fictious oil-rich state called 'Maxovia' decided it had money to burn and got Herman to design a circuit and were prepared to put in all the infrastructure to rival Sepang.

Do they get a nod and a wink that they will get a GP before proceeding?

Or do they build it prospectively on hope to push Silverstone out?

I think the former - remember Bernie's visits to places like Zhuhai and Moscow before any building work was done?

That said, given that Brazil's infrastructure is poor, I should have thought the place to build a top circuit is there or Argentina.

[Don K]

Originally posted by DriverT
Why drop those ones, Don K?

Drop Barcelona and you might lose a lot of interest (and money) from Spain.
Drop Spa and you migh lose a lot of interest (and money) from Belgium.
Drop Budapest and you might lose a lot of interest from Hungary.
etc.

[Don K]

Originally posted by Mattracer
Call it simplistic, but the best circuits should attract the GPs as a matter of priority. After all, the sport should be about the sport, the best challenges which equates to the great circuits of the world- Monza, Spa, Suzuka, Monaco, Silverstone etc. Tradition counts for something too doesn't it?

Not really.
I think F1 needs to extend to other regions, if it wants to keep up it's claim of being a "World" Championship.

[MichaelC]

As said above, a World Championship is not much of one if it's mostly in Europe
What we don't need in Europe is more than one race in a country, so I think we could easily sacrifice the second German and Italian races - if the tracks wish they could alternate the races between Hockenheim and Nurburgring, and between Imola and Monza respectively. I guess Monaco will stay forever, but it's only a matter of time before we part with the French GP for good, so that's three gone straight away.
USA and Canada are a good pairing, but we could use another South American one somewhere, and if there is a suitable track then South Africa should come back. It's not going to be difficult to spread things around a bit really

[ASCII Man]

I would ignore Don K, he's just ****ed off that Zandvoort doesn't get a Grand Prix anymore.

[Schummy]

I think that "world" thing about F1 "world championship" is irrelevant. Half of top chessplayers in the world are from Russia, and it doesn't make them less significant. Most of long distance runners are from Kenia and Ethiopia, and what? Motorsport is a traditional sport in some countries and not in others, just as every sport in Earth. As someone said formerly, if cycling were to abandon France, Italy and Spain for its grand tours it would be laughable.

I suppose sport have to bo played/runned in countries that support it. Why make a baseball world championship in Spain?
Another thing is trying to promote a sport in some countries, not robbing it from its traditional supporters. I think all this is a sort of "global domination" mentality of the "political-economical" of sports. Why everyone in the world have to watch a particular sport? Let people watch different sports if they want! Ah, obviously some people would get less money...

It reminds me about FIFA (International Soccer Federation) trying to "insert" european footbal into USA. They are proposing silly changes to the sport just to help introducing it in "dollarland" At the end, they risk to annoy loyal supporters and only gain a short term following in "new" countries. And, don'r forget F1 is way more fragil than soccer in Europe.

My fear (to say that way) is if F1 loses its roots in certain key countries, it will lose its long term base of support, with catastrophic results. Today we are in a multi-offert society, nothing is guaranteed for sure. Please, don't assume F1 *always* will have a strong support in Europe. There are so many alternatives in sports (even within motorsports).

Let's follow coutries trends and then assign GPs *after* it. Auto racing is not just a one-time circus per year (F1), it is much more that that. It is club racing, media attation, people paying to see local races... A perfect example of it is the level of support in Brasil and Argentina, not to mention Japan, USA, Australia. They are currently "natural" coutries to have a GP (well, Argentina is through a deep economic crisis...).

I neither have understood the one-race-per-country implicit rule. It is just political, and I don't want any mix between political and sport in general. why not a one-team-per-country or a limit of number of drivers per country? In my eyes it was always absurd. We are robbed of circuits in coutries that have many good circuits. FIM bikes GPs don't obey that "rule" and the championship is great.

In my personal and particular point of view, sowing sports by mean of conceding big events is superficial and illogical. Losing British GP would be ridiculous (I'm not british), and damaging in the long term. By the way, if they are going to let Italy with just one race, I wholeheartly vote to get rid of the emasculated Monza and would choose Imola or Mugello